Noise has emerged as the leading environmental nuisance in Europe, and excessive noise is an increasingly common public complaint.

WHO/Europe developed guidelines for night noise to help countries recognize and address noise and health issues. Based on a six-year expert evaluation of scientific evidence, they involved thirty-five scientists from medical and acoustical disciplines, and key partners such as the European Commission.

The guidelines present ground-breaking evidence of the damage exposure to night noise can have on people’s health: one in five Europeans is regularly exposed to sound levels at night that could significantly damage their health.

They also provide recommendations to countries for introducing night noise limits, thus supporting the implementation of the 2002 European Union Directive on Environmental Noise which requires countries to map hotspots of noise and reduce exposure, but does not set any limit values.

The guidelines are the final product of a project funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Health and Consumers (DG Sanco), which reviewed the evidence of the effects of night time noise on health and estimated the magnitude of the associated health risks.