Europe Aims to Dampen the Din of Modern Life

The cry is rising across Europe: KEEP IT DOWN!

Harnessing the tireless power of computers and collective will, the continent is embarked on a new fight against a long-overlooked but oft-overheard form of pollution -- noise.

At the heart is a Europe-wide drive to map noise levels in cities in 25 nations. Allowing eyes to see what ears hear, the maps will show Europe as never before. They will be followed with plans to dampen the din and calm public disquiet about the 24-hour aural assault of modern life.

In the way X-rays reveal broken bones, maps will help show how the rumble of cars, planes and trains sickens cities and, experts fear, their inhabitants.

The program requires noise maps for all European Union cities with more than 250,000 people, as well as around major roads, rail lines and airports, by June 30, 2007 -- including in the 10 Eastern European countries joining the union next year.

Paris is leading the way. In a room warmed by computers crunching numbers around-the-clock, designers are readying the first 3-D maps of noise levels at night in the City of Light.

Daytime maps, with traffic noise represented in colors ranging from green for quiet, through yellow, then red, to deep blue for chronic noise, have attracted at least 150,000 visits since Paris City Hall posted them on its Internet site in May.

Paris’ traffic-clogged ring road shows up as a dark-blue noose measured at 76 decibels or more, above the 55 decibels the World Health Organization says can cause “serious annoyance.”

Crisscrossing the capital like whip marks are dozens of noisy boulevards, including the Champs-Elysees, also deep blue. In contrast, parks and inner courtyards that are a feature of Parisian apartment buildings are soothing havens of green.

Noise has bothered Europeans at least since the poet Juvenal bemoaned the “carts clattering through the winding streets” of ancient Rome. “The sick die here because they can’t sleep,” he wrote. Some 1,800 years later, author Marcel Proust lined his room with cork to dull the din of 1900s Paris.

Industrialization and modern transportation amplified the problem. EU countries are particularly affected because more than 75% of their current 376 million people live in urban areas, where noise levels are highest.

Noise is not just a nuisance, it’s a health issue. Victims are often least able to afford quieter surroundings. A WHO report estimated that 40% of EU residents -- 150 million people -- are exposed to road noise exceeding 55 decibels and that more than 30% endure nighttime noise levels that disturb their sleep.

WHO says prolonged exposure to chronic noise is thought to contribute to hypertension and heart disease, and may impair mental health.

In Paris, noise is “the type of pollution people complain about most,” Deputy Mayor Yves Contassot said.

Yet noise long took a backseat on government agendas, experts say, because it is not as obvious as diesel exhaust or fouled urban waterways. It is hoped the noise maps will strengthen public pressure for remedies.

“A lot of people think that noise behaves in an odd way and can’t be dealt with scientifically,” said Roger Tompsett, whose firm is noise-mapping London. “That’s the beauty of the maps. The public as well as the experts will be able to comment more meaningfully on development plans and noise action plans because it will be much clearer to them how noise behaves.”

The EU has decreed that member countries must draft plans by July 2008 to limit noise. Officials say existing anti-noise laws will also be reviewed to see whether they need tightening.

Paris is already taking action, covering more sections of the noisy ring road, directing traffic away from residential zones, building a tramway and replacing City Hall vehicles with quieter models. By year’s end, one-quarter of Paris’ 416 garbage trucks will run on natural gas.

There are skeptics. Peter Wakeham, director of Britain’s Noise Abatement Society, said funds for mapping could be spent soundproofing thin-walled homes. “Are they going to shut the nightclubs? No. Are they going to put in better traffic systems? No,” he said. “Common sense tells you where the noisy places are.”

Brussels has already used its maps to identify people eligible for soundproofing subsidies because of excess traffic noise.

London’s map, expected at year-end, is showing that the rumble from major roads can be heard farther away than previously thought, Tompsett said.

“The noise spreads until it gets to buildings and the buildings act as barriers,” he said. “That’s the sort of thing we’ll be able to learn from the maps.”

Data on the amount of traffic carried by roads being mapped is fed into computers, which calculate the din. The result is a model of noise across the city. Paris took readings with microphones at 100 points to verify the computer calculations and found them to be accurate on average to within 1 decibel.

By altering the data given to the computers, officials can use the models for simulations. Paris, for example, has simulated how noise would be cut in the Bois de Boulogne if it closed two roads that slice through the popular park.

The Web-based maps for public consumption are not as sophisticated but, in a nifty touch, allow Parisians to zoom in on noise levels on their streets and even their buildings with just a few mouse-clicks.

“It’s been an exceptional success,” Contassot said. “We could doubtless halve the amount of noise. That, to me, seems to be an entirely realistic goal.”