Noise Levels Of Eighty Decibels example essay topic

According to John Cage in relation to his famous composition 4'33", "There is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time. There is always something to see, something to hear. In fact, try as we may to make a silence, we cannot" (gizmotude. web). His words ring true; complete peaceful silence in this world is impossible to attain, especially because of manmade noise pollution. Any form of unwelcome sound is noise pollution and is an inescapable ingredient of everyday life, whether it is the roar of a jet plane overhead or the sound of a barking dog a block away. Noise is partially based on decibels, which are the standard units to logarithmically measure the level of sound.

The actual loudness is only one component of the effect it has on human beings and other factors that have to be considered are the time and place, the duration, the source of the sound, and whether the listener has any control over it ("Noise" web). The decibel level of noise in the largest cities of the world has risen six fold in the past fifteen years (web), and keeps increasing by an average annual rate of one to two decibels, reaching inadmissible figures and creating a real danger for public health (web). Noise is an increasingly omnipresent, yet underestimated, form of transient pollution, caused by transportation, urban intensification, entertainment, industrialization, and miscellaneous noises. The adverse, diverse and global effects on humanity, such as auditory, physiological, psychological, and structural damage, must be firstly identified, analyzed, and explored by society, before further addressing the many possible solutions to diminish and eliminate them.

Transportation is the principal source of noise pollution, with transport craft and vehicular noises making up ninety percent of the total pollution (web). Within the European Union, an estimated eighty-million people bear unacceptable levels of continuous outdoor transport noise (New Scientist 23). Air transportation accounts for twenty percent of the whole noise emissions by transportation means. The noise originates from jet engines, aerodynamic friction, and ground craft operations. Establishments of heavily used flight paths between major cities create noisy corridors where ambient noise is prevalent (people. hofstra. edu). As a result, twenty-six percent of Amsterdam's inhabitants suffer the dissonance (Bond 14-15).

The typical jet plane taking off has a sound level at about one-hundred-and-thirty decibels (Howe 2-3). Numerous large cities have focused on the advent of supersonic jet airplanes, aircraft that travel at speeds faster than the speed of sound, and create sonic booms equivalent to those of major explosions and capable of destructing structures (Britannica). As air transportation takes a growing importance in inter-city transportation, and jet engines are predominantly used, noise pollution has increased drastically, by five percent per year ("Leaflet: Page 2" web), to the point of becoming a major concern near airports. Approximately ten percent of all transportation noise pollution is set off by rail. The diesel engine, the friction of the wheels over the rail, the whistle blowing, and the high speeds areoacoustic noise present themselves. Depending on the train aerodynamics, noise emissions are from fifty to eighty times the logarithm of train speed and become significant at speeds higher than two-hundred kilometers per hour.

Three percent of the population in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries is exposed to high noise levels from rail transportation. Roads are held seventy percent liable for all transportation noise pollutions (people. hofstra. edu). Typically, what bothers people the most are engine starting, gear changing, car stereos, squeaky brakes and tires ("Transportation" web). "Research shows excessively loud car stereos are the number one annoyance to people over forty" is a Prestige Audio Advertisement's selling point ("Prestige Audio" Advertisement). The sound of an everyday heavy vehicle is about ninety-two decibels (Howe 2-3), motorcycles have been measured at levels ranging from ninety-five to one-hundred-and-twenty decibels, and "boom cars" roar at one-hundred-and-forty decibels and beyond (web). The compilation of all the noise generated by cars, trucks and buses creates a permanent ambient noise, ranging from forty-five to sixty-five decibels.

Nearby road arterials, ambient noise is replaced by direct noise and vibrations, which alter the living environment of wild species. In addition, noise levels grow arithmetically with speed. Accordingly, residential blocks adjacent to transport highways constantly reach up to eighty to ninety decibels, which considerably exceeds the maximum recommended level (web). The recommended nighttime average level of noise suitable for undisturbed sleep is from thirty to thirty-five decibels, which includes a peak nighttime maximum of forty-five decibels. Nonetheless, an Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development survey of traffic noise estimates that sixteen percent of people in Europe experience more than forty decibels in their bedrooms at night. In Amsterdam, twenty-eight percent of the city's inhabitants are regularly disturbed by the jarring sounds of traffic (Bond 14-15).

Transportation vehicles are the worst offenders, with aircraft, railroad stock, trucks, buses, automobiles, motorcycles, and traffic all producing excessive noise. Urban intensification also diminishes the valuable human right to acoustical privacy. Twenty percent of Europeans are living in areas heavily polluted by high noise levels (news. indendent. co. uk). A survey carried out in Great Britain in 1986-1987 estimates that fourteen percent of the adult population was bothered by neighborhood noise, compared with eleven percent by road traffic noise, and seven percent bothered by aircraft noise ("Social" web). Another survey confirms that for seven percent of homes in Britain, noise levels outside the buildings were more than sixty-eight decibels (Bond 14-15). In Amsterdam, twenty-nine percent of the city's inhabitants complain of noisy neighbors (Bond 14-15).

