Continuing concerns on the effects of noise on health have been responded to by the UK Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), which requested the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research (ISVR) to review the noise standards used within Europe for assessing the health impact of environmental noise. An aim of this work was to advise the DETR of the extent to which existing knowledge on potential health effects could be used to define future noise standards and targets. Studies have shown that there are a number of potential effects of noise on health, although the evidence in support of actual health effects, other than those based on reported bother or annoyance and on some indicators of sleep disturbance, is quite weak. There is evidence that thresholds exist below which it is unlikely that there is an impact on health, but these are not definitive. Standards and regulations are influenced by both the results of primary research and by those social, political and historical factors which are relevent to the problem.