Photo credit: Krizjohn Rosales
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound. It has been known for some years that noise has adverse auditory and non-auditory health effects. These non-auditory adverse effects have been best studied for transportation noise. Environmental noise pollution is recognized as a health problem in Europe and by the World Health Organization but not yet in the United States.
Research documents the many ways environmental noise affects the brain, including being correlated with dementia. The increasing prevalence of dementia is a major problem. Maybe the fact that noise pollution affects the brain will get people’s attention in our country.
Noise pollution is unwanted and without a doubt harmful to humans, animals and plants. A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.