The sources of neighborhood noise, in order of number of complaints, is amplified music, dogs, domestic activities, voices, do it one selves, car repairs, with ten percent complaining about something else. The Census Bureau reports that noise is Americans' top complaint about their neighborhoods, and the major reason for wanting to move (web). Even in the American national parks, it is estimated that noise-free intervals rarely exceed several minutes because people as a group cannot stop talking (Geary 45). Neighborhood noises create lots of animosity between the instigators and complainers. Lately, "See you in court", has become the chilly greeting between various neighbors. Being too close together breeds erosion of social consideration for others, which often have lethal consequences.

To put it differently, not everyone's opinion on entertainment is the same, and the dangerously loud noises emanating from entertainment premises always give rise to complaints at some stage. A recent survey of Local Authorities revealed that pubs and clubs produce ninety-one percent of complaints stemming from ambient noise (web). The sound of orchestral music is eighty-two decibels (Howe 2-3), a video arcade one-hundred-and-ten decibels, movie theaters one-hundred-and-eighteen decibels, personal stereo systems with headphones one-hundred-and-five to one-hundred-and-twenty decibels, health clubs and aerobic studios at one-hundred-and-twenty decibels (web), amplified music at live concert one-hundred-and-twenty decibels and beyond (Howe 2-3), sporting events one-hundred-and-twenty-seven decibels, and countless children's toys one-hundred-and-thirty-five to one-hundred-and-fifty decibels. During festivals and other special celebrations, firecrackers and gunshots emit sounds from one-hundred-and-twenty-five to one-hundred-and-seventy decibels (web).

Noise is not an unpleasant sound solely due to its loudness. To some people the roar of an engine is satisfying or thrilling, to others it is an annoyance. Every genre of music may be either enjoyable or a torment, depending on the listeners' differing tastes. Consequently, compromises have to be made between different people's concepts of entertainment, which again underscores the theme of social consideration For the time being, industrial noise is far more of a problem to the workers in factories, who often suffer from permanent hearing damage as a result of noise, than to the general public, who are constantly complaining.

Ever since the Industrial Revolution, the intensity of noise pollution has been going from bad to worse. Approximately thirty-million workers are exposed to hazardous noise on the job, while an additional nine-million workers are at risk of hearing loss caused by other agents such as solvents and metals. In the United States of America, some estimates find that occupational hearing loss compensation costs alone are in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year (web). Ten percent of all workers in Britain are being deafened by noise at their workplaces. For example, while newspapers and books are being printed the noise level is about eighty-six decibels, and causes some degree of hearing loss among nearly all worker (Howe 2-3). Everyone has felt the brutal touch of noise one time or another, whether male or female, young or old, happy or unhappy, working or unemployed.

Due to the highest risks faced by workers, most of the engineering solutions and regulations governing industrial noise are intended to deal with the high levels of interior sound, although they also benefit people outside the workplace. As expected, there are other irritating and detrimental noises in the world that do not fall into a specific category, but are known as miscellaneous. Everyone has his or her own pet peeves, infuriation due to noise frequently unrelated to the decibel level of sound. The sound of a ringing alarm clock is usually only sixty decibels, while vacuum cleaners are only sixty-nine decibels (Howe 2-3). Then again, they might seem louder and more aggravating than earsplitting music, even if they are not. The squeals of pet animals and one-hundred-and-thirty-five decibels thunderclaps are other sounds that are categorized as noise for some people; one for its incessant presence, and one for rare appearance.

Ultimately, noise is an unpredictable factor of life, and its sources must be examined thoroughly. In any event, a predictable outcome of noise pollution is the auditory disorders it directly induces, such as temporary or permanent hearing loss or tinnitus. Noise-induced hearing loss is one of the most common occupational irreversible damage, and the second most self-reported occupational illness or injury (web). Regular exposure to more than one minute of one-hundred-and-ten decibels risks causing permanent hearing loss; no more than fifteen minutes of unprotected exposure is recommended for one-hundred decibels (healthlink. mcw. edu); and prolonged exposure to any noise above seventy decibels causes gradual hearing loss (web). To avoid hearing loss from impulse noise exposure, children should never be exposed to a sound above one-hundred-and-twenty decibels. One-hundred-and-thirty decibels are on the threshold of causing acute pain.

The effects from impulse sound often are instantaneous and habitually result in an immediate hearing loss that may be permanent. The structures of the inner ear sometimes become severely damaged. This kind of hearing loss is frequently accompanied by tinnitus - ringing, buzzing or roaring in the ears or head - which seldom subside over time. Hearing loss and tinnitus are experienced in one or both ears, and tinnitus happens continuously or intermittently throughout a lifetime.

