Effects of even low level noise

 

In the mythology of noise effects, a level of acceptance of the inevitable has become attached to the noise figure 55db. This is a quiet urban environment, the noise level in ordinary restaurants, the level where conversation is still possible.
But current research tells us otherwise. The following url leads to an article warning of medical research into the effect of male fertility, and, in passing, other health risks, of those 55dbs.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/03/can-noise-reduce-fertility-in-men?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=233474&subid=1404098&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2

Of course, in medical matters borders are rarely exact, there are other sources of threats to health, air pollution, unhealthy food, the stress of modern living, not to speak of the addictions of personal weakness, alcohol, nicotine, etc.. But here is the warning that the article carries against the threat which increases, as it neutralizes our power to monitor it due to impaired hearing:
"You don’t have to live under a flight path or next to a nightclub to be bothered by noise. Surprisingly low levels of noise – above 55 decibels (the equivalent of light traffic or an air conditioner) – especially at night is not only annoying but detrimental to health. Noise pollution is, warns the World Health Organization, a growing hazard, second only to air pollution in its ill effects. It is obviously linked to sleep disturbance but also to heart attacks, tinnitus, strokes and even obesity.", The Guardian, 4th July 2017