Residential traffic noise exposure and health in Cameroon

Abstract

ABSTRACT Traffic noise including road, railway and aircraft traffic noise is the main environmental noise people are exposed to. This study aims to analyse the effects of residential traffic noise pollution on health in Cameroon. For this purpose, we relied on data from the fourth Cameroon household living standards survey in our empirical analysis. To address the potential endogeneity problem of residential traffic noise exposure in the health model, we specified several recursive bivariate probit models. Health is captured by self-reported health status, while noise exposure is captured by people’s self-reported noise annoyance from traffic. Results from the selection equation estimates show that exposure to noise increases with proximity to transport infrastructures including paved roads, railways and airports. Besides, results from the outcome equation suggest that exposure to traffic noise significantly reduces the likelihood of being healthy. The more people are exposed to traffic noise, the worse their health will become. Therefore, policy-makers should implement strategies to reduce people’s exposure to traffic noise pollution in order to minimise its adverse health effects.