Noise in Prague

Overexposure to excessive noise is, similarly as air pollution, the most serious factor affecting health of inhabitants of large cities. Long-term affecting noise nuisance may result in hearing impairments and disorders yet also cause a number of other diseases as stress, neurosis, pathological changes in blood pressure, etc.

Road traffic is the major source of noise in urban environment and especially the heavily growing automobile transport. Exceptions are the vicinities of airports, railways, or even construction sites. Adverse effects of noise are reinforced due to highly concentrated population on relatively small areas. Prague is the worst affected area of the Czech Republic concerning noise affects on inhabitants. Share of population affected by the excessive noise overexposure is closely bellow 50 % (a study of the SZÚ, 1994).

Noise maps have become a frequently used tool to describe urban noise nuisance in the world as well as in the Czech Republic. Noise maps represent noise levels (values of indicators and their comparison to limit values), then they express population noise nuisance (number of persons or housings in a certain area affected by a certain noise).

The City of Prague has a long-term experience in the noise map development (more detail information on this website).