Understanding the Impact of Police Sirens: Effects on Hearing & Society

Police sirens are a necessity when officers are called to respond to a crime. Aside from clearing road traffic to allow a quicker response, the sirens serve as a calling card to the criminal and the victim that the police are on the way. But the sirens have ulterior effects, from societal to health issues.

Loss of Hearing

• The average person has 30,000 hair cells the that transmit sound waves into nerve impulses. Loud noise destroys them, thus affecting your hearing. Long term or close, sudden exposure to the average police siren, at 123 decibels, can affect hearing and even cause hearing loss.

Increased Blood Pressure and Heart Rate

• The World Health Organization said in 2008 that sudden noise from police sirens not only increases noise pollution, but also impacts a person's health, raising their heart rate and blood pressure and posing a serious health issue.

Bad Neighborhood?

• The constant sound of police sirens can negatively affect an entire community, adding to a perception that the community is a "high crime" area or one where there is "increased danger" for residents.

Traffic Danger

• Accidents, sometimes fatal, do occur when police cars race to a crime scene with their sirens wailing. Once a driver hears the siren, his first instinct is to turn to the side of the road. But drivers may hear the siren and not see the police car, and their efforts to locate the police takes their eyes off the road, and into danger.

No Sleep

• Police sirens wailing throughout the night, particularly in high crime urban areas, interfere with sleep, which produces stress and anxiety. Police in many cities, such as Los Angeles, must follow strict guidelines when using their sirens when called to a crime.