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by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
In a word, “Yes!” This article by Robert Hume,The Irish Examiner, discusses the many ways noise pollution damages health. The scientific evidence is overwhelming and incontrovertible.
The “deniers” may try to sow doubt, as with tobacco smoke causing cancer or climate change being real, but there can no longer be any rational doubt that environmental noise causes hearing loss and non-auditory health effects, including hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and death. There is still a Flat Earth Society, and the conservative Heartland Institute still claims that there is doubt about cigarette smoking causing lung cancer. But these deniers of reality are clearly on the fringe, avoiding rational consideration of the scientific evidence.
Some noise may be an unavoidable product of modern society, but our world doesn’t have to be as noisy as it is.
The first publication about noise as a public health hazard appeared fifty years ago (pdf). If enough people complain to their elected representatives, many steps can be taken to make the environment quieter. This is already happening in Europe, where noise is recognized as a health hazard.
What are we waiting for in the U.S.?
