A new study has found a link between lengthy exposure to low traffic noise or its equivalent and male fertility problems. But how worried should we be?
You don’t have to live under a flight path or next to a nightclub to be bothered by noise. Surprisingly low levels of noise – above 55 decibels (the equivalent of light traffic or an air conditioner) – especially at night is not only annoying but detrimental to health. Noise pollution is, warns the World Health Organization, a growing hazard, second only to air pollution in its ill effects. It is obviously linked to sleep disturbance but also to heart attacks, tinnitus, strokes and even obesity.
Noise has also been associated with increases in premature births and miscarriages, and this week its ill effects were extended to reducing male fertility. A study, in the international journal Environmental Pollution, of 206,492 men in South Korea found that being exposed to noise levels of more than 55 decibels for four years, especially at night, was associated with an increase in fertility problems. When the authors of the study compared postcodes and the noise associated with them to fertility (as measured by the quality of semen samples) they found an increase in infertility for each 10 decibels of noise above 55 decibels. The researchers tried to factor in other things that affect fertility, such as age, exercise, smoking, drinking, blood sugar, weight and medical history. But the design of the study meant they couldn’t collect information on genetic factors or exposure to other things, such as chemicals that could also reduce fertility.
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