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Poll for National Hearing Day 2011
Study - 08/03/2011
Every year, the association National Hearing Day conducts a poll on a particular topic related to hearing. This year, the topic chosen was: “Noise nuisances and hearing difficulty.” This poll was conducted with a representative sample of the French population consisting of 992 people aged 20 and more, in partnership with Ipsos and Réunica.
What is the source of the nuisances?
26% of the respondents are annoyed at home by the noises of the city, 22% by neighbourhood noises and 18% by the noise of public works.
25% think that their accommodation is badly insulated from their neighbours and 17% that it is badly insulated from the street.
Note that 86% of the respondents have noticed that the sound level of commercials was higher than the one of the programmes before and after.
Outside their home, more than 1 in 3 people mentions road traffic (37%) before works (29%) and public transportation (9%).
What are the consequences in terms of annoyance and health?
32% of the respondents declare that they sometimes or often have difficulty hearing. Among them, a quarter of people aged 20-44 are affected, 36% of people aged 45-59 and 41% of people aged 60 and more.
58% have already felt tiredness related to noise, 51% irritability, 39% tinnitus and 37% headaches. Finally, a large majority, 60% of the respondents, think that noise affects their mood.
39% of the working population deems very or rather important noise annoyance at their workplace and 37% in a general manner outside their home. While noise annoyance at home only concerns 22% of the respondents, it grows with the rate of urban development: 9% of the people living in villages are annoyed by noise, 20% of the people living in towns of 2000 to 100,000 inhabitants, 30% of the people living in towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants and 39% of the people living in the Paris agglomeration.
26% of the respondents are annoyed at home by the noises of the city, 22% by neighbourhood noises and 18% by the noise of public works.
25% think that their accommodation is badly insulated from their neighbours and 17% that it is badly insulated from the street.
Note that 86% of the respondents have noticed that the sound level of commercials was higher than the one of the programmes before and after.
Outside their home, more than 1 in 3 people mentions road traffic (37%) before works (29%) and public transportation (9%).
What are the consequences in terms of annoyance and health?
32% of the respondents declare that they sometimes or often have difficulty hearing. Among them, a quarter of people aged 20-44 are affected, 36% of people aged 45-59 and 41% of people aged 60 and more.
58% have already felt tiredness related to noise, 51% irritability, 39% tinnitus and 37% headaches. Finally, a large majority, 60% of the respondents, think that noise affects their mood.
39% of the working population deems very or rather important noise annoyance at their workplace and 37% in a general manner outside their home. While noise annoyance at home only concerns 22% of the respondents, it grows with the rate of urban development: 9% of the people living in villages are annoyed by noise, 20% of the people living in towns of 2000 to 100,000 inhabitants, 30% of the people living in towns of more than 100,000 inhabitants and 39% of the people living in the Paris agglomeration.
Regulations - 13/12/2011
The European Commission presented last December 9th a proposal...
