Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The evidence keeps mounting, almost on a daily basis, that noise is a health and public health hazard. Just last month, an article by researchers in Italy found that noise exposure directly damaged rat brains, producing changes in DNA, neurotransmitters, and even morphological changes. (For those who might be skeptical of this report, there is an existing body of research on the effects of noise on the brain. I don’t understand the details of the newer scientific studies, and I’m always cautious because studies have shown that positive results get reported more frequently than negative results, but taken together with the new report, there is a large amount of research pointing to a direct effect of noise on the brain.)
The Italian study exposed rates to noise of 100 decibels for 12 hours. That level exceeds exposure levels for most humans–certainly for a half-day period–but probably not cumulatively for many who attend clubs, rock concerts, or have noisy hobbies such as woodworking or motorcycle riding.
Humans and rats are genetically very similar–experts argue about whether the rat and human genomes are 97% or 99% similar, and about how to measure this similarity–but regardless of the exact percentage, we’re not talking about applying data from a roundworm to humans. The basic similarities are there in organ and cellular biochemistry, structure, and function. So it’s very likely that noise is also a direct toxin to the human brain, with similar genetic, neurotransmitter, and morphological changes, and most likely at lower noise exposure levels, too.
So what can we do? The solution is simple: avoid loud noise exposure, and wear hearing protection if you can’t.
And one last thing–encourage legislators, regulators, and public health authorities to do more to protect us from exposure to unnecessary noise.
