We live with lots of noise. What’s that doing to us?

In today’s Big Story Podcast, if you live in even a small city, you probably find yourself constantly surrounded by noise. Most of us learn to filter it out as we go about our daily lives, but that doesn’t make us immune to its effects.

Bojan Furst, who wrote about noise for The Walrus, says that new research indicates that noise in our environment can have negative long-term impacts on human health. “People who are already experiencing health impacts because of their social determinants of health, their income, their employment, on top of that, also experience additional health risks because they live in neighbourhoods that are noisier than better off neighbourhoods,” says Furst.

When the pandemic put a temporary pause on human activity, it gave researchers an opportunity to observe the extent to which the sounds we generate affect not just our own health and wellbeing, but the environment around us. So whether it’s the rumble of cars and trucks, the hum of modern appliances, or the engine of a passing ocean liner, how does all that racket impact the world around us?

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