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Environmental noise and health
Library of Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, Tuesday, 15th October at 5pm, lecture in Slovene language, free of charge
Library of Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia,
Tuesday, 15th October at 5pm, lecture in Slovene language, free of charge
Sonja Jeram will present the topic of environmental noise and the importance of a good soundscape in residential areas. She will explain the position of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission, as well as the role of the National Institute of Public Health in preparing opinions related to land use planning and action plans. She will present the level of noise pollution for traffic, industry, restaurants and wind turbines and highlight individual cases. As a contrast to noise pollution, she will also describe the role of quiet areas in the urban environment.
Environmental noise has several impacts on human health and well-being. Very loud sounds can cause temporary or permanent hearing impairment even in a short period of time. However, such sounds are not often present in the living environment. There is increasing scientific evidence of the negative effects of permanent noise in the environment even when it does not reach high intensities. Although, many people quickly get used to this noise and accept it as part of their everyday life, health effects are reflected in long-term cardiovascular disease. It is estimated that more than one million healthy life years are lost in Western Europe due to suffering from annoyance, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, tinnitus and cognitive impairment in children. The data indicate the severity of the outcomes that we should not overlook.
Sonja Jeram is a researcher at the National Institute of Public Health in Ljubljana. She holds a PhD in biology from the University of Ljubljana in the field of neurophysiology in insect sound communication. She continued her work in the field of chemical safety and participated as a visiting scientist at the European Center for the Validation of Alternative Methods (Joint Research Centre, Ispra). For her outstanding work on alternative strategies for reducing animal use in experiments, she received the Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation Award. For the last ten years, she has been working on environmental noise and health also being involved in Horizon 2020 European projects.
The lecture is part of a project »Expert basis for spatial planning of green areas aimed at promoting physical activities for citizens«.
You are kindly invited to the lecture and the discussion that will follow. More info at info@uirs.si.