Is my neighbour’s noise harming my health?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science

4.8 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As millions more of us move to live in densely populated cities, we almost inevitably face living in closer proximity to our neighbours. Neighbour noise can certainly be a source of annoyance – but could it even be damaging to our health? Increasing evidence suggests that unwanted noise can cause sleep deprivation, distraction and annoyance, as presenter Anand Jagatia finds out. He discovers that noise annoyance has a small but significant impact on our wider health – including our cardiovascular system – but that annoyance is not necessarily down to sound alone. Factors such as perception of the neighbourhood and relationships with our neighbours also play a part. CrowdScience has examined living with unwanted noises before, and we revisit our trip to the acoustics lab at the University of Salford in Manchester, UK. Here, we meet the researchers and engineers investigating the best ways to make our homes more pleasant for our ears whilst still maintaining the ‘buzz’ of city life. Contributors:

Contributors: Professor Charlotte Clark, St George’s University of London Professor Trevor Cox, University of Salford Manchester Professor Bill Davies, University of Salford Manchester Dr Mags Adams, University of Central Lancashire (formerly University of Salford Manchester, at time of recording)

Produced by Jen Whyntie and presented by Anand Jagatia for the BBC World Service.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Take some time for yourself with soothing classical music from the mindful mix, the Science of
0:07.0	Happiness Podcast.
0:08.0	For the last 20 years I've dedicated my career to exploring the science of living a happier more meaningful life and I want
0:14.4	to share that science with you.
0:16.1	And just one thing, deep calm with Michael Mosley.
0:19.4	I want to help you tap in to your hidden relaxation response system and open the door to that
0:25.4	calmer place within. Listen on BBC Sounds. Hello and welcome to Crowd Science from the BBC World Service. I'm Anand Jagatier and over the past week I've made a new enemy.
0:48.7	My boiler. I've just moved into a basement flat in London and every 15 minutes, day or night, this clunky old thing fires up to heat the rest of the building.
1:02.0	It is driving me to distraction and it's not
1:06.6	making my life as a radio presenter working from home any easier. And that's on
1:11.4	top of the traffic outside and my girlfriend making constant cups of tea.
1:15.0	But I'm not the only one who's been having trouble with noise in my home.
1:20.0	Crowd science listener Athena wrote to us about a situation she's been having difficulty with in her flat.
1:26.0	Hi Crowd Science, I'm Athena from London in the UK and I'd like to know,
1:31.0	Is my neighbour's noise affecting my health and what can be done about it.
1:38.2	Sorry to hear about that and first of all I mean could you tell us a bit more about the
1:42.0	situation? yes basically we
1:43.8	moved into this flat it's a Victorian period conversion and obviously the floors
1:51.0	and walls are very thin and there is this tenant living downstairs and
1:56.4	basically we can hear his radio 24 hours a day every day.
2:01.2	Basically hours a day, every day. Basically he turns the volume on at exactly 7 in the morning and then lowers it at around
2:10.2	11 in the evening so it's on all day long and we both thought oh no and then in the
	...

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