Noise is all around us. And it's harming our health
CBC
The rumble of trucks passing on the highway. The hammering of a construction site. The roar of an airplane taking off overhead.
If you live in a big city in Canada, chances are you regularly hear noises that are harmful to your health.
And though small towns and rural areas tend to be generally quieter, loud sounds like trains passing can still be disruptive.
"We think of noise as simply an annoyance," said Hugh Davies, a professor in the school of population and public health at UBC.
"We're bathed in an acoustic sea. And I think it's hard for people to realize that some of that is hazardous," he said.
Noise regulations in North America are generally piecemeal, experts say, and tend to focus on things like parties or concert venues, instead of the sources of noise that actually cause us the most harm: noises from transportation.
But there is plenty of research to show that being regularly exposed to loud traffic noises, as many Canadians are on a daily basis, can have harmful long-term health effects beyond just our hearing.
Our nervous systems have evolved to be constantly on guard, and that includes hearing, Tor Oiamo told Dr. Brian Goldman, host of CBC's The Dose.
"While we might not wake up, we might not be annoyed or disturbed by a sound, we're still going to register those sounds and our nervous system is still going to process that," said Oimao, an associate professor in geography and environmental studies at Toronto Metropolitan University.
This is why our alarms wake us up in the morning, said Davies.
"You're always listening. Even in the middle of the night, your brain is processing sound," he said.
Hearing a noise sets up our fight-or-flight response, said Erica Walker, an assistant professor of epidemiology in the school of public health at Brown University in Providence, R.I.
"Your heart rate increases. You begin to sweat. You begin to release these hormones that get you prepared for battle — or prepare you to run away from it," said Walker.
That ongoing stress response over time can lead to adverse health outcomes.
