15 interesting scientific studies on the harmfulness of noise

It doesn't seem that harmful in the short term, but it is the opposite. Noise can cause serious health problems. We have prepared for you 15 interesting scientific studies about noise that might make you indulge in some silence.

Noise can cause hearing loss

1. In America, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), about 30 million people are exposed to hazardous levels of sound in their workplace each year. All these people gradually lose their hearing.

2. A 2017 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report from the US Health Protection Agency revealed that among all workers exposed to noise, 19% already have a confirmed hearing impairment .

3. The Hearing Health Foundation reports that hearing loss is the second most common health problem in the world.

4. According to the NIDCD Epidemiology and Statistics Program reports, about 10% of US adults, or about 25 million Americans, have experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year .

5. In a rather surprising study by Psychology Today, it is reported that the main cause of hearing loss is not aging, but noise .

6. This is confirmed by a separate report from the Hearing Health Foundation, which says that 20% of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 19 report hearing loss due to listening to music through headphones.

7. Men are almost twice as likely to have hearing loss as women, according to JAMA Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery Journal.

Noise is very harmful to children

8. Studies published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) show that exposure to excessive noise already during pregnancy can result in high-frequency hearing loss in newborns and may be associated with prematurity.

9. After birth, exposure to noise in the neonatal intensive care unit can result in cochlear damage and can disrupt the normal growth and development of preterm infants.

10. Psychological Science researchers studied children living near an airport in Munich, Germany, for 24 months. And they found that long-term memory, reading and speech perception were impaired in children exposed to airport noise.

Noise has a negative impact on health

11. A 2018 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology showed that people who are constantly exposed to noise for long periods of time are at risk of developing one or more heart diseases.

12. A similar study revealed that long-term exposure to traffic noise may account for around 210,000 coronary heart disease (CHD) deaths in Europe each year – that's around 600 deaths per day.

13. 50% of teachers have experienced voice damage from trying to shout over classroom noise. Because teachers usually use their voice as their primary method of teaching, they tend to speak louder in noisy environments and their health deteriorates over time.

Productivity decreases in a noisy environment

14. A study by the Sound Agency found that when an office implemented noise masking technology , there was a 46% improvement in worker concentration.

15. Productivity is greatly affected by noise pollution, and it doesn't take much. Just the sound of someone talking near you while you work can reduce your productivity by up to 66%. This was revealed by a 1998 study published in the British Journal of Psychology.