Health effects

 Apart from the observation that people living in a quiet area avoid the health effects which befall those exposed to the average noise levels in an agglomeration, there may be additional advantages to health and well being even for regular visitors. There is some evidence that quietness has an impact on: 

-      Annoyance. Studies show a beneficial effect of quiet sides on annoyance, also annoyance in noisy areas seem to be influenced by nearby quiet zones.

-      Restoration. There is evidence that people recover faster in natural surroundings; quietness may well be a factor in this.

-      A study in the city of Amsterdam shows that 75% of the inhabitants indicate that quiet around the house is important, and 50% say that quiet in the neighbourhood is important.

-      A survey in the Dutch population shows that 46% considers their neighbourhood as being “not quiet”. Half of the people visit quiet places in the neighbourhood daily or weekly.

-      In the UK 91% of the people think that existing areas of quiet need protecting; in London this is still 62%

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 Biodiversity

In the process of identifying and implementing quiet areas, it is in general worth considering biodiversity issues. Indeed a symbiotic interaction is expected between the two subjects. From biodiversity to quiet areas since nature sounds are generally valued positively by the visitors of a place, and may serve as indicators of a low level of traffic disturbances.

From quiet areas to biodiversity there also potential benefits for several reasons in the general perspective of limiting biodiversity loss. First the major cause of biodiversity loss is habitat destruction and fragmentation. The selection of quiet areas should be considered with the contribution to the green infrastructure in mind whenever possible. Another significant cause of mortality for wildlife are collisions with vehicles. Quiet areas of large surface may offer a safer place to live in this respect. Finally, and this point returns to the original preoccupation for noise control, many species rely on acoustic communication and there is evidence that anthropogenic noise has negative outcomes on wildlife regarding species richness, reproductive success, population sizes plus a broad spectrum of side effects on behaviour. Here again a quiet area could offer a refuge to some species, provided that it is life-supporting (local food/water resources, hiding places).