Penn Medicine: International Research Team Weighs in on the Negative Consequences of Noise on Overall Health

The combined toll of occupational, recreational and environmental noise exposure poses a serious public health threat going far beyond hearing damage, according to an international team of researchers writing this week in The Lancet . The review team, including a Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania expert, examined the latest research on noise's impact on an array of health indicators - hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, cognitive performance and mental health, and sleep disturbance - in order to inform the medical community and lay public about the burden of both auditory and non-auditory effects of noise. "In our 24/7 society, noise is pervasive and the availability of quiet places is decreasing. We need to better understand how this constant exposure to noise is impacting our overall health," said Mathias Basner, MD, PhD, MSc , assistant professor of Sleep and Chronobiology, Department of Psychiatry at Penn, and lead author of the new review. "From earbuds blasting music during subway commutes to the constant drone of traffic heard by those who live or work near congested highways to the beeping of monitors that makes up the soundtrack heard by hospital patients and staff, what we hear all day impacts many parts of our bodies." Occupational noise and its negative impact on hearing has been the most frequently studied type of noise exposure. But in recent years, research has broadened to focus on social noise, such as noise heard in bars or through personal music players, and environmental noise from road, rail, and air traffic.