Published: 31 October 2024
Dr Sierra Clark and Professor John Gulliver from St George’s Population Health Research Institute have won an Innovation Award for their research into the impact of transport noise on human health.
Together with their colleagues from the University of Leicester and UK Health Security Agency, they were presented with the award at the Noise Abatement Society’s John Connell Awards, which took place in the Palace of Westminster on 16 October.
The annual awards ceremony is dubbed the ‘Noise Oscars’. It recognises innovative services, campaigns, products and programmes that are shining examples of community co-operation, education and creative solutions to solve noise pollution problems and improve soundscapes.
“We are thrilled that our collaborative research was recognised for the John Connell Innovation Award, furthering highlighting the impact that ‘putting noise on the map’ can have in generating public, policy, and industry awareness of this important environmental public health issue.”
- Dr Sierra Clark, Lecturer in Population Health -
Decades of research have revealed that living in environments with high transportation noise levels - such as from roads, trains and airplanes - can contribute to stress, sleep disturbances and an increased risk of serious health issues including heart disease and diabetes.
The team were recognised for their research published in 2023 which determined the first estimate of the burden of disease from transport noise across England by quantifying a health metric known as Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). This measurement accounts for the impact on quality of life and lives lost due to premature death.
Public health burdens
They estimated that approximately 100,000 DALYs were lost in England in 2018 due to road traffic noise, 17,000 DALYs lost to aircraft noise and 13,000 DALYs lost to railway noise. The study highlighted regional differences, with London, South East of England and the North West of England experiencing the highest DALY losses from road traffic noise.
This adds to the growing evidence that major noise sources contribute significantly to public health burdens.
“We are delighted with the recognition of this important work via the innovation award. The toolkit we developed is being used by UKHSA for decision and policy support on protecting public health from noise pollution.”
- Professor John Gulliver, Professor of Environmental and Exposure Sciences -
This work emphasises the critical need to consider the health effects of noise in urban planning and infrastructure development decisions. It has also recently been used as evidence in a House of Lords Inquiry on the Effects of Noise and Artificial Light on Human Health.
Learn more about St George’s population health research