Noise and Air Pollution Related to Health in Urban Environments

Abstract

Environmental noise is a pollutant considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a threat to public health due to its harmful effects on human health. In this regard, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) indicates that road traffic is the sound source that generates the greatest number of people exposed in Europe to sound levels above what is recommended by the European Noise Directive. In a similar way, the EEA also reports that air pollution is the most important environmental health risk in Europe, where road traffic is one of the main sources of emission of polluting gases. The relationship between both pollutants, leads to think about the development of common strategies. This paper presents a review on recent researches about the relationship of these two types of pollution in urban environments with different types of diseases.