Chronic noise is a largely unrecognized health threat that is increasing the risk of hypertension, stroke and heart attacks worldwide, including for 145 million Americans. The WHO estimates that—in western Europeans—annually 45,000 years are lost due to noise-induced cognitive impairment in children, 903,000 due to noise-induced sleep disturbance, 61,000 due to noise-induced cardiovascular disease, and 22,000 due to tinnitus.

The results demonstrated that every 10 dB increase of long‐term exposure to road traffic noise was associated with an 8% increased risk of incident diabetes mellitus and a 2% increased risk of incident hypertension among individuals, aged 35 to 100 years, who resided in Toronto. Exposure to noise above 53 dB poses an 8 percent risk for ischemic heart disease, and that increases by another 8 percent for each 10 dB. Prolonged proximity to anything above 85 dB will permanently damage human hearing .

A study following more than four million people for more than a decade, for example, found that, starting at just 35 dB, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease increased by 2.9 percent for every 10 dB increase in exposure to road traffic noise. The increase in risk of dying from a heart attack was even more pronounced: Also starting at just 35 dB, it increased by 4.3 percent for every 10 dB increase in road traffic noise.

When exposed to sounds louder than 110 dB, we experience discomfort, and anything louder than 120 dB will cause pain. An average leaf blower comes at anywhere between 80 and 85 dB, and a jet engine registers about 130 dB from 100 feet away. A horn on a commercial truck can be as loud as 150 dB. About 93 per cent of people living in Toronto are exposed to constant noise levels of 45 decibels , which is the “baseline hum” of the city.

The W.H.O. has long recommended less than 40 dB as an annual average of nighttime noise outside bedrooms to prevent negative health effects, and less than 30 dB of nighttime noise inside bedrooms for high-quality sleep. According to the World Health Organization, average road traffic noise above 53 dB or average aircraft noise exposure above about 45 dB are associated with adverse health effects. Nearly a third of the U.S. population lives in areas exposed to noise levels of at least 45 dB, according to a preliminary analysis based on models of road, rail and aircraft noise in 2020 from the Department of Transportation.

Noise is a remarkably insidious form of pollution: a 10dB noise increase (from dishwasher to vacuum) drops productivity by 5%. But we don't notice: noise hurts your ability to think, not your effort. You work as hard but do worse. And poorer areas have more noise.

Background music makes you worse at creative tasks with memory or verbal elements in 3 experiments. No difference if the music was instrumental, foreign language, or a particular genre. Silence or low-level noise was best.

Economists who analyzed health care spending and productivity loss because of heart disease and hypertension have argued that a 5 dB reduction in U.S. noise could result in an annual benefit of $3.9 billion