Over one million people in Ireland are living in noisy areas so more of us are experiencing noise pollution that can affect our health
Have you noticed how noisy the world has become? Here are some of the unwanted sounds you may have encountered in the last week: car alarms, house alarms, roadworks, building work, a neighbour to the left of you firing up the lawnmower at 8am on a Saturday morning, a neighbour to the right of you hammering and drilling at 7am of a Sunday morning, loud music, drones delivering bags of greasy fast food and dogs yapping at all hours.
But where exactly is the line between all those very annoying noises that might interrupt your life every so often and actual noise pollution that can affect your health? Dr Eoin King is the director of the Galway Sound Lab and he joined the Drivetime show on RTÉ Radio 1 to discuss its findings. (This piece includes excerpts from the conversation which have been edited for length and clarity - you can hear the discussion in full below).
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King says it's a massive problem. "There's no universal legislation in Ireland or no universal standards that deal with any particular type of noise. It very much depends on what the issue is. If it's an issue related to your neighbours or dogs barking, that's one kind of nuisance. If it's related to industrial sites or construction, that could be covered in planning. If it's environmental noise, that's something else. Again, so part of the problem is we don't have a kind of a clear definition or a clear path for people to go down to address some of these issues."
So what can you do about construction noise, for example? "Often there would be limits to the noise levels that they can make, especially at night. If you're impacted by construction noise, there's probably a course of action you can take so check with your local authority."
Howwever, it's a different matter if it's a neighbour doing some hammering or drilling at 6am. "There is some information on the Citizens' Information website that goes into this, but your first action should really be to talk to your neighbour", says King. "Talk about the problem or where the problem is coming from, see if you can come up with a solution. People don't always realise that they might be impacting their neighbours.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline, listeners call in to give out about noisy train passengers
"If that doesn't go anywhere. It's really down to the district court and see what you can do. But not many people want to go down that route, and it's certainly not a route I'd recommend so that the best thing is to try and have a conversation."
King says there are many, many health impacts from noise. "The issue is one of when does a sound that's annoying become unhealthy and that's all to do with the time. If you have long-term disturbance from noise, that can lead to serious health impacts. There's a lot of studies going back decades linking long-term exposure to noise with adverse health impacts.
"These health impacts can include heart disease, diabetes, sleep disturbance and, most worryingly of all, it can actually impair the cognitive development of children. Sometimes the reading scores of children growing up in noisy environments, like beside a major road or an airport, would be less."
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Arena, Sonya Kelly on how a library can often be a noisy place
Of course, some people may have no problem whatsoever with the noises described above. "It varies from person to person", says King. "I'm living in Barna in Co Galway and we're beside the road, and my wife is much more annoyed by noise than I am. A lot of people who'd live beside the airport or a railway track, often say 'oh, I don't hear the airplanes' or 'I don't hear the railway anymore'. They've got used to i and that's called habituation.
"But even though that noise might not bother you, it could still trigger a response from your body. You may still have elevated blood pressure. Your sleep may not be as rewarding as it should be, even though psychologically you don't think you're annoyed by the noise.
Over one million people in Ireland are living in noisy areas so it's a big problem and we need to do something about it
"The science is pretty much settled now and we know that long-term exposure to noise and the level of noise is actually pretty low. It's around 45, 50 DB when health effects start. So if you are living in an area where those noise levels are, you're probably going to suffer some health effects.
"The European Environment Agency has estimated that 112 million Europeans are living in areas where the noise levels can be damaging to their health. The EPA says over one million people in Ireland are living in noisy areas so it's a big problem and we need to do something about it. Part of the issue is people don't actually realise that this is a problem. One of the main things with noise is you can't see it because is invisible."
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
