Abstract
Introduction: Environmental noise pollution is a growing public health phenomenon associated with chronic disease and discomfort, especially in large metropolitan cities, including Montreal. We aimed to determine whether socioeconomically deprived populations in Montreal are exposed to greater environmental noise levels.
Methods: We performed a comparative study among four neighborhoods in Montreal (classified as low and high-income neighborhoods) that were selected based on average household annual incomes after taxes. Data on environmental noise pollution levels were collected for 5 days in each neighborhood for 1 to 2 hours in daytime periods using a Sound Level Meter (SLM) for offline noise monitoring and a GPS recording device. Moreover, descriptive statistics were performed in R, and the results are presented in tables, maps, and boxplots.
Results: The mean and median Equivalent Continuous Sound levels (LEQ_dB) were higher in the Low-Income neighborhoods of East Ville-Marie and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve (mean = 66.9, 65.1 dB; SD = 6.16, 7.50; median = 66.6, 64.3 dB respectively) than in the High-Income Neighborhoods of Westmount and Outremont (mean = 62.0, 62.1 dB; SD = 6.87, 7.02; median = 60.8, 61.6 dB respectively). Also, the median LEQ_dB was highest in East Ville-Marie across 5 days of data collection.
Conclusions: The noise pollution levels were 2 - 4 dB higher among the low-income neighborhoods than in the high-income neighborhoods, suggesting that socioeconomic status may influence disparity in noise pollution levels. This also indicates that this environmental exposure may disproportionately impact socially and economically disadvantaged communities.