Brussels residents suffer from noisy neighbours

About 40% of people living in the Brussels-Capital Region complain about noise nuisance at home, according to the Health Survey 2013 by the Scientific Institute for Public Health, which questioned about 3,000 people.

Noise is the main factor in the category of environmental factors that disturb people at home. “People are not just annoyed by the noise of traffic,” Rana Charafeddine, co-author of the report, told Brusselnieuws.be.  “The survey shows that noise made by neighbours is often also very disturbing.” Residents also complained about vibrations (almost 20%), air pollution (more than 15%) and bad smells (more than 10%) making life at home less pleasant.

The main problem for inhabitants in their broader living environment is the amount of rubbish in the streets: 27% of respondents complained about this issue. The amount of traffic also disturbs about a quarter of people. Other major causes of annoyance are vandalism and the speed of traffic.

Photo: Ingimage