Europe's noise exposure - first map
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Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched the most comprehensive map of noise exposure to date, revealing the extent to which European citizens are exposed to excessive acoustic pollution. This map is the result of the first step following the directive concerning environmental noise (2002/49/EC).
Noise is ubiquitous but its role as a key form of pollution with serious human health consequences is still underestimated. Prolonged exposure to even low levels of noise can trigger hypertension and disrupt sleep.
A first glance at Europe's noise exposure map is far from soothing: it is estimated than half of the population in urban areas with more than 250 000 inhabitants endure levels above 55 dB LDEN (the lower EU benchmark for an average 24-hour period) as a result of ambient road noise. Just over 41 million Europeans are exposed to excessive noise from road traffic alone in the largest cities. LDEN is an indicator of the overall noise level during the day (D), evening (E) and night (N), which is used to convey the annoyance caused by noise exposure.
The EEA is based in Copenhagen. The agency aims to help achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe's environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy makers and the public.
[edit] Sources
- Òscar Romero, Press Officer "Press release: EEA draws the first map of Europe's noise exposure". October 26, 2009
- Commission to the European Parliament "Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council concernig Directive 2002/49/EC". unknown
