Large amounts of noise are emitted in cities, mainly due to traffic. Although it may not seem like it, the incidence of diseases related to noise pollution is very close to those caused by air pollution. The only difference between them is that the perception of both types of pollution is very different.
For example, the city of Barcelona could prevent 13% of your air and noise pollution-related illnesses each year if all the recommendations and regulations regarding exposure to polluted air, noise, heat and access to green spaces were met. What factors are causing the most diseases?
The noise also makes you sick
Of all the environmental factors that can cause diseases in citizens, it is noise from traffic that causes more, even higher than diseases related to lack of physical activity and air pollution.
These are the main conclusions of a new study of the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal), a center promoted by the ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation, which has estimated, for the first time, the burden of disease caused by urban and transport planning in Barcelona.
This study has also reached the conclusion that if Barcelona had better planning of urban spaces and transport it could postpone up to 3.000 deaths a year. In addition, if the international recommendations for the development of physical activity, avoiding exposure to air pollution, noise and heat had been met, 1.700 cases of cardiovascular diseases could be avoided each year, more than 1.300 cases of hypertension, close to 850 cases of stroke and 740 cases of depression, among others.
High noise levels
Regarding the measurements made in the study, traffic is ranked first, contributing to 36% of the disease loads caused by poor urban and transport planning. This percentage is higher than that of diseases caused by air pollution.
The citizens of Barcelona are exposed to a daily average of 65,1 decibels (dB) during the day and 57,6 decibels at night, thus exceeding the levels recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), which are 55 dB and 40 dB, respectively.
Noise also causes disease and although a large part of the population is "addicted" to noise, the hearing suffers and is damaged by continuous exposures to high levels of noise.