This report discusses the societal impacts of environmental and traffic noise, and the benefits that could be withdrawn from their reduction. Environmental noise pollution is considered as one of the main environmental problems in today’s society. Around 80 million European citizens are exposed to unhealthy noise level. These levels can affect health and well-being, which will be reflected on working and living conditions, consequently affecting the economy. To deal with this issue, always stricter regulations are being voted by states to set up action plans to prevent noise exposure and to reduce the noise at its source. The main source of environmental noise is transportation noise which is pulled up by always increasing needs for goods, energy, and personal transportation. Excluding airways traffic noise which affects only a small percentage of the population, reducing traffic noise comes down to either isolating roads or railways from living and working areas or achieving reductions of noise at its source - on ground vehicles. The position of the ECO2 project Noise propagation from sustainable vehicle concepts in a more global effort to reduce noise pollution is described. The impact of traffic noise on health and environment is discussed, as well as various aspects of the impact on the economy. Estimations of the costs of traffic noise are presented for different types of vehicles, as well as the influence on housing prices. Response from the state in terms of legislation is tackled . Finally, societal benefits of traffic noise reduction are discussed.