PROVIDENCE – A Brown University School of Public Health Ph.D. candidate is hoping to capture Rhode Island’s soundscape and its potential effects on children’s health.
Nina Lee, a research assistant at the school who will begin her doctoral studies in epidemiology this fall, has set up about 130 environmental noise monitors across the Ocean State since last October. So far, she’s put at least two in each city and town in Rhode Island.
Working in the school’s community noise lab, Lee plans to use data collected by the monitors to create a “sound exposure map” of the state.
Then, with data on children’s health outcomes collected from sources, including the Hassenfeld Child Health Innovation Institute, Lee plans to investigate whether noise pollution impacts children’s well-being.
“We’re exposed to [noise] every day of our lives from when we’re born, but it’s only been in very recent years that it’s been studied outside of the occupational or industrial environment,” Lee said. “There’s preliminary evidence that it impacts neurodevelopment, our immune systems and our nervous systems.”
Once more is known about the specific health effects of noise, appropriate action can be identified, Lee added.
“Noise is not distributed fairly in our environment. There are ways that we can make changes to improve those disparities, but nothing’s going to be done until the data are collected and the evidence is out there,” she said. “Once you have that, it’s pretty clear the areas that need intervention.”
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
