April 25th is International Noise Awareness Day - an event conceived 17 years ago, to combat the impact of noise on hearing and health. The evidence for the impact of noise on health now goes way beyond hearng damage from extreme noise events. Equally evidence of the cost of noise to society is growing – whether it be damage to hearing from listening to music too loud for too long, or the more insidious impact […]

Noise problems continue to keep local authority services busy - and most noise problems are avoidable. It has long been recognised that better education on noise and its impacts is important, alongside regulation to manage noise. As far back as the 1963 report of the Committee on the Problem of Noise , it was recognised that ‘as living standards rise, people are less inclined to tolerate noise’. Surveys over the past 20 years have reinforced […]