Attribution to road traffic of the impact of noise on health

Author(s): Ruedi  Müller-Wenk Publisher(s): Bundesamt für Umwelt, BAFU Website  www.admin.ch/buwal Place of publication: Bern Number of pages: 70 Language: de, en, fr Price: 10 CHF Purchase: http://www.umwelt-schweiz.ch/buwal/shop/shop Journal: Umwelt-Materialien Page(s): 70 Magazine No.: Nr. 339

In: Environmental Series
The study presents a new computational procedure for the determination of the principal forms of health impairment resulting from noise emissions in Switzerland. It shows that noise, a stress factor, raises the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack.
The overall health impairment is due mainly not to the rare cases of serious illnesses such as heart attack but to the much more frequent, less severe instances of disturbed sleep and disrupted communication. The level of noise caused by 200 vehicles an hour is already sufficient to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. As noise abatement walls on sloping sites have hardly any effect, Switzerland is relying increasingly on subsidising soundproofing windows.