EPA History: Noise and the Noise Control Act

NOTE: In the 1970s, EPA coordinated all federal noise control activities through its Office of Noise Abatement and Control. EPA phased out the office's funding in 1982 as part of a shift in federal noise control policy to transfer the primary responsibility of regulating noise to state and local governments. However, the Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet Communities Act of 1978 were never rescinded by Congress and remain in effect today, although they are essentially unfunded. 

View more information about noise pollution:

• as addressed by the Clean Air Act and
• in our Frequent Questions database.

Press Releases

• EPA Identifies Noise Levels Affecting Health and Welfare
  [EPA press release - April 2, 1974]

• EPA to Launch Noise Control Program
  [EPA press release - November 6, 1972]

• EPA Proposes Quieting of Jet Airplanes
  [EPA press release - January 31, 1975]

• EPA Establishes New Noise Label Program
  [EPA press release - September 12, 1979]