WHO Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region - What is New? 4. Implementation of Guidelines and Implications for Practice

The Guidelines focus on the WHO European Region and provide guidance to its Member States that is compatible with the noise indicators used in the EU Environmental Noise Directive. The Guidelines aim to serve as reference for several target audiences, such as decision makers and technical experts, health impact assessment and environmental impact assessment practitioners and researchers, national and local authorities and non-governmental organizations responsible for risk communication and general awareness raising.The implementation of the guideline recommendations will require coordinated effort from ministries, public and private sectors, NGOs and potentially input from international development programs and finance organizations. The Guidelines can be useful by providing exposure-response relationships and health-based exposure limits that give insight into the expected health effects at observed or expected noise exposure levels. They allow comparison amongst different policy options with regard to the associated health effects and can be valuable information to use in cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses of various policies for noise abatement. In this respect, the guideline recommendations can be an integral part of the policy process for noise reduction by various institutions, and are of greatest value in order to communicate the health risks and potential cost-effective solutions to reduce noise.