Noise

About Noise

Ambient noise is sound from an environmental source, such as traffic, construction, industrial or recreation activities, animals, or people’s voices, that is unwanted to the person who hears it.

Noise and the Environment

Exposure to any noise has long been recognized as an important occupational health hazard in workplaces and is increasingly viewed as a prevalent urban environmental hazard associated with adverse psychosocial and physiologic health effects such as sleep disturbance, higher blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and impaired cognitive performance in children.

About the Data and Indicators

This report defines disruptive noise exposure as any ambient noise from outside the home that disrupts activities - such as watching television, listening to the radio, having a conversation, or sleeping - to the person who hears it. FDNE is defined as experiencing noise disruption three or more times per week.

Like most cities in the United States, New York City (NYC) does not systematically monitor ambient noise or the prevalence of noise disturbance. However, the city tracks noise complaints through the NYC 311 call system and enforces the New York City Noise Code. 311 complaint data do not allow a full understanding of the burden of ambient noise because they may not capture information about all noise exposure; some New Yorkers are more likely to call about noise and some types of noise are most likely to generate a complaint. Thus, to gain a better understanding of noise disturbance among all New Yorkers, the Community Health Survey asked adults about how often they were disrupted by noise within the previous three months and about sources of disruptive noise.

Prevention

To reduce environmental noise, one can consider the following methods:

(a) Control at noise sources;

It is often a primary consideration to reduce noise at its source. Whenever possible, quieter working methods or technologies should be used.

(b) Noise reduction at the transmission path:

An obvious way of reducing noise is to separate the sources of noise from noise sensitive uses. Options to avoid or minimize noise, say, through adopting alternative transport such as railway, pedestrian link, cycling path, underground roads can also be considered at the early planning stage.

By arranging noise sensitive uses such as bedrooms facing away from the noise sources or acoustic insulation by good glazing, the impact of noise on the receiver end can be reduced.

Key Messages

Ambient noise in the home, work or school often disrupts people’s concentration. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, ambient noise also affects people’s health by increasing general stress levels and aggravating stress-related conditions such as high blood pressure, coronary disease, peptic ulcers and migraine headaches. Continued exposure does not lead to habituation; in fact, the effects worsen.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health offers detailed guides on noise and hearing loss prevention.