Do you hear that? Do you know what that is?
你们听到了吗？你们知道那是什么吗？
Silence. The sound of silence. Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about it.
寂静。那是寂静的声音。西蒙和加芬克尔二人为它写过一首歌。
But silence is a pretty rare commodity these days,
但现如今寂静变得尤其罕见，
and we're all paying a price for it in terms of our health -- a surprisingly big price, as it turns out.
而我们都在为此付出的代价--尤其是在健康上，而且是非常巨大的代价。
Luckily, there are things we can do right now, both individually and as a society,
幸运的是，我们现在还是可以做些什么，不管是个人还是社会，
to better protect our health and give us more of the benefits of the sounds of silence.
来保护我们的健康，以及让我们享受到更多寂静带来的好处。
I assume that most of you know that too much noise is bad for your hearing.
我想大部分人应该知道过多的噪音对听力会有损害。
Whenever you leave a concert or a bar and you have that ringing in your ears,
你在离开一个演唱会或者酒吧的时候，如果耳中还有余音，
you can be certain that you have done some damage to your hearing, likely permanent. And that's very important.
那你的听力肯定已经受到损害了，而且很可能是永久性的。这很重要。
However, noise affects our health in many different ways beyond hearing.
不过，噪音对健康的影响远不止于听力。
They're less well-known, but they're just as dangerous as the auditory effects.
这些影响不为人所知，但却和听觉受损同样危险。
So what do we mean when we talk about noise?
所以，当我们在谈论噪音时，究竟在谈论什么？
Well, noise is defined as unwanted sound, and as such, both has a physical component, the sound,
噪音是“不被欢迎的声音”，它包括物理层面，即声音本身，
and a psychological component, the circumstances that make the sound unwanted.
以及心理层面，即该声音不受欢迎的原因。
A very good example is a rock concert.
摇滚乐演唱会就是个很好的例子。
A person attending the rock concert, being exposed to 100 decibels, does not think of the music as noise.
参加摇滚演唱会的人会被100分贝的声音环绕，但却不认为那是噪音。
This person likes the band, and even paid a hundred dollars for the ticket,
他喜欢那个乐队，甚至花了100美元买票，
so no matter how loud the music, this person doesn't think of it as noise.
所以不管音乐有多大声，他也不会认为那是噪音。
In contrast, think of a person living three blocks away from the concert hall.
反过来，想想住在演唱会场馆三个街区以外的一个人。
That person is trying to read a book, but cannot concentrate because of the music.
他正想看书，但因为音乐声而无法集中注意力。
And although the sound pressure levels are much lower in this situation, this person still thinks of the music as noise,
尽管在这里音量已经小了很多，但他仍然会认为这是噪音，
and it may trigger reactions that can, in the long run, have health consequences.
而且还可能触发引起长期健康问题的反应。
So why are quiet spaces so important? Because noise affects our health in so many ways beyond hearing.
所以为什么安静的地方如此重要？因为噪音对我们的影响远远大于听力损害。
However, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find quiet spaces in times of constantly increasing traffic,
但是，现在要想找到安静的地方难上加难，交通更拥挤，
growing urbanization, construction sites, air-conditioning units, leaf blowers, lawnmowers,
城市化加速，到处工程施工、空调运作，还有吹叶机和除草机的声音，
outdoor concerts and bars, personal music players, and your neighbors partying until 3am. Whew!
包括户外音乐会和酒吧、独立音乐演奏者，你的邻居还夜夜笙歌至凌晨三点，呼！
In 2011, the World Health Organization estimated that 1.6 million healthy life years are lost every year
2011年，世界健康组织预计，每年人们的健康生命年总损失达160万年，
due to exposure to environmental noise in the Western European member states alone.
仅仅因为环境噪音，而这还只算了西欧国家。
One important effect of noise is that it disturbs communication.
噪音的一大影响是它阻碍了沟通。
You may have to raise your voice to be understood.
人们需要提高音量来让别人听到。
In extreme cases, you may even have to pause the conversation.
在极端情况下，你可能还要中断对话。
It's also more likely to be misunderstood in a noisy environment.
而在嘈杂环境中，人们也更容易被误解。
These are all likely reasons why studies have found that children who attend schools in noisy areas
因此，研究发现，在嘈杂地区上学的儿童，
are more likely to lag behind their peers in academic performance.
更倾向于在学术表现上比同龄人落后。
Another very important health effect of noise is
另一个重要的噪音带来的健康影响是，
the increased risk for cardiovascular disease in those who are exposed to relevant noise levels for prolonged periods of time.
它会提高人们得心血管疾病的几率，尤其是那些在较高噪音水平中生活了很长时间的人。
Noise is stress, especially if we have little or no control over it.
