Noisy neighbours

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32566, 27 March 1971, Page 18

Noisy neighbours

Sir, —I very much doubt whether the dead of E. Priestley’s grandmother’s era would willingly exchange their heavenly paradise for today’s noisy world. Bird-song at eventide, chatter of the babbling brook, and the wind in the heather are all sweet sounds; but who can hear them today? E. Priestley is probably not aware that such eminent scientists as Dr Gerd Jansen, of Essen, West Germany, and Dr Giovanni Straveo,’ of Italy, have established that noise threatens the heart by altering the rhythm of its beat. This can happen even while a person sleeps, endangering both heart and arteries by increasing the level of cholesterol in the blood. So maybe there are people in our kirkyards who have been killed by noise. Austria, Brazil, Finland, Russia, Sweden, and other countries have laws controlling noise. Why, then, are we so hesitant to take action before it is too late?— Yours, etc., E. M. CARTER. March 26, 1971. [This correspondence is now closed.—Ed., “The Press.”]