The Essentials

Noisiest Cities: A New Ranking

Locations in this article:  Los Angeles, CA

The next time you travel, one of your considerations might be noise. According to the World Health Organization, excessive noise typically associated with cities can significantly harm human health. And in some cities, this harm is much more likely to occur than in the others.

German hearing app Mimi conducted a study that analyzed 50 world cities based on noise pollution and hearing loss of its residents.

It turns out that the worst city for your ears is Guangzhou in China. Its citizens not only live in the globe’s loudest city, but they also have the fifth highest hearing loss proportionate to their ages.

In the second spot is Delhi, India. An average person living in Delhi has a hearing of someone who is 19 years older.

The third place went to Cairo in Egypt.

As for the worst city for your ears in the U.S., it’s Los Angeles, which came in at 18th while New York City was ranked number 32 out of 50.

Can you guess the city with the lowest combined ranking for noise pollution and hear loss? It’s Zurich in Switzerland.