A study evaluation in the research network “Noise and Health” on behalf of the WHO proves: In people who suffer from sleep disturbances due to noise pollution, the risk of allergies, cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure and migraine increases significantly. In addition to vision, hearing is another important sensory organ, because hearing is essential for our social interaction.
Hearing sense in an always noisy environment
Those who have poor hearing also have poor ability to communicate with others. This limits the ability to establish and maintain social contacts. Loneliness and isolation can threaten. The sense of hearing also warns and alerts us when dangers arise. But: Hearing is threatened because our environment is no longer quiet these days. Road traffic noise, aircraft noise, even the omnipresent commercial or neighborhood noise resound on our ears. In the meantime, sounds are pelting us almost around the clock – and that can make us sick in the long run.
Noise as a double danger
Two dangers must be distinguished here, namely the damage to hearing itself and the psychological effects of constant noise pollution. The facts speak for themselves: tinnitus and hearing loss have become a widespread disease. The worrying thing is that 15 percent of young people already hear as badly as 50-year-olds. Every year, there are 6,000 new cases of “noise-induced hearing loss” that are recognized as occupational diseases. The psychological consequences are sometimes even more far-reaching:
- Lack of concentration
- Circulatory diseases
- Hypertension
- Learning disabilities in children
- Sleep disorders
- Psychiatric diseases
- And further consequences up to the heart attack
Effect of noise
The disease-causing effect of noise is not as easy to assess as in the case of an infectious disease, where the cause is found and detectable with a pathogen finding. The adverse health effect of noise, hearing damage aside, is usually a long, difficult-to-manage process that can be influenced in part by numerous other factors.
What is noise, anyway?
We can close our eyes – but not our ears. Avoiding noise is therefore not always easy. Noise is an unwanted, unpleasant or harmful sound. Sound as a physical quantity can be measured precisely – noise, however, is a very individual matter. Quantities such as sensitivity as well as the internal assessment of what is perceived as noise play a decisive role. It is also important whether the noise is permanent or whether it only hits our hearing temporarily. The pain threshold for our ears is 120 decibels, but even street noise at around 80 decibels can make us ill in the long term.
| Volume | Noise |
|---|---|
| 1 decibel | Hearing threshold – humans can perceive sounds |
| 10 decibels | Rustling leaf |
| 60 decibels | Normal noise |
| 80 decibels | Busy road, highway |
| 85 decibels | Sound waves can weaken and destroy auditory cells with continuous exposure. |
| 90 decibels | Heavy truck |
| 110 decibels | Discotheque |
| 120 decibels | Sound waves are perceived as pain |
| 130 decibels | Aircraft noise |
Peace and quiet – not easy to find
A consistently high noise level in the living environment is a risk factor for many physical ailments. However, constant noise pollution also has social consequences: Noise can lead to sleep disturbances, which in turn affect performance at work or school. Noise on busy roads also disturbs communication within the family or with neighbors and restricts opportunities for children to play. This can lead to isolation, ultimately making people feel lonely.
9 strategies for more silence
The German Society for Acoustics (DEGA) provides 9 tips on how to bring more quiet into your everyday life:
- Consideration: do not make more noise than is absolutely necessary and avoidable under given circumstances.
- Protect yourself: always wear hearing protection when it is prescribed or advisable. Use only products with optimal protective function for this purpose.
- Protect your children: Check your children’s toys! Crackling frogs and scare guns can cause significant hearing damage even with short-term exposure!
- Have ear protection ready: Before any activity, check whether hearing protection is necessary: for example, when mowing the lawn, trimming the hedge or doing DIY.
- Think of your friends: encourage friends and acquaintances to do the same and reconsider and consider above points every day.
- Quiet recreation: refrain from recreational activities that involve a lot of noise.
- Room volume: critically check the volume setting on your radio and television sets, from which you are exposed to sound every day.
- Check-ups: Have your hearing checked by professionals at regular intervals.
- Silence more often: rethink your habits: Does the CD player, radio or TV have to run in the background? The first step against the nuisance of too much noise can take everyone himself, namely avoid own noise. That means simply turning off the CD player or the TV and letting the silence take its effect. Because: we decide by our behavior and lifestyle, whether it is quieter around us or not.
