The World Health Organization treats environmental noise as a public-health exposure rather than simply a nuisance. WHO guidance addresses sleep disturbance, annoyance, cognitive effects, and cardiovascular effects. WHO updated its methodology for quantifying health impacts from environmental noise in 2024. Earlier WHO burden-of-disease work included cognitive impairment in children and sleep disturbance among noise-related health burdens.
Sources: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/04-08-2024-how-much-does-environmental-noise-affect-our-health--who-updates-methods-to-assess-health-risks; https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289002295
A 2024 paper examined potential developmental implications of chronic white-noise exposure in young children and raised concern that chronic exposure to continuous noise could potentially affect hearing, speech, and learning if sound machines are used incorrectly. This is not evidence that ordinary environmental background noise causes those outcomes; it underscores the importance of exposure intensity and duration.
Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389945724001588
Some controlled background noise can be beneficial in particular circumstances. A 2024 systematic review/meta-analysis involving children and young adults with ADHD or significant ADHD symptoms found that white/pink noise sometimes improved cognitive task performance. Newer research has also reported potential sleep benefits from white noise in infants and toddlers. Therefore, the scientifically defensible position is not that all continuous noise is harmful.
Sources: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38428577/ ; https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41151421/