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Study: 33 percent of Americans affected by dangerous noise levels

2023-08-27 18:37:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Studies show that long-term exposure to high noise levels can be a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. New York, the largest city in the United States by population, has the highest noise level in the country. As Voice of America New York correspondent Aaron Ranen reports, avoiding noise in this city can be a daily challenge for its residents.

Ricky Nguyen lives in the heart of New York's Chinatown, where the noise created by ongoing construction is drastically affecting his daily life.

"I had to buy a noise meter," he says.

The noise has increased to such an extent that Nguyen now measures the noise affecting not only him, but also the community of elderly Asians living in his neighborhood.

"I can't imagine for the old people who live in that building over there, they have open windows and they're so close to all that noise. I've lived here for 11 years and I wanted to live here for the next 11 years."

The latest study involving 130,000 people who used the noise detector app on their Apple smartwatches has revealed disturbing results, similar to those published by the study's lead expert.

"Preliminary results suggest that the likelihood is that one in three Americans are exposed to sound levels that may be harmful to their health," says Rick Neitzel, professor of environmental health at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Neitzel's research also revealed other unexpected findings.

"We have also found that not everyone is equally exposed. "In fact, African-American and Hispanic participants in our study tended to have higher noise exposures than people from other racial and ethnic groups," he says.

In a separate study, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital have linked long-term noise exposure to major health problems that can have fatal consequences.

"Based on our data and the studies of others, it seems that the consequences of noise are not sufficiently understood and that it is an independent risk factor for the development of cardiovascular diseases," says Dr. Michael Osborne, a cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mr Osborne's study also found that people who live in areas with high levels of transport noise, such as near airports, face an increased risk of serious cardiac events.

"Essentially, we found that there is a pathway linking noise to cardiovascular disease that goes through the brain and involves inflammation of the arteries with serious health consequences. It is very likely that this is an unknown risk factor for cardiovascular disease," he says.

In response to such health concerns, information about the dangers of noise pollution has spread through websites, organizations, and apps that help people collect data and engage in noise reduction efforts in their neighborhoods.

"When I started, there were fewer people fighting against harmful noise levels, but now there are more people doing it. There are more studies, and we recently pushed a legislator to introduce legislation to refund the Environmental Protection Agency's office that deals with noise control," says activist Arline Bronzaft.

With the federal government able to address this invisible threat, noise pollution may soon become as visible a concern as air pollution./VOA