Managing exposure to noise in Europe

In 2014, the European Environment Agency (EEA) published its first pan-European assessment on the state of noise pollution in the environment — the Noise in Europe 2014 report. This assessment was based upon data reported to the EEA by its member countries in accordance with the Environmental Noise Directive (END) (2002/49/EC). Since then, additional data for the year 2012 have been reported to the EEA by a number of countries, which now allows a more informed assessment to be made.

The state of noise in Europe

Road traffic noise, both inside and outside urban areas, is still the dominant source affecting human exposure above the 55 dB L_den action levels defined by the END (Figure 1). Around 100 million people are exposed to road traffic noise above 55 dB L_den in the EEA-33 member countries. Of these, 32 million are exposed to very high noise levels above 65 dB L_den.

Figure 1. Number of people in the EEA-33 member countries exposed to noise levels above 55 dB L_den, 2012

Note: Where data has not been reported by Member States, gap-filling has been performed.

Railways are the noise source with the second highest number of people exposed: 19 million people exposed above 55 dB L_den in the EEA-33. Aircraft noise, with more than 4.1 million people exposed above 55 dB L_den, is the third main noise source, followed by industrial noise within urban areas, with 1.0 million people exposed.

The harmful effects of noise arise mainly from the stress reactions it causes in the human body, which can also manifest themselves during sleep. These can potentially lead to premature death, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, hypertension and, at the least, annoyance.

The WHO has categorised noise from road traffic alone as the second most harmful environmental stressor in Europe, behind only air pollution from fine particulate matter. The WHO Night Noise Guidelines for Europe recommend that exposure should not exceed 40 dB L_{night-outside.} Achieving this low level of noise can present a challenge, particularly in urban areas where background noise levels tend to remain relatively high even at night. For this reason, the WHO also recommends a short-term interim target for night-time noise of 55 dB L_{night-outside}. The END does not require night-time noise mapping to be conducted to as low a level as 40dB, so assessments can currently only be made against the higher interim target. The exposure assessment of road traffic noise against the WHO’s interim target is illustrated for selected European capital cities in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Selected capital cities in Europe: percentage of population exposed to road traffic noise above 50 dB L_night, 2012. The 55 dB limit shown is the WHO interim target

Reducing and managing noise in Europe

The END requires Member States to prepare and publish noise management action plans. However, the specific types of measures included in these action plans are decided at Member State level. A new assessment presents an overview of the types of measures included in the noise action plans (Figure 3).

For city agglomerations, measures targeting road traffic management are most commonly listed. Examples of such measures include replacing road surfaces, improving traffic flow and introducing lower speed limits. These are followed by measures related to land use and urban planning.

There are also action plans that aim to promote the use of more environmentally friendly modes of transport, avoid increases in traffic flow and raise awareness of noise as an environmental problem.

Figure 3. Analysis of END noise action plan measures

The main policy objective of the EU’s 7th EAP is to significantly reduce noise pollution by 2020 and move closer to WHO recommended noise levels. The indications are that this objective will be difficult to achieve without further measures and more focus on implementation at both Member State and EU level, including with respect to the completeness, comparability and timeliness of data reporting.

Given the factors that determine environmental noise levels, one single measure alone is often not enough to deal effectively with the problem of high noise levels. Instead, it will be important for Member States to develop action plans looking at synergies and benefits that could be obtained by integrating noise management with other areas of work, such as air quality, transport, mobility, urban planning and the way in which cities are designed.