Seminar by Neha Khanna (Binghamton University)

Exposure to noise pollution, defined as unwanted or excessive sound, triggers the human stress response system which, in turn, induces cognitive impairment in children and interferes with sleep causing mental fatigue and poor mental health outcomes. Mental illness is costly to society and imposes a multi-billion dollar burden on the U.S. economy each year through poor educational outcomes for children and productivity and earning penalties for adults.

We estimate the causal effect of noise pollution on mental health using novel data that measure the exposure of approximately 15,000 individuals to noise pollution from highways and aviation between 2014 and 2020. A unique feature of our data is that we can link individual mental health outcomes to highway and aviation noise pollution through relatively precise residential addresses. We instrument for ambient noise using changes in local wind conditions and during-survey seasonality. We find that road noise has significant negative effects on mental health, equivalent to around 5% respondents in the sample reporting mild symptoms such as “worrying” or “feeling nervous” for several days within a two-week period. These findings are robust to various noise measurements and econometric specifications. Finally, we find that sleep deprivation plays a significant role in explaining how noise affects mental health.