Topics | Umweltbundesamt

According to the 2022 noise mapping, about 17.0 % of the total population was adversely affected by night-time noise.They further showed that 25.1 % of the population was exposed to a noise level of above 55 decibels during the day.The main source of noise is road traffic. Aircraft noise hardly plays a role in the area assessment.Noise that exceeds exposure limits can lead to health problems. read more

Whales and seals depend on their sense of hearing for survival. Man-made underwater sounds can impair their hearing in both the short and long term, displace them from vital habitats, cause a change in important patterns of behaviour and thereby deteriorate the survival capacity of these marine mammals. read more

Sleep disorders, increased blood pressure or even ringing in the ears (tinnitus) – noise can make people ill, even as early as childhood. A new interactive brochure from the UBA teaches third and fourth-year pupils about acoustics and noise in a playful way and aims to raise awareness of the problem of noise. read more

Noise is a subjective phenomenon that is difficult to measure as such. A sound turns to noise when acoustic or sound pressure is accompanied by psychological stress. read more

An excess of sound, whether in intensity or duration, can generate adverse effects or permanent damage to the hearing. Hearing can be damaged to the point of clinical deafness, and short- or long-term ringing in the ears (tinnitus) can result. This can be brought about either by exposure to continuous sound or by short-lived sound peaks. Such high levels of sound are not only found in the workplac... read more