How noise kills us slowly

On cigarette packets, the warning about the mortal danger of tobacco is written in black on white.

But near an airport, in a nightclub or in an open space, almost no mention is made of noise-related health damage.

However, the consequences are just as dramatic.

Each year in Europe, around 12,000 premature deaths are linked to noise pollution, indicates the latest report from the European Environment Agency.

By what mechanisms do the horns, telephone or email notifications, the cries of a playground or the high level of the streamed voice

Dua Lipa harm us?

How does a sound, even at low intensity, contribute to degrading our state of health?

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toxic stress

Any noise pollution, even at low intensity, must be considered a "slow poison" for the body, believes Michel Le Van Quyen, research director at INSERM, at the Biomedical Imaging Laboratory (LIB).

“Whether we are aware of it or not, whether it is familiar to us or not, an unpredictable noise, mechanical or digital, such as a horn or a simple telephone notification, will put our brains on high alert, underlines the neuroscientist .

If the noise becomes recurrent, when you live near a highway or an airport for example, the body will then secrete stress hormones in excess, which will increase the inflammation of the immune system and damage the vessels. blood of the cardiovascular system.

If the noise becomes recurrent, the body will then secrete excess stress hormones

Michel Le Van Quyen, research director at INSERM

In its reports published in 2009 and 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) thus confirmed that above 50 decibels, either the noise of a washing machine, a quiet restaurant or a window on the street, noise pollution increases every 10 decibels, the risk of occurrence of myocardial infarction, hypertension and stroke.

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This permanent hypervigilance also costs us cognitively.

“Working in a noisy environment significantly reduces concentration and performance, and creates stress.

However, the more the latter is present, the more time the brain needs to regenerate, specifies Michel Le Van Quyen.

In 2015, an American study observed that if the employee of an open-space is interrupted on average every 11 minutes, it then takes him 25 minutes to focus on his task again.

And don't bet on sleep to do this recovery work.

The neuroscientist reminds us: “The ear has no eyelid”.

In other words, hearing is a sense that never sleeps.

“Regular noise, even low (between 60 and 65 decibels), disrupts the quality and quantity of sleep necessary for the well-being of the body, underlines Michel Le Van Quyen.

It then creates "sentinel sleepers", on the alert at night and very irritable during the day, and also increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality linked to sleep disorders.

Pain and hearing loss

If all these consequences on health are difficult to identify at first glance, this is not the case for damage to the auditory sphere.

The latter are generally perceived by hypersensitivity, even pain when listening to a noise.

“Prolonged exposure to too high a frequency and volume of sound, namely more than 80 decibels for eight hours a day, damages the cells of the inner ear.

This leads to progressive hearing loss, more rarely instantaneous,” says Professor Paul Avan, researcher in neurosensory biophysics and director of the Center for Research and Innovation in Human Audiology (CERIAH) at the Hearing Institute.

Compressed sound, danger for the ears?

Among the avenues used to recognize sounds harmful to the body, Professor Paul Avan, in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine of Clermont-Ferrand, is currently studying the deleterious effects of compressed music on protective auditory reflexes.

This audio processing consists in eliminating the differences between weak and loud sounds, so that the notes of the music retransmitted through the radio, television, telephone or the loudspeakers of a concert, are heard above the ambient noise.

Thanks to it, we will hear a song better in public transport, for example.

If the result sounds better when listening and widely used, according to the researchers, it would lead to auditory fatigue over several days, because the final sound is louder over a long period of time,

without nuances and therefore without natural breaths.

An exhaustion of the muscles of the inner ear considered "just as worrying as persistent aches after a sporting effort", points out Professor Paul Avan.

According to the specialist, this partial or total deafness is most often accompanied by brain disturbances causing buzzing or throbbing whistles in the auditory canal, also called tinnitus.

“By interfering with our daily lives, this acoustic trauma also slows down our social life and the brain's need for communication.

Under certain conditions, this will promote anxiety disorders and even the onset of dementia,” adds Professor Paul Avan.

The solutions

If we are not all sensitive to noise in the same way, the constant din of an urban lifestyle undoubtedly puts oil on the fire.

According to Ademe and the National Noise Council, 25 million French people suffer the effects of noise pollution, including a third in Île-de-France.

To protect himself, Michel Le Van Quyen favors regular bubbles of silence, for example by adopting noise-cancelling headphones at work and above all, if you can, when going for a walk in a green space.

“A large Dutch study showed in 2009 that mental health varies depending on the distance between the home and urban parks.

Beyond 400 meters, there is a higher risk of psychiatric illnesses, illustrates the neuroscientist.

These data were confirmed ten years later by American work from the University of Chicago, ensuring that the more trees you have nearby, the less you are exposed to cardiovascular disease, diabetes and taking antidepressants.

In addition, many municipalities, in Île-de-France and elsewhere, have provided their fellow citizens with noise maps by district.

Enough to review your criteria a little more before going to the real estate agent.