Living close to a major roadway could increase your likelihood of developing dementia according to a new study cited by CNN in this article.

Researchers found that people living within 50 meters (164 feet) of a noisy road had a 7% greater risk of developing dementia.

The level of risk decreases proportionally, they say, with a 4% higher risk among people living 50 to 100 meters (328 feet) away and a 2% higher risk among people living 101 to 200 meters (656 feet, or about a 10th of a mile) away.

Two common pollutants — nitrogen dioxide and fine particulate matter — were seen to be associated with dementia risk, but the team believes that other factors are likely to be involved in this link, such as noise from traffic.

Your particular experience with road noise will depend upon many unique factors, and we encourage you to Contact Us to analyze and address your specific case. However, as a basic starting point for considering your road noise plight, consider the wall or walls that are facing the road. Are the affected walls more than 30% comprised of windows? If so, sound-proofing windows will probably be your best bet. However, if these walls are less than 30% window, we should analyze the wall structures themselves for soundproofing. In this case, start here with our section on Soundproofing Walls.