Noise Effects on Sleep and Health Consequences, The Hearing Journal, June 2022
In 2011, the World Health Organization estimated that 1.6 million healthy life years are lost annually in the western European member states of the European Union alone due to environmental noise.7 Of these, 55.8% of healthy life years lost can be attributed to sleep disturbance, which is the focus of this article.
CONCLUSIONS
The effects of noise on health go far beyond hearing loss. Undisturbed sleep is a prerequisite for high levels of daytime performance, well-being and health. Environmental noise can disturb sleep and impair sleep recuperation. Nocturnal noise exposure has been associated with multiple negative health outcomes, and basic, translational, laboratory and field research provide biologic plausibility for the causal effects of noise-induced sleep disturbance on health. This demonstrates the growing and often underestimated threat of noise exposure to sleep recuperation and public health.