Effects of road traffic noise on health: from Burden of Disease to effectiveness of interventions

Abstract

Road traffic noise is one of the most ubiquitous urban environmental pollutants. This paper brings together three related works – in which the author has been involved or is currently completing - that together illustrate essential input to good policy development for the management of the health consequences of this pollutant. These include a guidance document on burden of disease from environmental noise; an assessment of exposure, response, and exposure-response, to road traffic noise in a densely-populated Asian city; and a current systematic evidence review of the effectiveness, in health terms, of interventions to control environmental noise. These provide examples of the nature of the quantitative evidence available to promote noise management through policy interventions.