Environment and Health Seminar Series: Fleeting, yet insidious: When sounds of the city become health hazards with Dr. Tor Oiamo

The School of the Environment invites you to virtually attend this seminar led by Dr. Tor Oiamo, as part of our 2026 Environment and Health Seminar Series.

Register here to attend online.

About the Seminar

Nearly a century has passed since public pressure led to the establishment of the New York City Noise Abatement Commission in 1929. Ordinances, laws and regulations around the world were similarly trying to address this new and unintended side-effect of modernity as industrial machinery, trucks, cars, trains and airplanes were built and used with little regard for those exposed to the sounds – the receiver – produced by their operation. While there have been notable reductions in noise at source and during transmission, one can argue that the receivers (e.g., people) are in the same predicament they were 100 years ago, in large part because of our subjective experiences of sound and the challenges of controlling sound waves as a physical phenomenon. This seminar will provide an overview of predominant approaches to characterizing, understanding and controlling environmental noise exposures, and highlight contextual and cultural nuances that complicate the goal of noise reduction in Toronto and Canada at large.

About the Speaker

Dr. Oiamo is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Research interests are broadly in the field of environmental health, with previous work focused on air quality and environmental noise impacts on community health, morbidity and health care utilization. More recent projects have focused on modelling and exposure assessment for environmental noise at local, regional and national levels. Dr. Oiamo regularly works with government partners in Canada and abroad to develop best practices for environmental noise assessment and policy development.