- On May 14, a day will be held at the Ministry’s headquarters to raise awareness of this problem and its implications, as well as to disseminate the actions being worked on.
This Wednesday marks International Noise Awareness Day, a major pollutant that affects the health and well-being of citizens, with serious impacts on the environment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers transport noise to be the second leading environmental cause of disease in Europe, behind particulate air pollution. Other sources of noise are also important, such as those caused by industry or economic activities, as well as noise in indoor environments.
The evidence of the health effects of noise, such as hearing loss or tinnitus, annoyance and irritability, sleep disturbances, cognitive problems (especially in children) or physiological stress, is solid. The physical manifestations are increased blood pressure, vasoconstriction, alterations in heart rate or increases in blood viscosity. This increases the risk of developing diseases such as arteriosclerosis, diabetes, heart disease, circulatory system diseases, and respiratory diseases.
In recent years, cleaner air is being achieved in our cities. This will be reflected in a lower incidence of the diseases caused by this pollution and in a higher quality of life. However, it is important to continue to pay attention to environmental noise, to avoid or reduce its impact, and to redouble efforts.
Society has a personal responsibility to prevent its behavior from harming the rest of the citizens, but administrations and professionals in the acoustics sector must generate the framework that makes this possible and design measures and actions that mitigate so much suffering and improve the quality of life.
In this regard, in addition to working to facilitate compliance with the current regulatory framework, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO) has launched the following initiatives:
- The process of technical review of the basic State regulation on the subject has begun in order to update the regulations, improve the wording and clarify or develop some aspects, thus allowing for a simpler and more consistent application. The role of these regulations will be strengthened as an effective and useful instrument for the protection of human health and the environment against noise.
- Work has begun on a strategic Global Noise Diagnosis in Spain, which will provide, for the first time, an estimate at State level of the magnitude of the problems derived from noise caused by the different acoustic emitters, the population that is suffering from it and the possible significance in terms of health effects. This work will make it possible to analyze possible approaches to address the problem through a strategic document.
- We have worked on easier and more convenient access to the information communicated by the competent authorities on environmental noise, in compliance with the regulation and the European Directive on environmental noise assessment and management. Thus, the portal of the Basic Information System on Noise Pollution (SICA) has been improved and a new Spatial Data Infrastructure on Environmental Noise (IDE-SICA) has been prepared and will soon be available.
In order to provide more information on the subject, a conference on environmental noise will be held at MITECO on May 14. It is open to interested parties, subject to prior registration for capacity reasons.
