Final report of a project on night noise guidelines for Europe

Description      -      Financing      -      Outcomes      -      More info
Description
Action Promoting health and prevent disease through addressing health determinants across all policies and activities Area of activity Provide expertise and scientific advice to the Commission and to its Member States for supporting them when developing future legislation in the area of night noise exposure control and surveillance. Summary The project will be successful if an expert's consensus can be reached during the development of the project and endorsed during a final meeting on the following subjects: • Guideline values for night noise both for short and long term exposure • Substantiation for an agreement on the night penalty factor to be allocated to night time noise in the calculation of Lden. More info...
Description      -      Financing      -      Outcomes      -      More info
Financing
Leader organisation WHO (World Health Organization), Regional Office for Europe Scherfigsvej 8 DK-2100 Copenhagen DENMARK Tel: +45.39.17.17.17 Fax: +45.39.17.18.18
Associated beneficiaries • Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, established in London, United Kingdom • TNO - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research - INRO, established in Delft, The Netherlands • CNRS-CEPA - Centre National de Recherche Scientifique Centre d'Études de Physiologie Appliquée, established in Strasbourg, France • Univerzita Karlova v Praze 1 - lékařská fakulta, 1st Medical Faculty Charles University, Department of Neurology, established in Prague, Czech Republic • CESUR/IST - Centro de Sistemas Urbanos e Regionais / Instituto Superior Técnico, established in Lisboa, Portugal • Centre for Built Environment, University of Gävle, established in Gävle, Sweden • Umweltbundesamt - Federal Environmental Agency; Department of Environmental Hygiene, established in Berlin, Germany • Institut National de Recherche sur les Transports et leur Sécurité, LTE - Laboratoire Transports et environnement, established in Bron, France • Landesgesundheitsamt Baden-Württemberg, established in Stuttgart, Germany • ARPAT Dipartimento provinciale di Pisa, established in Pisa, Italy • National Institute of Public Health, established in Copenhagen, Denmark • RIVM - Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu; National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, established in Bilthoven, The Netherlands • Institute of Hygiene and Social Medicine, University of Innsbruck, established in Innsbruck, Austria • Katedra i Klinika Psychiatryczna; AM w Warszawie, Department of Psychiatry Medical University of Warsaw, established in Warsaw, Poland • Institute of public health of the republic of Slovenia, established in Ljubljana, Slovenia The following associated beneficiary: • Université Libre de Bruxelles, established in Bruxelles, Belgium is replaced by: • Università La Sapienza di Roma, Centro per I Disturbi del Sonns in Età Evolutiva, Dip. Scienze Neurologiche, established in Rome, Italy The following associated beneficiary: • Kornyezetgazdalkodasi Intezet, Institute for Environmental Protection, established in Budapest, Hungary ends its partnership and will not be replaced.
Starting date and duration of project - 01/06/2004 - 30 months	Total cost 464.287,00 € Subsidy from the Commission 278.572,20 €
Description      -      Financing      -      Outcomes      -      More info
Outcomes
The first deliverable will be a full report proposing health based guideline values for night noise exposure supported with the best available scientific evidence. This report will include when possible exposure response curves. The second deliverable will be a report describing the expert consensus on possible ways to amend the penalty added to night noise levels in the calculations of Lden . These reports will be published as WHO publications and posted on the World Wide Web of the WHO. As per agreement between the UN system and the commission, title and industrial property rights in the result of the project and the reports and other documents relating to it shall vest in WHO. Notwithstanding the above, WHO will grant the commission the right to use freely and as it sees fit all documents deriving from the project, whatever their form. Final report: Nightnoise guidelines (NNGL) for Europe (5 MB)
Description      -      Financing      -      Outcomes      -      More info
More info
Statement of project aim(s) and objectives Legislation at EU and at country levels related to night noise control have always been based on sleep disturbance. Sleep disturbance is currently described with various indicators i.e. the number of behavioural awakenings, EEG awakenings, body movements or changes in the heart rate. For most of these indicators accurate exposure-response curves have been established. The impacts of sleep disturbance from noise exposure on health, both on short term and long term basis, have been although very poorly assessed. The following questions still need to be answered to arrive at evidence-based guidelines for night time noise. The objectives of the new Network are to: • Which are the sleep disturbance indicators that best describe noise induced sleep disturbance? • What are the Lnight threshold values (or noise levels described with another metrics) for various sleep disturbance indicators, and the possible exposure response curves? • Are there any relationships among the various indicators of sleep disturbance for noise induced sleep disturbance? • What are the relationships between the above mentioned indicators and the following health end points, for adults and children, on a long and on a short term basis: - Cardiovascular disease/mortality, - Increased likelihood of different types of accidents, - Mental disorders, notably depression, - Reduced functioning of the immune system, - Cognitive effects, notably reduced learning, - Any other emerging health end points that could be identified through experts' consultation. The aims of the project are: • Provide the necessary scientific data on the health impact of various noise sources during night time (Air, Road and Rail traffic). Propose health based guideline values that would support the development of adequate legislations in this area. • Validate the penalty factor of 10dBA allocated to night noise in the calculation of the Lden in the EC directive on noise in view of the various end points • Propose for each health end point an attributable fraction of the risk attributable to noise exposure during sleep. The specific objectives are: • To address the new threats that will emerge from increased night traffic from rail and air traffic, • To support the implementation of the noise directive, and the development of an harmonised body of legislation in the area of night noise control, • To increase the protection of the 80 million of Europeans currently exposed to night noise levels that affect their sleep patterns.
Methods The basic methodology to be used is the one described in the WHO/EURO publication EUR/00/5020369 “Evaluation and use of epidemiological evidence for environmental risk assessment”. The objectives will be agreed through a stepwise approach that will include: • Preparation of background papers (including systematic literature review) • Elaboration of scientific consensus (via peer review process) • Formal consensus during a final meeting. The following disciplines will be associated to this work: • Noise exposure assessment specialists • Sleep pathologists • Accident epidemiologists • Immunologists • Mental health experts, including stress specialists, • HIA experts.