According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the problem of excessive noise causes serious health effects. Issues caused by short-term exposure include disturbed sleep, anxiety and stress, while the impacts of a long-term exposure are listed as heightened risk of heart disease, stress-related mental health problems and tinnitus.

The statistics
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in America says that hearing loss from all causes, including noise damage, age and disease, is now the third most common chronic health condition. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), around one third of people aged 65-74 in the US have hearing loss, and nearly half of those aged over 75 have difficulty hearing. However, not all hearing loss is age-related. A CDC study revealed that nearly one in four American adults have experienced noise induced hearing loss (NIHL) in one or both ears. The WHO estimated that one third of all hearing loss is related to noise and that more than 600million people around the world are at risk from NIHL.

The effects on health
Hearing loss makes it difficult to carry out everyday tasks. Numerous studies have linked hearing loss with a lower quality of life with impacts including insomnia, stress, intolerance of loud noises and social isolation. The NIDCD says that long-term exposure to noise levels above 85 decibels (dB) can cause damage. A conversation is around 60dB and a fridge-freezer humming is around 45dB. Startling figures from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey estimated that young people aged 12-19 have NIHL caused by recreational noise – via live music concerts and computer games – increased to 17% in 2006 from 11% in 1994. Meanwhile the percentage of teenagers listening to loud music through headphones increased from 19.8% to 34.8%. It is not just recreational noise that can cause NIHL, it can be due to a single, intense sound such as an explosion or continuous exposure to loud noises such as construction, machinery or heavy traffic.

How can Echo Barrier help?
As awareness increases around noise pollution, so does the need for noise mitigation and protection. At Echo Barrier, noise mitigation is at the forefront of what we do and is the reason behind our award-winning products. Our acoustic barriers work by providing a sound barrier between a construction site, live music events and the local community. They can also be used as enclosures to isolate ongoing loud sounds from work crews on sites.