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Christopher TrudeauÌýis a PhD candidate in information studies at °Ä¿Í¾º²Ê. For the past few weeks, he has been a member of CIRM. His research focuses on sound in Montréal, environmental justice and public health. We caught up with him to find out more about his projects.

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You're studying environmental justice of beneficial and detrimental soundscapes from a human health perspective. What motivated you to study this subject?

I've been part of for 6 years. We assist with interventions, initially in the Plateau Mont-Royal (). These are very interesting projects, which bring a lot to the area, but it's still just the Plateau, which is a borough that already has many places with good sound quality. But I used to live next to a marshalling yard in Point Saint Charles, which was very noisy. The place where I worked was so different from where I lived in terms of sound, that I wondered about it. I realized that it raised so many inequalities that I decided to go for my doctorate with this issue in mind.

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What is environmental justice?

It's not just about pollutants (air, water, noise), but also about the environmental resources to which we have access (such as green spaces, spaces near waterways, access to clean water, etc.). Environmental justice also analyzes the inequalities experienced by different social groups (such as racialized groups, or groups with lower incomes), so there are all kinds of social factors at play.

When we talk about environmental justice from a sound perspective, it encompasses two aspects. Firstly, if you're exposed to noise, it increases your health risks, in terms of hearing of course, but there are other risks too, such as cardiovascular problems. And the risks increase with the level of noise exposure. Secondly, there are places where you can relax, such as parks. But on both counts, there are questions of inequality. Are we overexposed to noise if, for example, we belong to a low-income group? Still, if you're part o