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d'ohTopic: Health
We are surrounded by the sounds of the machinery that make our lives comfortable and convenient. The constant thrum of traffic, the thunder of jet engines overhead.
But when we have to listen to these noises for too long or at the wrong time, they can inflict silent and stealthy damage. Increasing evidence shows this damage isn't just to our ears, but to our blood vessels and hearts.
Nor is this just a problem for people who live near busy roads or under flight paths. New research suggests noise pollution also causes harm in places such as hospitals.
Last week the world's experts gathered in Japan to discuss the latest findings about noise and health. Perhaps most eye-catching was the study that linked noise pollution to your waist size.
In a four-year project published last year, researchers from Karolinska University in Sweden found that the louder the traffic noise to which people in different parts of Stockholm were exposed, the greater the increase in their waist size - there was nearly a centimetre increase for every ten-decibel rise in the noise levels. This is like the difference between a whispered conversation and the noise level in an average house or personal office.
Last month, scientists from Karolinska University found an even more dramatic effect from plane noise. After tracking more than 5,000 people for ten years, they reported that the waistlines of those most exposed to plane noise increased on average by 6 cm.
A similar study last year by the School of Public Health at Imperial College London found that being exposed to higher levels of aircraft noise around Heathrow raised the risk of admission to hospital for heart disease by 20 per cent.
The effects of noise pollution are even felt by babies in the womb.
In another of the studies presented at last week's conference, researchers from Utrecht University in the Netherlands examined data from more than 68,000 births and found that for every six-decibel increase in traffic noise there was a drop of 15g to 23g in birth weight.
Read more: dailymail.co.uk
