New research has been commissioned by Defra to monitor noise levels along major roads and within 20 major towns and cities in England.

The new maps follow the one already produced for London, which recently won a prestigious innovation award for the best new media technology to improve public life.

Local environmental quality minister, Ben Bradshaw said the award from New Statesman demonstrated just how beneficial these maps can be for society.

"The potential uses are enormous," said Mr Bradshaw, "by creating noise maps we can get a better understanding of the overall situation and target our efforts to tackle unwanted noise where it is really needed."

"Unwanted noise has probably affected us all at one time or another - it can cause stress and annoyance, interrupt conversation and disturb sleep," the minister said.

By creating more of these maps government can help local authorities, planners and the public better understand noise levels and work more efficiently to reduce the number of people who are exposed to high levels of noise.

The Noise Mapping England Project is part of the first stage of the development of a National Ambient Noise Strategy. The idea is to identify, in simple terms, where people are affected by noise, how many are affected, and what the source of the noise is.

Cities and towns to be noise mapped include: Bristol, Bournemouth, Brighton, Reading, Portsmouth, Southampton, Southend, Leicester, Nottingham, Coventry, Stoke on Trent, Hull, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Birkenhead, Blackpool, Preston, Tyneside and Teeside, along with the West Midlands and West Yorkshire. To see the maps for greater London see www.noisemapping.org