Traffic noise increases early mortality in Europe

According to medical studies, prolonged exposure to excessive noise contributes to increased stress and higher rates of serious health complications, such as coronary heart disease.

High exposure to indirect noise causes thousands of premature deaths each year.

Research conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISG) in 750 cities in 25 European countries shows that about half of the population of these cities are exposed to excessive noise. This contributes to serious health complications and indirectly causes thousands of premature deaths each year.

The findings by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health say that about half of the 128 million adults in the cities surveyed were exposed to noise levels that exceed the recommendations of the World Health Organization, i.e. is above the 24-hour average of 53 decibels. Experts consider exceeding this limit to be harmful to health, and the main source of noise in cities is mainly traffic.

The study also found that this problem mainly occurs in major European cities. The Austrian capital Vienna is the city with the highest percentage of people affected by noise with more than 85%. Germany's Berlin has the lowest rate at 30%. In Czech Prague, the rate is 70%. Excessive noise exposure indirectly causes about 3,600 premature deaths each year.