The health impacts of noise pollution

A new briefing from the EU-funded UBDPolicy project — in which HEAL is a partner — shows how noise pollution impacts health, a key issue in cities. 

Noise pollution is the second largest environmental risk to health in Europe after air pollution, yet it is not high on the policy agenda. The European Environment Agency (EEA) estimates that at least 20% of the EU population are exposed to unhealthy noise levels in the long term.

In cities, there are various sources of noise, with road traffic noise being the most widespread and impactful. 

The briefing explains the health impacts of noise on urban residents, and also provides an overview of current policies in place to address noise, as well as recommendations for improvements. 

UBDPolicy 

The EU-funded research project UBDPolicy, Urban Burden of Disease Estimation for Policy-making, aims to estimate the health and socio-economic costs and benefits of air quality, noise, lack of urban green spaces, heat and temperature, physical activity, and inequity for nearly 1,000 European cities in EU. The project facilitates the stakeholder dialogue to strengthen the uptake of health impact assessments in policymaking and city planning at all levels.