The damage that occurs slowly over years of continuous exposure to loud noise is accompanied by various changes in the structure of the hair cells. It also results in hearing loss and tinnitus. Exposure to impulse and continuous noise may cause only a temporary hearing loss. If hearing recovers, the temporary hearing loss is called a temporary threshold shift. The temporary threshold shift normally disappears within sixteen hours after exposure to loud noise (healthlink. mcw. edu). According to one survey, almost nine percent of Americans suffer from permanent hearing loss.

For those over sixty-five the proportions rise to twenty-five percent ("Leaflet: Page 2". web). There is also evidence that among young Americans hearing sensitivity is decreasing year by year (web). The ear, as a vital organ is too easily susceptible to destructive outside influences, and must be protected. Other negative effects of noise pollution are physiological, and include cardiovascular disease, digestive dysfunctions and sexual incompetence. There are immediate symptoms of accelerated heartbeat rate, high blood pressure and cholesterol; accordingly, persistent, unrelenting noise exposure occasionally causes these temporary stress reactions to become chronic stress diseases, such as chronically high blood pressure, heartburn, or ulcers (web). Noise levels of eighty decibels or more for over eight hours per day increases tension and changes in breathing patterns.

Continued exposure to high levels of changes in blood circulation, changes in breathing, among others. Noise pollution above one-hundred-and-twenty decibels can cause many adverse biochemical changes. Cholesterol levels in the blood and white cell counts increase, blood vessels and muscles contract, besides causing hypertension (web). The gastric-intestinal problems are also likely to evolve into bulimia.

Sexual dysfunction is also a recurrent symptom of the noise-inflicted (ohio line. osu. edu). The elderly, young and individuals with existing health problems are at greatest risk (web). Researchers in Sweden found that people living near Stockholm airport are eighty percent more likely to suffer from high blood pressure, and researchers in Austria found that children living near noisy roads have raised blood pressure and heart rates, not to mention higher levels of stress hormones ("Spend" news. independent. uk. co). Stress is a known risk factor for heart attacks (web). The cardiovascular, digestive and sexual changes noise begets, more often than not, devastating outcomes. People continually exposed to repetitive noises again run at higher and indirect risks of losing their initial mental and social well-being to stress.

Stress is regularly linked to psychiatric illnesses, suicides, aggression, and violence (Noise web). There are approximately forty-five noise-related murders per year in Britain. Noise drives people to aggressively assault each other, trespass on and vandalize others' property (web). John Bereznak of Beaver dale, Pennsylvania, who murdered his noisy neighbors, reportedly said, "They jus' wouldn't let me sleep with all that damned ruckus racket they made each night!

So I put them to sleep!" He ranted on and on, was acquitted of his crime by reason of insanity, and sent to the local mental institute. Ten days after his arrival, he committed suicide (Bucsko A-11). Uninterrupted sleep is known to be a prerequisite for good physiological and mental functioning of healthy persons (web). Sleep deprivation leads to immune suppression, inefficiency in the performance of tasks, and fatigue-related accidents. Currently from two-hundred-thousand to four-hundred-thousand annual auto accidents in the United States of America are attributed to sleep deprivation (web). One more indirect reason for these fatalities is lack of communication.

The chronic fatigue and communicational difficulties create many quandaries of life by speeding the decline of human efficiency, especially during driving and work. Moreover, in schools near airports, where children are chronically exposed to noise, children under-perform in tasks like proof-reading, persistence in puzzle solving, and some types of reading tests (healthlink. mcw. edu). Repeated exposure not only interferes with twenty-three percent of reading ability and a higher risk of developing anxiety disorders ("Airport" news. independent. uk), but with motivation, memory, and language and speech acquisition (content. health. msn. com). "Noise affects children's motivation", says P ashur. "If you take a rat and place it in a basket, it will try for days and months to get out.

If you expose it to noise and then put it in the basket, it gives up after a few days. We see the same kind of effects in children. Children in a noisy situation give up more easily" (news. bbc. co. uk). .".. It can be very difficult for teachers to get the kids attention because they are so used to blocking noise out", says Dee Strange, head teacher of Beavers Community Primary School in Hous low, under the Heathrow flight path ("Spend" news. independent. co. uk). Students may also be afflicted with Audio Stimulus Dependency Disorder.

