Noise is the environmental disturbance that affects the most people in Sweden, with impacts ranging from impaired hearing and tinnitus to sleep disturbances, changed blood pressure, and stress. Other indirect effects include difficulty understanding speech and concentration problems. Low-frequency, continuous noise is often not noticed while it occurs but brings relief when it stops, and can cause headaches or concentration difficulties at fairly low levels.
This type of disturbance is now being amplified by a wave of construction and industrial projects across the region. In the village of Horndal, heavy traffic has always been a feature, with Route 68 cutting straight through the area. Google's groundworks started in mid-November, leading to five months of activity that has made the village notice Google's establishment.
The Swedish Transport Administration has responded to mothers' concerns about traffic in Horndal. The massive Mjøssykehuset hospital project is set to transform Moelv in Innlandet, overwhelming residents who sought a quieter lifestyle. Are Koppang and Elin Evensen moved from Oslo to Moelv over 20 years ago for a quieter lifestyle near nature, buying an architect-designed wooden house in Moskogen with a view of Mjøsa.
The new hospital will be built in Moelv, with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announcing in August last year that the government allocated 18 billion kroner to the project. Helse Sør-Øst has submitted a proposal for the hospital's regulatory plan to Ringsaker municipality, with 135,000 square meters of building mass located close to Are and Elin's house. Construction work will start in 2028, and in a few years, 6,000 cars daily will pass on a new road right outside their fence.
Around 4,000 people will work at Mjøssykehuset, plus patients and relatives, compared to Moelv's current population of about 4,500 inhabitants. 5 times as large as the Royal Palace in Oslo. Project director Kjersti Lysne Sanden says they will try to consider neighbors' concerns in further planning.
Community planner Ole Roger Strandbakke adds that the project will change all of Moelv, with the population expected to double in a few years. In Birmingham, the construction of HS2's tallest viaduct has been a 'living hell' for locals near the site, with noise and disruption for the last two years. The Curzon 2 viaduct is the tallest structure on the HS2 route and one of five carrying trains into Birmingham city centre.
Work on the four piers supporting the viaduct began in autumn 2023 and completed in 2024, with steel structure work following. HS2 said it engages regularly with the local community and tries to minimise the local impact of the works. The company has engagement managers, a community environment fund, and a 24-hour helpline for those disrupted.
We will try to consider neighbors' concerns in further planning.
Luke Nipen from HS2 Ltd said they are aware nobody chose to live close to the route and aim to build sympathetically to the local community. In Mullsjö, a mysterious industrial noise has plagued residents for years, leading to a formal complaint. A Facebook thread about an irritating sound led to a formal complaint to the environmental office by municipal council chairman Per Högberg (KD).
The complaint summarized social media posts about the sound, with residents describing a monotonous, grating noise that cuts into the ears and has caused tinnitus and discomfort. Environmental officials have been in contact with Amcor and visited the factory and community, but the sound was not heard during their visit. The municipality will now investigate the matter, with suspicion it comes from the plastic factory Amcor and might originate from multiple sources like a fan or plastic granulate being injected into silos under high pressure.
In Mönsterås, a conflict involves ongoing VA work on Kuggås, started in autumn 2025 and expected to last until summer 2026. Resident Barbara Eriksson has complained about extensive disturbances including noise, dust, and vibrations from the work. Safety concerns have emerged in Finsjö, where several signs within the water protection area are unreadable, which could have devastating consequences in an accident.
In Olsfors, Katarina and Niclas Konradsson live near Bredemad and their house is on the edge of a possible railway route, affecting them with noise even if another route is chosen. In Knivsta, decades-old noise barriers have failed as the community has grown significantly in recent years to about 22,000 inhabitants today. Residents along Knivsta's entrance, Gredelbyleden, are affected by noise.
Despite many complaints to the municipality, investigations, and even a directive to the community development committee in 2023, nothing has happened so far. The fence along the road, which protects against visibility, was once green but now has much of the paint flaked off, bulges in places, and has large gaps. The wooden structure was installed in 1985, when Knivsta was part of Uppsala and the villa town Alsike only existed on the drawing board.
Traffic rumbles by, and recently another complaint came to the municipality, which is now acting. The municipality has a plan that will result in less noise. Low-frequency sounds are also produced naturally in the landscape, such as from ocean waves, but indoor sources like laundry rooms, ventilation, loud music, and neighbors' shouting can be equally disturbing, as can sound levels in venues with music, concerts, and sports facilities.
For those in apartments disturbed by noise from activities in the building, you should first contact your landlord or the board of your housing association, and if nothing happens, contact the environmental group via the municipality's contact center at 018-34 70 00.