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Noise: Spain leads the way in Europe BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS THERE are situations that prejudice health and can signify an obstacle for active longevity and as a result, the objective of living to 120 years of age or more. One of them is the noise that arises from the lack of suitable policies to avoid it
in modern life. Noise is an element of environmental pollution and seriously affects the auditory capacity of those who have to suffer it, at once exercising a negative influence and fostering other disorders in the human body. The
harmful effects of noise on health range from cardiovascular and sleep problems to a reduced sexual appetite. But, what is noise? Noise is a sound lacking in meaning, incapable of supporting elements of knowledge or interest. In
other cases, significant sounds such as music can be transformed into “noise” if they exceed a healthy level to be listened to. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirms that 76% of people who live in large cities suffer a
higher acoustic impact than that recommended. According to statistics and after Japan, Spain, for example, is one of the noisiest countries in the world and Madrid is the most noise-polluted city in Europe. Many of the city’s inhabitants suffer from stress, irritability, hypertension, migraine,
tachycardia, fatigue, deafness, cardiac acceleration, sleep problems, digestive complaints and reduction of sexual ability whilst noise also contributes to an increase in the number of accidents. Contemporary human beings are
subjected to sound wave aggression that injures their auditory capacity. In Europe for example, it is estimated that 80 million people suffer from hearing problems. Traffic is the principle cause of noise pollution in large
cities. Other factors responsible for noise are construction work, proximity to airports and nocturnal activity and social noise. The consequences of noise often do not manifest themselves until years after the event and the
principle damage is the hearing loss that can occur and, in the worst cases, permanent deafness. Even if they do not exceed the maximum levels permitted, constant noise levels accelerate the process of this complaint to such a
degree that our ears age more quickly that our actual physical age. On other occasions, exposure to short-term but high-density noise can precipitate this irreversible condition for which there is no treatment. On this point, experts recall how hearing aids, although an aid, do not allow us to hear with
total clarity. Many young people of today will suffer hearing problems in the future. The excessive use of personal stereos with headphones and high volume levels in nightclubs are increasingly provoking hearing disorders amongst this population group. It takes the ear around 36 hours to recover its
normal hearing ability after being subjected to one evening’s worth of deafening music in a nightclub. All this has logical repercussions, both for integral health and individual performance and, as a result, affects our studies
or work. Many people endure noise as an inevitable consequence of their professional activity. European legislation relating to the prevention of risks in the workplace states that a level of 85 decibels is the maximum before prevention measures must be adopted and protective earphones must be worn.
However, often it is the workers themselves who do not carry out these recommendations and it is necessary to reinforce information on prevention. The problem of noise has to be treated both with social solutions and individual
measures. All of us can contribute to controlling the level of noise that reaches our ears and make our environment a more peaceful space. With respect to reactions of the circulatory system, one of the most notable reactions is
from the blood vessels in the fingers and temples on hearing noise. They immediately contract, the muscles in the arms tense and simultaneously produces other reactions on the skin and motor organs.
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