What sound annoys you the most? Is it nails on a chalkboard, car alarms going off at 3 a.m., leaf blowers, or maybe airplanes?
Whatever the sound is, research indicates it can be more than just an irritant. It could be harming your health.
Last week, The New York times published a report that includes new research and covers existing evidence that links noise exposure to hypertension, stroke and heart attacks. It said that more than 100 million Americans are at risk.
“We went to neighborhoods in rural Mississippi, New York City, and suburban California and New Jersey to measure residents’ noise exposure and interview them about the commotion in their lives,” said the report. “We consulted more than 30 scientists and reviewed thousands of pages of research and policy to examine the pathology and epidemiology of noise.”
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hearing loss is the third most common chronic health condition in the nation. In fact, almost twice as many people report hearing loss as report diabetes or cancer.
The New York Times explained that while unpleasant noise enters your body through your ears and can impact hearing, it is also relayed to the stress detection center of the brain – the amygdala – once you hear it. This relay can trigger a “cascade of reactions in your body,” and lead to harmful effects if triggered constantly.
A healthy amount of noise should be less than 40 dB, according to the World Health Organization. However, an estimated 3 million people in the U.S. may live in areas with average outside noise levels above 70 dB, said The New York Times.
“The nighttime noise that a person in such an environment experiences is considered particularly detrimental to health because it can fragment sleep and trigger a stress response, even if the person does not recall being roused,” said the outlet. It said a study following more than four million people for more than a decade found that, starting at just 35 dB, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease increased by 2.9% for every 10 dB increase in exposure to road traffic noise.
In addition to the ears and nervous system, noise exposure can cause the endocrine system to overreact, resulting in elevated levels of cortisol, adrenaline and other chemicals. It also impacts the sympathetic nervous system, which can quicken your heart rate, raise blood pressure, and trigger the production of inflammatory cells.
“Over time, these changes can lead to inflammation, hypertension and plaque buildup in arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease, heart attacks and stroke,” the New York Times explained.
Researchers have scanned the brains of people as they listened to unpleasant sounds, including Styrofoam rubbing, nails on a chalkboard, a dentist’s drill, to observe how the amygdala reacts. They monitored the blood pressure levels of auto assembly plant workers during a shift and conducted other noise experiments.
“To simulate relentless nights, scientists played dozens of sporadic recordings of passing trains and planes overhead in healthy volunteers’ bedrooms – recordings taken of real disruptions from people’s homes,” said The New York Times. “They found that the next morning, the volunteers had higher adrenaline levels, stiffened arteries, and spikes in plasma proteins that indicate inflammation.”
Even more research backs these findings up. For example, scientists analyzed the brain scans and health records of hundreds of people at Massachusetts General Hospital and found that people who lived in areas with high levels of transportation noise were more likely to have major cardiac events.
“In fact, noise may trigger immediate heart attacks: Higher levels of aircraft noise exposure in the two hours preceding nighttime deaths have been tied to heart-related mortality,” said The New York Times.
People living in poverty and people of color are more vulnerable to this exposure since they do not have the same access to housing or daily activities that are protected from noise exposure. More than 50 years ago, the Noise Control Act of 1972 aimed to mitigate some of this health risk.
However, The New York Times noted that President Ronald Reagan’s administration defunded the office of noise abatement established by the legislation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s eight-hour workplace noise limit is still 90 dB, the outlet added.
In the future, the U.S. might want to look to Europe’s work to regulate noise. In the European Union, nations are required to monitor and assess sound levels across regions and to produce new action plans every five years to address communities at greatest risk.
Related
Related