噪音带来压力，尤其是在我们无法控制噪音的情况下。
Our body excretes stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol
我们的身体会分泌荷尔蒙，如肾上腺素和皮质醇，
that lead to changes in the composition of our blood and in the structure of our blood vessels,
它们会改变我们的血液组成，还会改变我们的血管架构，
which have been shown to be stiffer after a single night of noise exposure.
比如当我们经历了一晚的噪音后，血管就会变硬。
Epidemiological studies show associations between the noise exposure and an increased risk for high blood pressure,
流行病学研究发现，噪音会带来高血压的风险，
heart attacks and stroke, and although the overall risk increases are relatively small,
以及心脏病发作、中风等风险，虽然这样的风险增加度不高，
this still constitutes a major public health problem because noise is so ubiquitous,
但这仍然是影响大众健康状况的很大因素，因为噪音无处不在，
and so many people are exposed to relevant noise levels.
太多人一直在不同程度的噪音当中。
A recent study found that US society could save 3.9 billion dollars each year by lowering environmental noise exposure by five decibels,
近期一个研究发现，美国每年可以省下39亿美元，只要把环境噪音降低5分贝，
just by saving costs for treating cardiovascular disease.
而这也是为治疗心血管疾病省下成本。
There are other diseases like cancer, diabetes and obesity that have been linked to noise exposure,
还有其它疾病如癌症、糖尿病和肥胖症，它们都和噪音暴露有关系，
but we do not have enough evidence yet to, in fact, conclude that these diseases are caused by the noise.
但我们目前实际上还没有足够的证据，来说明这些疾病是由噪音造成的。
Yet another important effect of noise is sleep disturbance.
噪音另一个重要影响是睡眠。
Sleep is a very active mechanism that recuperates us and prepares us for the next wake period.
睡眠是一个非常活跃的机制，来为我们恢复活力，让我们准备好迎接下一个清醒时段。
A quiet bedroom is a cornerstone of what sleep researchers call "a good sleep hygiene."
一个安静的房间是一些研究者口中的“一个好觉”的基石。
And our auditory system has a watchman function.
我们的听力系统有一个“看门人”的功能。
It's constantly monitoring our environment for threats, even while we're sleeping.
它持续地检测着我们所处的环境中是否有威胁，即便是在我们睡觉的时候。
So noise in the bedroom can cause a delay in the time it takes us to fall asleep,
所以房间里的噪音会延迟我们的入睡时间，
it can wake us up during the night, and it can prevent our blood pressure from going down during the night.
还会让我们在半夜醒来，它会阻碍我们的血压在夜晚降低。

We have the hypothesis that if these noise-induced sleep disturbances continue for months and years,
我们有个假设，如果这种被噪音性睡眠障碍持续几个月或几年，
then an increased risk for cardiovascular disease is likely the consequence.
那么心血管疾病的发病概率将会提高。
However, we are often not aware of these noise-induced sleep disturbances, because we are unconscious while we're sleeping.
然而，我们常常无法意识到这些噪音性睡眠障碍的存在，因为我们在睡觉时没有意识。
In the past, we've done studies on the effects of traffic noise on sleep,
我们曾经对在交通噪音环境中睡觉的人做过研究，
and research subjects would often wake up in the morning and say,
研究对象们经常在早晨起来后说，
"Ah, I had a wonderful night, I fell asleep right away, never really woke up."
“啊，我昨晚睡得很好，马上睡着了，中途也没有醒。”
When we would go back to the physiological signals we had recorded during the night,
但当我们回头看各种前晚记录的身体数据时，
we would often see numerous awakenings and a severely fragmented sleep structure.
我们常常看到大量的身体唤醒，以及严重片段化的睡眠结构。
These awakenings were too brief for the subjects to regain consciousness and to remember them during the next morning,
这些唤醒太短，不至于让被研究者恢复意识，或者在第二天早上还能记得，
but they may nevertheless have a profound impact on how restful our sleep is.
但它们将会带来深远的影响，决定了我们的睡眠带来的休息价值有多少。
So when is loud too loud? A good sign of too loud is once you start changing your behavior.
所以什么时候声音才算过大？一个很好的信号是，你开始改变你的行为。
You may have to raise your voice to be understood, or you increase the volume of your TV.
比如你可能要更大声地说话以让别人理解，或者你开始增加电视音量。
You're avoiding outside areas, or you're closing your window.
你开始避开户外区域，关上窗户。
You're moving your bedroom to the basement of the house, or you even have sound insulation installed.
你把你的卧室移到地下室，或者你甚至装上了隔音设备。
Many people will move away to less noisy areas, but obviously not everybody can afford that.
