Washington, D.C. - (October 2) We wanted to make you aware of a recent article, An Economic Assessment of U.S. Environmental Noise as a Cardiovascular Health Hazard, published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. The article represents an important first step in efforts to estimate in real terms the economic and social costs of environmental noise exposure. The authors concluded that "reducing environmental noise by 5 dB LDN would reduce hypertension cases by an estimated 1.2 million (1.4%) and CHD cases by 279,000 (1.8%). The associated cost savings and productivity gains are estimated to exceed $3.9 billion annually, demonstrating that environmental noise has significant economic ramifications" and that "[e]vidence is gathering on other non-auditory health impacts of noise, such as annoyance, sleep deprivation, childhood learning disruption, stress, and mental health and future estimates can address these impacts." To read the article, click here. To read a synopsis,click here.