These new WHO guidelines reflect increasing concerns about noise as a public health issue, which has adverse effects on human health and well-being.
Their primary aim is to provide recommendations on the protection of health from human exposure to environmental noise associated with transportation, wind turbines and leisure activities.
The guidelines are based on comprehensive reviews and meta-analyses of previous epidemiological studies on the effects of noise on communities and are intended to promote policy actions that will protect communities from the adverse effects of noise. WHO indicates that the recommended levels of exposure to noise are applicable to other regions and are suitable for a global audience.
Headline recommendations that are of particular note to our core clients and professional areas of interest in the highways and railway sectors include the following:
·Daytime road traffic noise levels should be reduced to below 53 dB Lden for the avoidance of adverse effects on health;
·Night-time road traffic noise levels should be reduced to below 45 dB Lnight for the avoidance of adverse effects on sleep;
·Daytime railway traffic noise levels should be reduced to below 54 dB Lden for the avoidance of adverse effects on health; and
·Night-time railway traffic noise levels should be reduced to below 44 dB Lnight for the avoidance of adverse effects on sleep.
