By Vanessa Cort
EARLY last week a friend of mine and concerned citizen, Clement Cumberbatch – one of the country’s leading jewellers – sent me a very disturbing voice note of a young woman threatening to take her own life because of the noise she constantly has to endure in her home.

A resident of Kitty, the young woman complains of not being able to get any sleep, or indeed, any rest when vehicles with booming speakers park in front of hers and other homes at nights. The situation is made worse on Sunday nights when the seawall is lined with giant speakers all playing music at decibel-defying levels.

She is not alone. Throughout the years, residents have been complaining about the deafening music played into the wee hours of the morning, with total disregard for those living in the vicinity.
Kitty residents are particularly affected because of their proximity to the seawall and especially those living on the Kitty Public Road, Shell Road and other nearby streets, who already have to cope with the incessant traffic noise from vehicles passing close to their homes.

The very young, the elderly and people who have existing mental or physical health concerns are often severely affected by loud noise, as in the case of this woman who also spoke of suffering from depression.

In fact, experts at the Banyan Treatment Centres in the US say, “Noise pollution and depression are cause and effect in cases where these sounds disrupt a person’s mental and emotional well-being.”

Meredith Goodwin, M.D., says that noise is always around us, but defines noise pollution as “…the spread of unwanted sounds in our environment” – a hazard which is often overlooked.
She goes on to say, “The brain is always monitoring sounds for signs of danger even during sleep. As a result, frequent or loud noise can trigger anxiety and stress.”

The doctor also states that people living with noise pollution may be irritable and on edge and she warns, “If a person feels they cannot control the amount of noise in their environment, its impact on their mental health intensifies.”

Harvard Medicine says bluntly, “Noise pollution is more than a nuisance. It’s a health risk.” Not only is our mental health affected but also our physical health as clinicians have shown that it can drive hearing loss and impact cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

Experts around the world say that the impact of noise pollution on human health is of urgent and immediate concern in today’s world and has long been considered a leading environmental nuisance by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Indeed, the WHO has compiled guidelines for community noise even recommending decibel-levels for particular rooms such as bedrooms and classrooms and recently even more stringent measures have been advocated.

Clearly, the noise produced by the sea wall ‘boom boxes’ would be far in excess of recommended levels. And just as the WHO has asked policy-makers to reduce noise from traffic, it is even more urgent that this excessive noise in our community be brought under control.

Exposure to unpleasant or excessively high sound can cause anxiety, which can increase depression symptoms and all forms of noise can unleash stress and raise blood pressure and heart rate, according to researchers.

Peter James, a professor of population medicine at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute’s Department of Population Medicine, has said that quantifying noise pollution’s contribution to health problems is a challenge because of poor measuring and monitoring, yet chronic noise exposure is known to disrupt the sleep of millions.

The professor declares, “Given what we do know, noise is too significant an issue for us to sit around and wait for perfect data.”

In our case, as it concerns the noise emanating from the sea wall, policy makers should take note of Professor James’ words, “To say the onus is on the individual to fix their noise exposure is not feasible.” Action has to be taken by the authorities.