Noise

It is possible to reduce noise in our city because most of it comes from traffic (engines and tyres), and we can redesign our streets so that traffic moves slower and is therefore much quieter.

Noise in Yarra

You can use an app on your smartphone to measure noise in Yarra:

Video credit: Sophie Wade.

Noise maps

Cities can publish noise maps to help show why they are taking action to reduce noise levels.

Road noise can also be modelled based on traffic volumes:

Learn more

• Guidelines for Community Noise, from the World Health Organization
• Environmental noise, from the European Environment Agency
• Burden of disease from environmental noise – Quantification of healthy life years lost in Europe, from the World Health Organization
• Calculate decibel level changes, from Sengpiel Audio
• Cairo ranked second noisiest city in the world, from the Egypt Independent
• Example of noise in Cairo, from Chris Naunton
• Noise levels and the sources of noise pollution in Karachi, from the Journal of the Pakistan Medical Association
• Example of noise in Karachi, from Kashan Ilyas
• The Adverse Effects of Environmental Noise Exposure on Oxidative Stress and Cardiovascular Risk, from the journal Antioxid Redox Signal
• The Environmental Quality of City Streets: The Residents’ Viewpoint, from the Journal of the American Institute of Planners
• Netherlands Noise Abatement Act (Weg Geluidhinder)
• Amsterdam Noise Map