In recent years, noise pollution has become the burning question of the day and the hot topic of discussion among the researchers all over the world. Every day, we have to experience varied levels of sound in our environment; we can have the sounds from television and radio, household appliances and traffic. But, noise that is long-lasting or lasts for a short period can equally be detrimental to our health.
According to a recent research, road traffic and aircraft noise increase the risk of high blood pressure, especially noise exposure at night. Here, aircraft noise was associated with increased risks of hospital admission and death for stroke, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease in the nearby area.
Another study reports that aircraft noise exposure over a much longer time period of 15 years shows that deaths from heart attacks has increased when the noise will be louder and endure over a longer period of time. The latest estimates suggest a ten decibel average increase in aircraft noise exposure is related to an increase in high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes of between 7 per cent and 17 per cent.
Generally, music enthusiasts think that intermittent noise is not hazardous. But is it true? Health experts define that even intermittent noise also has a negative impact on human hearing in the long run. Common sources of noise include vehicular traffic, factories involved in the manufacturing process, and home appliances like vacuum cleaners and music systems.
Noise pollution may lead to human health hazards; it creates a number of physical and mental ailments and so, the impact of noise on human health is a matter of great concern to the common people. Noise pollution can affect us in several ways, some of which are listed below: Hearing loss
Exposure to noise can damage our hearing loss. Hearing impairment due to noise pollution can either be temporary or permanent. When the sound level crosses the 70 decibels (dB) mark, it usually considers noise for the ear. Sounds of less than 75 dB, even after long exposure, are unlikely to cause hearing loss. However, long or repeated exposure to sounds at or above 85 decibels produces damaging effects to the ear.
When ear is exposed to extreme loud noise (above 100 decibels) for a considerable period of time, it can cause irreparable damage to our ear. These sounds can damage sensitive structures in the inner ear and cause noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL).
NIHL can be immediate or it can take a long time to be evident. But, the louder the sound, the shorter the amount of time it takes for NIHL to happen. It can be temporary or permanent and it can affect one ear or both ears. In this case, victims are usually unable to understand when they talk to each other especially on the phone or in a noisy environment.
Poor cognitive outcome
Regular experience of loud noise significantly over the time decreases the ability to read, learn and understand. Problem solving competencies and the ability to memorizing may also decline due to frequent bombardment of noise. Noise pollution can also increase the margin of error that hampers our productivity at office.
In our everyday life, cognitive tasks are often performed in the presence of task-irrelevant environmental noise. Research has proved that children studying in noisy environment tend to show relatively low cognitive function. In healthy adults, environmental noise adversely affects many cognitive domains.
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) affects the heart or blood vessels. The role of noise as an environmental pollutant and its impact on human health are being increasingly recognized. A noisy environment can be a great source of heart related problems. According a recent study, high intensity of sound causes a dramatic rise in blood pressure as noise levels constrict the arteries and disrupting the blood flow and the number of heart beats per minute also increase.
The study also reveals that the heart rate of the people who are living in a noisy environment is greater than the people who are living in a less noisy environment. These sudden abnormal changes in the blood increase the likelihood of cardiovascular diseases in the long run.
Sleep disturbances
Both the developed and developing countries are gradually becoming noisier places. But, sleep is an essential part of human life, development and well-being. Sleeping difficulty due to exposure to high decibel noise can deter our overall well-being and so, noise pollution has been described as the 'modern unseen plague.'
Noise can interrupt a good night's sound sleep. When it occurs, the person feels extremely annoyed and uncomfortable. People who cannot enjoy the sound sleep show a sharp dip in their energy levels which often results into extreme fatigue. This can considerably decrease a person's ability to work efficiently.
Trouble communicating
Noise can be external or internal and it can interrupt the communication process at any point. But, verbal communication is absolutely necessary for workplaces communication. A noisy environment that produces more than 50-60 decibels simply does not allow two people to communicate properly. Interpreting the speech of a second person becomes quite difficult and may lead to misunderstandings.
Various other physical or mental losses
Exposure to loud sound can lead to stimulate violent behaviour. Continuous noise in the vicinity can also trigger headaches; make people tense and anxious and disturb emotional balance. Sound pollution is likely to distort the natural tempo of our speech. People may experience difficulty while speaking. Generally the explosive sound produced by the vehicular traffic and the air-planes tends to produce such problems.
Annoyance
Sound pollution is the reason of annoyance. Excessive sound pollution makes people irritated; they feel some sort of unnaturalness and excitement which is marked in their behavior.A nervous sort of a man of course, is by nature more prone to such discomfiture and discomfort.
Tiredness and exhaustion Sound pollution makes people tired and exhausted. People usually engage in different types of profession. But, those who engaged in different professions suffer from mental exhaustion or apathy in work and these tendencies gradually tells upon their efficiency.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has described noise pollution as an underestimated threat that can cause hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, cognitive impairment, stress and depression. Some experts go further: they believe exposure to environmental noise could be slowly killing us. Strong noise annoyance is associated with a twofold higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in the general population. It is often cited as one of the main factors in the reduced quality of life.
A recent study by experts at the American College of Cardiology linked noise pollution to increased cardiovascular problems. It also causes high blood pressure, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, strokes, coronary heart disease. A conference on noise organized by the European commission in April 2017 and at this program noise was regarded as "the silent killer", with potentially severe consequences for our physical and mental health. Unfortunately, yet its impacts remain unreported and underestimated.
The cumulative effects of noise pollution is easily visible in every sphere of our lives and livings - from our homes to our social activities, working, and learning environments - and can cause huge economic losses as well as more intangible health risks. In fact, noise pollution is a great threat to our health and well-being. The concept of community noise is common to us. It is emitted by any kind of source, aside from industrial noise which is considered as environmental, residential or domestic noise. The World Health Organization (WHO) has specific recommendations for acceptable community noise: (1) Less than 30 dBA is for good sleep; (2) Less than 35 dBA is suitable for conducive teaching and learning conditions in the classrooms; (3) Less than 40 dBA of night noise outside bedrooms to avert any harmful effects from night noise; (4) One should not be exposed to noise levels greater than 100 dBA more than 4 times a year and not more than 4 hours at a time.
Though the average individual's normal hearing sensitivity or ability to detect sounds is at about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, it varies due to different environmental influences. It is usually believed that noise levels below 70 dBA do not cause hearing impairment even if the exposure is for a long duration. But, more than 8 hours of exposure to noise levels above 85 dBA is dangerous to human health.
Studies show that reduction of indoor noise levels is related to improve our sleep quality. It is also found that one's ability to perform complex mental tasks involving memory, recall and choice of strategies have impaired after noise exposure. Noise has also been found to increase aggression and decrease helping behaviour.
In fact, noise safety precaution, self-consciousness and respect to the country's rules and regulations should be the ideal thinking for the common people in one hand and the government on the other hand should be digitalized in modern thinking to modify the existing rules and regulations by applying innovative policy which will be a keystone to control the noise pollution to a great extent.
The writer is Assistant Deputy Secretary, BKMEA E-mail: ranaduttabkmea@gmail.com
