One in 6 San Francisco residents risk acquiring a heart problem, high blood pressure and other stress-related ailments, according to city public health officials. The culprit is the city's noise pollution emanating from its traffic.

Because of the high levels of traffic noise in parts of the city, the San Francisco Department of Public Health has identified parts of the city classified as "highly annoyed" where residents may suffer psychological and physical damage

Being overweight and also addicted to smoking can lead to deafness, a new study has found. Erik Fransen, from the University of Antwerp in Belgium, who led the study, said there is a link between how much somebody smokes, and for how long, and their chances of suffering from hearing loss.

The researchers studied a total of 4,083 men and women between the ages of 53 and 67 from across seven European countries, including Germany, Belgium and the UK. The more a person smoked or the higher their body mass index (BMI), the more likely they were to lose all or part of their hearing

A possible vaccine against meningitis B has shown "encouraging" results when tested on 150 babies in Britain in the preliminary trial. Pharmaceutical giant Novartis had successfully concluded phase II trials and had moved on to large-scale trials that will show whether the vaccine is protective in everyday life.

In the phase II trials, the babies were injected with the new vaccine at two, four and six months of age, with a booster at 12 months. Blood samples taken a month after the third dose and again a month after the booster showed the children had developed good immune responses against certain strains of meningitis B bacteria

Apple Inc. will equip its popular MP3 player iPod with a patented automatic volume controller to protect against hearing loss from prolonged listening to loud music.

The device to be incorporated in future iPods automatically calculates how long a user has been listening and at what level of volume. If the listener has been playing music at full blast for too long, the controller device automatically lowers the volume

Health experts in England have called on parents to have their infants, particularly those under a year old, to receive their vaccinations to avoid serious illness such as pneumonia and meningitis.

Data showed that one in six children remain unvaccinated and health officials warned that it could lead to an increase in the number of teens and adults who suffer permanent disability due to pneumococcal infection