![]() And equally, it must be if only those with resources have the luxury of making noise freely – to play their instruments, to have friends over and properly laugh from the belly well after dinner is done – because of where they live. It must be, if only those with certain resources can buy their peace, through soundproofing or access to quieter neighbourhoods. Noise pollution is undoubtedly a class issue. Even the maintenance of the road itself can contribute to noise levels the same car travelling through a wealthy area may sound quieter than when it is travelling through a pothole-ridden road in a poorer one. Trees act as an efficient sound damper, yet poorer areas tend to have less green space. There are other factors that make some neighbourhoods louder than others. But research shows it is lower-income residents, more likely to live near motorways, airports and industrial areas, who are the most acutely affected by noise pollution. The people I hear complaining the most about noise pollution seem to be the monied nimbys, the wealthy curtain-twitchers, or the plain old killjoys (sorry, Auntie!). I’m sure the cooking frog rarely notices the temperature either. Writing this article, I checked the decibels of my street using this interactive London map: 70dB, mostly from road transport. Noise is, after all, a part of city life – and it cannot be overstated how quickly you get used to it. (I’m sure some day this will be a TV show: Flat-tle Royale, where tenants fight to the death for the right to a good night’s sleep or to watch TV without headphones.) (For the latest iteration of this, see Manchester’s Night & Day cafe.) Or landlords of overpriced rentals, with walls so thin you can probably hear your neighbour fart, flatly refusing to pay for any soundproofing, no matter what acrimony follows. ![]() ![]() I confess that, for a long time, the only urban noise-related issue that typically got my blood boiling was related to legacy nightlife venues being shuttered to preserve the comfort of a few affluent people who had only just moved in. Traffic noise is such a physiological stressor it’s been compared to secondhand smoking. For children, a link is being explored between noise and cognitive development, as well as behavioural issues. The result? Hearing loss, shortened life expectancy (the WHO estimates 1m healthy life years are lost to noise in western Europe alone), an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, anxiety, depression and type 2 diabetes. Last year, the UN declared London one of the noisiest cities in Europe, with residents regularly being exposed to average levels of 86 decibels, well exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) safety threshold of 53dB. Residents up and down the country are being regularly exposed to unsafe levels of noise, from Bury to Hartlepool, Wigan to Bristol.
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