In July 1963 (approximately 10 years before the Acoustics Group of the Physical Society and the British Acoustical Society merged to formally form the Institute of Acoustics) the Committee on the Problem of Noise presented their final report to Parliament. The report had an entire chapter dedicated to the effects of noise on people. It stated “Noise may have an influence on health in many ways, for example, by preventing sleep or inducing stress; it may interfere with specific activities such as communication, education and recreation; it may disturb concentration, and perhaps affect the efficiency of someone working at a difficult or skilful task; it may affect personal safety”. However it went on to state that “In a more restricted sense, however, we have not been able to find any evidence that moderate noise (by which we mean the noise normally met with domestically and socially) produces any direct and measurable physiological effect on the average person. The general effect of noise on health must therefore be more psychological than physical; and we are led to consider those reactions to irritating or disturbing noise which are called, for brevity ‘annoyance’ ”.
Sixty years later, in July 2023, the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee published the findings from an Inquiry into the effects of artificial light and noise on human health. The opening statement of their final report was: “Environmental noise and light pollution contribute to a range of adverse health outcomes including heart disease and premature death. Yet light and noise remain neglected pollutants, poorly understood and poorly regulated.”
In this online webinar, Benjamin Fenech (UK Health Security Agency), Charlotte Clark (St George’s, University of London) and Pam Lowery (RPS) will give an overview of how research, policy and guidance on the health effects of sound have evolved over the past 50 years, focusing particularly on the latter half (2010 - ). There will be an opportunity to ask questions to committee members of the Sound Noise and Health Group after the presentation.
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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82035890962?pwd=dDZCN1I0bTN6QVVwQmN5Y21ZR2NTdz09
Meeting ID: 820 3589 0962
Passcode: 106028