Shhh, you'll wake up John: "Noise reduction (as) part of the city planning process."

Imagine that: Slower traffic speeds to help reduce noise. Can someone tell John Rosenbarger? Hint: wait until he's finished laughing.

Slicker City: How Can We Make Cities Quieter? (fastcodesign.com)

Noisy traffic might be just as dangerous to public health as traffic accidents, according to a new report from researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Scientific evidence suggests that prolonged exposure to high noise levels are associated with loss of sleep, elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and heart attack, not to mention hearing loss.

So how do we make the world a quieter place? We could start by thinking about the acoustics of new buildings and street networks--in effect, making noise reduction part of the city planning process, the researchers say.