Stop making that racket!

PALMA
SPANISH homes are the second noisiest in the world after Japan and this is leading to problems such as stress, anxiety, a lack of concentration and irritability, according to a new study.

And while traffic causes more noise pollution than any other source, people are more likely to complain about the noises from bars and discos.
More than 78 percent of Spaniards are disturbed in their homes by the noise of traffic outside. However only six percent make a formal complaint.
On the other hand, only 12.75 percent are disturbed by the noise of bars and discos. Yet these make up the majority of formal complaints (39 percent).
These findings are published in a study, “The Effects of Environmental Noise on Society and its Perception by Citizens”, carried out by the Official College of Telecommunications Engineers (COITT) as part of the International Day of Noise Awareness.

Some 800 residents from the eight cities in Spain that have populations of more than 250'000, including Palma, were interviewed by telephone for the study.

The study found that traffic was the principal cause of noise pollution, above all cars (55.8 percent), followed by motorcycles (38.38 percent) and trucks (25.75 percent).

The other causes of noise that annoyed the interviewees were neighbours (29.63 percent), sirens, alarms and car horns (16.75 percent), building works (14.25 percent), rubbish collection (11.75 percent) and pedestrians in general (11.38 percent). Only 2 percent were affected by the noise of airports, ports and heavy industry.

Half of those interviewed were disturbed by noise in their homes and more than 17 percent said they were affected daily.
Almost one in three said noise pollution caused them problems such as stress and anxiety (27.9 percent), a lack of concentration and problems communicating with other people inside the home (27.5 percent) and irritability and aggression (25.83 percent).

Other problems include insomnia (18.75 percent), headaches (17.5), memory loss (8.33 percent), depression (5.89 percent) and a lack of sex drive (2.5 percent).

According to the experts who compiled the report, noise can also “weaken the immune system” and aggravate existing illnesses.
Daily noise over 65 decibels can damage the health of people in their homes. “In relation to traffic close to a residential area, the limit is 60 decibels and should be less than 50 during the day,” said a member of COITT, Eugene García-Calderón.

He said that he thought that people did not complain about traffic because they grew accustomed to it.