很多人会搬到更少噪音的地方去，但显然不是所有人都可以负担得起。
So what can we do right now to improve our sound environment and to better protect our health?
所以我们可以做些什么来改善声音环境，从而保护我们的健康呢？
Well, first of all, if something's too loud, speak up.
第一，如果你感觉太吵，就要表达意见。
For example, many owners of movie theaters seem to think that only people hard of hearing are still going to the movies.
比如，很多电影院的老板，好像都以为只有听力不好的人才去电影院。
If you complain about the noise and nothing happens, demand a refund and leave.
如果你抱怨过它的噪音但没有效果，你可以要求退款或者直接离开。
That's the language that managers typically do understand.
电影院的经理肯定会明白你传达的信息的。
Also, talk to your children about the health effects of noise
你还可以教导你的孩子们关于噪音对健康的影响，
and that listening to loud music today will have consequences when they're older.
他们现在大声地听音乐，以后他们将为此付出代价。
You can also move your bedroom to the quiet side of the house,
你也可以把你的卧室移到房子比较安静的地方，
where your own building shields you from road traffic noise.
你的房子本身就可以为你阻挡一部分的交通噪音。
If you're looking to rent or buy a new place, make low noise a priority.
如果你正在寻找新的房子，把安静和噪音少作为首选条件。
Visit the property during different times of the day and talk to the neighbors about noise.
在一天的不同时间参观房子，和邻居讨论一下噪音。
You can wear noise-canceling headphones when you're traveling or if your office has high background noise levels.
在旅行的时候，你可以戴降噪耳机，如果你的办公室有强噪音环境，也可以戴。
In general, seek out quiet spaces, especially on the weekend or when you're on vacation.
总的来说，寻找安静的地方，尤其是在周末或你正在休假的时候。
Allow your system to wind down.
让你的身体系统放松。
I, very appropriately for this talk, attended a noise conference in Japan four years ago.
和这次演讲十分呼应的是，四年前，我在日本参加了一个有关噪音的会议。
When I returned to the United States and entered the airport, a wall of sound hit me.
当我回到美国，进入机场时，无数声音像墙一样向我袭来。
This tells you that we don't realize anymore the constant degree of noise pollution we're exposed to
这告诉我们，我们不再对噪音污染的暴露感到敏感，
and how much we could profit from more quiet spaces.
而且也不再意识到安静的环境可以给我们带来多大的好处。
What else can we do about noise?
我们还能做些什么？
Well, very much like a carbon footprint, we all have a noise footprint,
正如二氧化碳足迹一样，我们也有噪音足迹，
and there are things we can do to make that noise footprint smaller.
而这些是我们可以缩小噪音足迹的方式。
For example, don't start mowing your lawn at 7am on a Saturday morning.
比如，不要在周六早上七点就开始除草。
Your neighbors will thank you. Or use a rake instead of a leaf blower.
你的邻居会感谢你的。或者你可以用耙子而不是吹叶机。
In general, noise reduction at the source makes the most sense,
总的来说，从源头减少噪音是最合理的，
so whenever you're looking to buy a new car, air-conditioning unit, blender, you name it, make low noise a priority.
所以当你在考虑买新车，买空调，买搅拌机，或者其它什么的时候，把低噪音作为一个首选条件。
Many manufacturers will list the noise levels their devices generate,
很多制造商会把低噪音水平考虑到设备生产中，
and some even advertise with them. Use that information.
有些甚至会以此作为广告亮点。好好利用这样的信息。
Many people think that stronger noise regulation and enforcement are good ideas,
很多认为有力的噪音法规和执行是好的方法，
even obvious solutions, perhaps, but it's not as easy as you may think,
甚至可能觉得这才是最明显的解决方式，但这不像人们想象中简单，
because many of the activities that generate noise also generate revenue.
因为许多带来噪音的活动，同样带来收入。
Think about an airport and all the business that is associated with it.
想想机场带来的商业效应就知道了。
Our research tells politicians at what noise level they can expect a certain health effect,
我们的研究也告诉政治家们，怎样的噪音水平会带来怎样的健康效应，
and that helps inform better noise policy.
这会帮助更有效的噪音政策出台。
Robert Koch supposedly once said, "One day, mankind will fight noise as relentlessly as cholera and the pest."
细菌学家罗伯特·科赫曾说，“总有一天，人类和噪音的斗争会像他们和霍乱、害虫的斗争一样残酷。”
I think we're there, and I hope that we will win this fight,
我想这一天已经来到了，我希望我们可以赢得这场斗争，
and when we do, we can all have a nice, quiet celebration. Thank you.
而当这实现时，我们可以举行一次美好的、安静的庆祝活动。谢谢。