ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE GUIDELINES for the European Region Abstract Noise Is an Important Public Health Issue
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ENVIRONMENTAL NOISE GUIDELINES for the European Region Abstract Noise is an important public health issue. It has negative impacts on human health and well-being and is a growing concern. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has developed these guidelines, based on the growing understanding of these health impacts of exposure to environmental noise. The main purpose of these guidelines is to provide recommendations for protecting human health from exposure to environmental noise originating from various sources: transportation (road traffic, railway and aircraft) noise, wind turbine noise and leisure noise. They provide robust public health advice underpinned by evidence, which is essential to drive policy action that will protect communities from the adverse effects of noise. The guidelines are Environmental Noise Guidelines published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe. In terms of their health implications, the recommended exposure levels can be considered applicable in other regions and suitable for a global audience. for the European Region Keyword NOISE – ADVERSE EFFECTS, PREVENTION AND CONTROL ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE – ADVERSE EFFECTS, PREVENTION AND CONTROL GUIDELINES EUROPE Address requests about publications of the WHO Regional Office for Europe to: Publications WHO Regional Office for Europe UN City, Marmorvej 51 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Alternatively, complete an online request form for documentation, health information, or for permission to quote or translate, on the Regional Office website (http://www.euro.who.int/pubrequest). ISBN 978 92 890 5356 3 © World Health Organization 2018 All rights reserved. The Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization welcomes requests for permission to reproduce or translate its publications, in part or in full. 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Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region Contents Figures .......................................................................................................................................iv Boxes .........................................................................................................................................iv Tables ..........................................................................................................................................v Foreword ................................................................................................................................... vii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. viii Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................ix Glossary of acoustic terms ........................................................................................................x Executive summary ................................................................................................................. xiii Objectives ................................................................................................................................xiii Methods used to develop the guidelines ..................................................................................xiii Noise indicators .......................................................................................................................xiv Recommendations................................................................................................................... xv Target audience ..................................................................................................................... xviii 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................1 1.1 The public health burden from environmental noise ..............................................................1 1.2 The environmental noise policy context in the EU .................................................................2 1.3 Perceptions of environmental noise in the WHO European Region .......................................4 1.4 Target audience ...................................................................................................................5 2. Development of guidelines ....................................................................................................7 2.1 Overview ..............................................................................................................................7 2.2 Scope of the guidelines........................................................................................................7 2.3 Evidence base ...................................................................................................................10 2.4 From evidence to recommendations ..................................................................................16 2.5 Individuals and partners involved in the guideline development process .............................25 2.6 Previously published WHO guidelines on environmental noise ............................................26 3. Recommendations ...............................................................................................................29 3.1 Road traffic noise ...............................................................................................................30 3.2 Railway noise .....................................................................................................................49 3.3 Aircraft noise ......................................................................................................................61 3.4 Wind turbine noise .............................................................................................................77 3.5 Leisure noise .....................................................................................................................87 3.6 Interim targets ....................................................................................................................97 ii 4. Implications for research .....................................................................................................99 4.1 Implications for research on health impacts from transportation noise ................................99 4.2 Implications for research on health impacts from wind turbine noise ................................100 4.3 Implications for research on health impacts from leisure noise ..........................................101 4.4 Implications for research on effectiveness of interventions to reduce exposure and/or improve public health ......................................................................................................102 5. Implementation of the guidelines .....................................................................................105 5.1 Introduction .....................................................................................................................105 5.2 Guiding principles ............................................................................................................105 5.3 Assessment of national needs and capacity-building .......................................................106 5.4 Usefulness of guidelines for target audiences ...................................................................107 5.5 Methodological guidance for health risk assessment of environmental noise ....................108 5.6 Route to implementation: policy, collaboration and the role of the health sector ...............110 5.7 Monitoring and evaluation: assessing the impact of the guidelines ...................................111 5.8 Updating the guidelines ...................................................................................................111 References ..............................................................................................................................113 Annexes ..................................................................................................................................141 Annex 1. Steering, advisory and external review