If you’ve been startled out of sleep by the piercing sound of dogs barking or a blaring boom box and somehow managed to fall back asleep again, count yourself among the lucky. Imagine what it would be like to live near the PNE in 2026, when a new 10,000-seat amphitheater is scheduled to open at the fairgrounds. Open-air concerts will blast from under a massive free-span timber roof—and not just in the summer, but all year round.

A resident of the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood, Maria, told a recent forum on noise pollution that her neighbourhood has always supported the two-week PNE, but that the increase in noise from a year-round amphitheater will affect residents’ mental health, quality of life, and devalue private properties. “We’ve been dragged through the mud,” said Maria. “People [here] feel tired,” noting that the East Vancouver neighbourhood’s tolerance for excessive noise is quickly running out.

Maria was one of several Vancouver residents who took part in a CityHallWatch zoom forum last Thursday to discuss the physical and mental health effects of noise pollution. Noises loud enough to damage hearing occur all across the city at all hours of the day and night. From gas-powered leaf-blowers, wailing sirens, construction, screeching SkyTrains, car alarms that won’t turn off, party boats, to the rip-roaring growl of motorcycles and luxury car street races—each individual noise event has the power to instantly disrupt, frighten, enrage, and raise blood pressure. Over time, the accumulated stress of these events is deadly.

Noise pollution impacts millions of people daily. The most common health problem it causes is Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL). Exposure to loud noise can also cause heart disease, sleep disturbances, anxiety and depression. These health problems can affect all age groups, especially children.

With no major changes to its noise bylaw since 1997, the City of Vancouver is revamping its current regulations and is seeking public input from Vancouver residents. A public survey is on the City’s Shape your City website, and residents have until May 30 to complete it.

*A word about City surveys: UKRA always advises caution when taking them. For example, the multiple-choice noise survey asks about different types of noise, when and if they should be allowed. One thing we noticed was that some of the questions do not offer the choice of fewer hours of noise, only more.