Assessment of Health Risks Associated with Long-Term Environmental Noise Exposure in Silence Zones of Delhi City

The study examines data collected over 7  years  (2015–2021) from Delhi's National Ambient Noise Monitoring Network for atmospheric noise monitoring. This study looks at the psychological and physiological consequences of noise on health, including sleep disruption, decreased productivity, hearing loss, speech interference, and increased blood pressure. Five silence zones in Delhi were selected to investigate the noise exposure associated health risk study. None of these areas, according to the results, met the ambient noise standards, pointing to a pervasive problem. Long-term monthly average L_dn values varied widely among the locations, with values for Dilshad Garden ranging from 65.0 dB(A) to 79.0 dB(A), NSIT Dwarka from 60.7 to 66.2 dB(A), R K Puram from 61.6 to 81.6 dB(A), Mandir Marg from 57.9 to 93.2 dB(A), and DTU Bawana from 58.1 to 78.0 dB(A). The study also compares the L_dn values during the 7 years to observe the standards for health hazards set by the Netherlands' Health Council in 1994. According to the results, three of the study sites above the threshold of 70 dB (A) were linked to hypertension and ischemic heart disease, whereas all five sites exceeded the threshold of 42 dB (A) for annoyance. These findings bring to light the serious health issues connected to exposure to environmental noise.