Sound…! This earth is filled with various sounds, but not space. Human beings express their feelings with sounds; it mixes both joy and sadness. Not only human beings, but other living things also express their feelings through sounds. Sound plays a great role in communication between people and living things. Sounds are different types, and they have different properties.
Types of Sounds
Sounds are different types. They are
- Audible
- Inaudible
- Unpleasant
- Pleasant
- Soft
- Loud
- Noise
- Music
Properties of Sounds
Sounds travel from one place to another in the form of waves; the nature of sound waves is longitudinal. Sound waves should need a medium to travel from one place to another. The medium can be solids, liquids, or gases. The properties of sound waves are five; they are
- Pitch/Frequency.
- Amplitude/Loudness.
- Speed.
- Reflection of sound.
- Timbre.
Human beings and other living things are hearing the sounds with the help of organ ears. Human beings have only a limited frequency capacity to hear sounds. Hearing continuous or loud sounds will affect the human ears. Not only will it affect the human ears, but it will also affect the human body’s health. People should know about the effects of noise pollution.
What is noise pollution?
Human beings hear so many different sounds, but hearing all sounds is not considered noise pollution. According to the guidance of the World Health Organization (WHO), sound or noise above 65 decibels (dB) is considered noise pollution. When a human being hears a sound exceeding 75 decibels (dB), it is causing several health effects to the body.
Causes of Noise Pollution
There are a few reasons for the noise pollution. They are
- Traffic noise: Most traffic noise occurs in the city’s area. For example, a car horn produces 90 dB sounds, and a bus produces 100 dB sounds. So many vehicles in the city will produce too many sounds.
- Air traffic noise: Aircraft fly over cities more than there are cars on the roads; a single aircraft produces 130 dB of sound. Especially people who are living near the airport region are hearing too many sounds every day at regular intervals of time.
- Construction sites: Building construction, car park construction, and road and pavement resurfacing works are very noisy. A single pneumatic drill produces 110 dB of sound. In cities, several apartment construction projects will make so much noise that it will affect people’s health.
- Catering and nightlife: Bars, restaurants, pubs, and clubs can produce more than 100 dB of sound.
- Animals: Many people are not considering animal sounds, like howling or barking dogs. But animals can produce around 60–80 dB of sound.
Effects of Noise Pollution
Noise pollution can cause several health issues. They are.
- Hearing Loss: Noise pollution will damage our hearing by causing tinnitus or deafness. Constant loud noise can damage human health in several ways, particularly in the very young and the very old. In modern days, people are hearing songs while using headphones, earphones, and ear buds. Continuously hearing songs for a long duration while using these devices will surely affect the brains and ear parts. Finally, it will affect the power of hearing.
- Physical issue: Noise pollution can affect physical health. Respiratory agitation, racing pulse, high blood pressure problem, severe headaches, in cases of extremely loud, constant noise, gastritis, colitis, and even heart attack problems
- Psychological issue: Regular exposure to noise can increase the chronic stress, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and hysteria problems in a human’s life. Hearing continuous sounds for a long duration will affect brain health and also cause more mental health. Affecting brain function will open the door for several health issues. So it’s better to visit a new place, and staying in a calm place for a week will surely improve the mind’s health. Doing a simple head massage also helps to improve brain function and helps to overcome depression, stress, anxiety, and fatigue.
- Lack of sleep: Sleeping for more than 7 hours at night is good for body health. But several people do not sleep very peacefully due to several reasons. Especially people who are staying near railway tracks, highway roads, airports, and big factories. In these areas, people are always hearing huge noise, which will affect their sleeping time, especially at night. Lack of sleep also causes several health issues.
- Memory and concentration: Noise may affect people’s ability to focus on things such as work or studies, which can lead to low performance over time. It is also bad for memory power, making it hard to study during exam times.
Prevention of Noise Pollution
Controlling noise pollution is very important to keep our environment, our health, and the health of our next generation. Following some prevention methods will surely provide some good results in the future.
Some noise pollution preventive measures are provided in the points below.
- Avoiding or being banned Honking in public places like teaching institutes, hospitals, etc.
- In commercial areas, hospitals, and industrial buildings, adequate soundproof systems should be installed.
- Musical instruments’ sound should be controlled to limit sounds.
- Better manufacturing with fewer sounds Producing vehicles is good for the environment, especially in modern days when electric vehicles produce very little sound compared with fuel vehicles.
- Planting more saplings to cover the area with dense tree cover is useful for noise pollution prevention.
- It would be better to ban explosive activities in the forest, mountains, and mining areas.
- The government should take some proper action to reduce noise pollution.
- Spreading a positive awareness program about noise pollution surely helps people.
