If you live in a city, near a highway or within several miles of an airport, you’re probably accustomed to the sounds of sirens blaring, semitrucks rolling by or planes soaring overhead. This industrial symphony may just seem like background din, considering that an estimated 1 in 3 Americans is exposed to “excessive noise levels,” but it can have very real health consequences, experts are warning.
It’s called “noise pollution,” and it affects nearly 95 million Americans. Experts are sounding the alarm that high levels of noise could be fueling everything from hearing loss to cardiovascular problems. Here’s what to know.
Historically, experts tell Yahoo Life, noise pollution meant “unwanted sound.” But that’s subjective. “My music could be sound to me and noise to you,” Rick Neitzel, a University of Michigan professor of environmental health who researches auditory exposures, tells Yahoo Life. Although health hazards related to noise had been recognized since 1968 in the U.S., the definition wasn’t expanded to “unwanted and/or harmful sound” until 2021.
Noise becomes noise pollution when someone is experiencing “involuntary exposure to noise that can be harmful to health,” according to Jamie Banks, founder and president of the anti-noise-pollution group Quiet Communities.
Listening to loud music at home or at a concert might be harmful to your hearing, but you’re typically choosing to take that risk. Noise pollution, on the other hand, isn’t really about the stuff of noise complaints: parties, car stereos or concerts. It’s the constant humming and clanging of a factory or the whooshing and whining of jets taking off near your neighborhood — those are noisy, consistent and beyond your control. Much of noise pollution comes from transportation — including traffic, highways and railways — or industrial and manufacturing plants, experts say, but it can come from many sources.
It may be obvious that very loud sounds can damage your hearing, but that’s not the only potential health risk posed by noise. Aside from auditory damage, noise that is loud, constant, of certain pitches or happening intermittently over an extended period of time can also trigger your body’s stress response. “Noise is perceived by the brain and activates an organ in the brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for things like controlling emotions and stress,” explains Banks. The amygdala sets off a “physiological cascade of events,” which makes your blood more viscous, raises blood sugar and pressure and “ultimately causes damage to the blood vessels,” she says. As a result, noise can affect:
Cardiovascular health: Numerous studies have linked exposure to noise pollution to heart-health effects. “We now have a pretty robust body of evidence showing that noise is related to high blood pressure, stroke and heart attacks,” says Neitzel. Peter James, an associate professor of environmental and population health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tells Yahoo Life: “There’s a cardiovascular response your body has to sound, and, if you’re chronically exposed, it may manifest as inflammation.”
Sleep: A recent study monitored the sleep of people living near flight paths and found that those who were exposed more frequently to even moderately loud aircraft noise (55 decibels or more) tossed and turned more and had more irregular sleep rhythms. “Even if you’re not woken up from sleep, there’s a stress response your body has to sound,” says James. It’s an evolutionary adaptation that helped humans survive, Neitzel explains. “As sounds emerge out of the background, that triggers your central nervous system to say, ‘Oh my God, a lion is sneaking up on me!’” he explains. Highway noise won’t eat you. But your body has trouble distinguishing between benign and dangerous sounds, especially while you’re sleeping, and the constant low-level stress leads to disrupted, poor-quality sleep. Not only can that make you feel crummy the next day, but, over time, it can contribute to worse cardiovascular and brain health.
Metabolic health: If it goes on long enough, the uptick in blood sugar caused by the body’s stress response to noise can contribute to insulin resistance (a precursor to type 2 diabetes) and kidney damage. Noise pollution has been linked to metabolic syndrome, a group of health conditions including abdominal obesity and high cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar and blood pressure.
Mental and cognitive health: Constant strain and stress from noise pollution — specifically road traffic sounds — has been linked to 12% higher odds of developing anxiety and a 4% greater likelihood of depression, according to a large review of previous studies. Noise can also impact brain function, including concentration. “Kids who are educated in noisier classrooms have worse educational outcomes and that influences the child’s whole life from then on in terms of educational performance,” Neitzel adds.
All three experts agree that noise pollution is a problem best addressed at the societal level rather than being up to individuals. The Environmental Protection Agency regulates noise, but the task force formed to take that on was only active for 10 years and is now “essentially unfunded,” according to the agency. Federal regulators have “basically abandoned their leadership in their space and left individuals to fend for themselves, and that is not how public health is supposed to go,” says Neitzel. And that’s particularly problematic, experts say, because noise pollution is worse in neighborhoods that are poorer and have larger populations of color.
That said, there are some steps you can take. For one, noise is unlikely to be the only or even the main issue contributing to greater stress levels and health issues, notes James. Even if you can’t reduce your cardiovascular risks by cutting out noise pollution, you can combat inflammation by exercising and eating nutritiously, for example.
You can also make an effort to reduce your “dose” of noise, says Neitzel. For example, he adjusts his walking route by a block to put just a little more distance between himself and cacophonous construction in his neighborhood. “Schedule times in your day when you’re not exposed to noise to give your ears and cardiovascular system a break,” he adds.
When it comes to sleep disturbances, “white noise machines can be pretty magical,” Neitzel says. He also recommends using earplugs, especially in particularly loud places, though Banks notes that they won’t block out low-frequency sounds — like the distant sounds of factory fans, which can be harmful too — very well. Although they come with a high price tag, noise-canceling headphones can be quite effective, says Banks.
