Ever felt like murdering your neighbor for blasting music too loud? That's exactly what 78-year-old retired farmer Lambrinos Lykouresis did two years ago in Lithakia, on the Greek island of Zakynthos. Lykouresis, who claims he had complained to his neighbor for months and only wanted to listen to the evening news in peace, suddenly snapped. On May 31, 1996 he got up from his armchair, took his hunting rifle from the shelf, hobbled over to the neighboring apartment and rang the bell. When 40-year-old housewife Imberia Boziki answered the door, he fired three times at point-blank range, killing her instantly and wounding her 24-year-old son.

Lykouresis now listens to the evening news in Greece's Ioannina maximum security prison. Convicted of manslaughter in 1996, he is serving two life sentences. The Lykouresis case is an extreme example of the lengths to which some people will go for a little peace and quiet. And it's sad testimony to the devastating effects of one of the world's most pervasive yet least publicized environmental problems: noise pollution, the presence of intrusive and unwanted sounds that can seriously affect physical and psychological health.

A recent study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked Greece as the noisiest nation in Europe. In Athens alone, 60 % of the capital's 5 million residents are subjected to noise volumes above 75 decibels, a level that is double the threshold at which symptoms such as aggression and hypertension can occur. "There's no such thing as peace and quiet here anymore," says Takis Goulielmos, a senior member of Greece's Association for the Quality of Life. "Noise pollution is becoming the country's greatest health threat. If effective measures are not taken, Greeks will either turn mad or deaf."