A new briefing paper has been published by the European Environment Agency updating the estimated amount of people exposed to environmental noise pollution across Europe. In addition, the paper also summarises the measures implemented in Member States to manage noise including; replacement of road surfaces, improvement of traffic flow and the introduction of lower speed limits. The briefing states that ‘at least 100 million people are exposed to levels of traffic noise that exceed the EU’s indicator of noise annoyance’ which has been found to pose a negative impact on human health, and remains the leading cause of environmental noise. The EU has targeted that by 2020 noise pollution will have reduced further, aiming to be closer to levels as suggested by the World Health Organisation.
