The report, based on a limited set of data, estimated that DALYs lost from environmental noise in western European countries are equivalent to

61,000 years for Ischaemic Heart Disease (IHD),

45,000 years for cognitive impairment in children,

903,000 years for sleep disturbance,

22,000 years for tinnitus and

654,000 years for annoyance (WHO Regional Office for Europe & JRC, 2011).

These results indicate that at least one million healthy years of life are lost every year from traffic-related environmental noise in western Europe.

Sleep disturbance and annoyance, mostly related to road traffic noise, constitute the bulk of this burden.