Many adolescents admit they cannot study without a radio or stereo, and some admit they cannot go to sleep without the TV or some other electronic media device on. Around finals time many students in the library study with stereo earphones turned up so loudly that others can hear the stimulus. It is not music, but rather a "boom-shooka boom-shooka" percussive effect - a drug for the noise-addicted. Un calculated taxpayer dollars ranging in the millions are spent on noise research and enforcement, civil and criminal court cases, hospital bills, purchase of soundproofing products and services, doctor's care due to stress, and on and on (web). Thus, the high level of noise is of big public concern, as it impairs normal development, such as decreases in current and future labor productivity, finally leading to significant economic loss. Noise has harmful effects on nonliving materials, too.

Numerous examples are cited where the old buildings and even new constructions have developed cracks under the stress of explosive sounds (web). In T. Berland's book, titled, The Fight For Quiet, he examines the physical toll that noise has on structures. "Besides the toll which noise imposes on our hearing, our bodies, our emotions, there is the physical mayhem and destruction it wreaks. For noise not only shocks us, maddens us, distresses us, and deafens us, it physically wrecks our surroundings as well".

He points out that certain noises break windows, cause mental fatigue, cause machinery component failures, and cause parts of structures to crumble. Even if most of these problems are caused from the loudest types of sounds, like sonic booms, these mishaps also arise on a smaller scale from construction noise (swik i. cs. colorado. edu: 4242). School buildings in the borough of Hounslow cost on average fifteen percent more than elsewhere in London attributable to the cost of sound-proofing measures, such as double-glazing. That further leads on to unnecessary insulation, and the council then must pay to install air-conditioning (news. independent. co. uk). There is a direct impact on property values and overall desirability of neighborhood around airports and highways, because noise both upsets urban life and causes structural damage (people. hofstra. edu). While being a threat to human health, noise has been proven to destroy buildings and decrease the economic value and desirability of entire communities.

In the end, it is the humans that must cope with all of noise pollution's harm and difficulties that they themselves produce; physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, and financially. All things considered, people should strive to enforce the prevention of noise pollution by law, while also making police more accessible and visible to the public by cutting down on paperwork and bureaucracy. For example, in the Netherlands, it is illegal to build houses in areas where twenty-four-hour average noise levels exceed fifty decibels (web). In Great Britain, the Noise Act gives local authorities powers to confiscate noisy equipment and to fine people who create excessive noise at night (web).

Specific legislation and regulations should be proposed for designing and operation of machines to include vibration control, sound-proof cabins and sound-absorbing materials. Decibel meters should be installed along highways and in factories to check and control the intensity of noise pollution (web). Every city must have a law to give deaf workers a right to receive compensation from their employers. Most cities have currently regulations stating specific hours in the night as "keep-it-down time", and people can call the police to prosecute any unruly noise-makers of that hour. For the most part, the police's minds are to all intents and purposes of upholding the law. On the other hand, as Dom Nozzi puts it "Noise pollution is not visible to the eye, tends to be highly subjective, frequently occurs when the 'perpetrator' is not home to control it, and usually goes away before it can be confirmed by the police.

In addition, it is inherently a low priority for a police department... a barking dog in comparison to, say, a burglary. As a result, many suffer noise pollution in silence, thinking that it does no good to complain or that others will not agree that it is a problem" (user. gru. net). This answers the common question of, "If there are laws covering noise pollution offenses, why aren't they being enforced?" Another dilemma is that of weighing people's annoyance against the cost of reducing the noise. In an ideal world there would be no noise complaints, but while there are limited resources to spend on reducing noise, a balance must be found between keeping people happy, and spending the money on something more useful ("Tackling" web).

The law could be the answer to this complex problem, if only it is accompanied with proper enforcement (web). Likewise, through clever engineering, loud objects may be modified into quieter ones. Emission reductions by source modification through tire profiles, low-noise road surfaces, and changes in engine properties are all part of this solution (web). Several countries are investing in porous asphalt, which cut traffic noise by up to five decibels (web). With new engine technology on transportation vehicles and construction machines, and transmission reduction with enclosures around machinery; noise will be suitably screened. Speed limits and guidance of traffic flow by electronic means are all part of traffic management to diminish noise pollution.

There are passive protections, such as: ear plugs, earmuffs, insulation of dwellings, and facade design (web). Earplugs and soundproofing sometime provide relief but they are not a real cure any more than gas masks are a remedy for air pollution. The best remedy is eradication at the source ("Leaflet: Page 1" web). More to the point, land use planning must be precisely implemented; for instance, the minimum distance between industrial, busy roads and residential areas, the location of tranquility areas, the by-pass roads for heavy traffic, and the separation of incompatible functions. Architectural orientation of buildings by designing and structuring of tranquil uses and using buildings may be manipulated into screening purposes (web). Noise will be reduced with these carefully planned engineering methods to achieve a quieter world.

Besides, it has been proved that plants are efficient absorbers of noise, especially noise of higher frequency. Over the years rising population has led to a decrease in open spaces and green belts in the cities. A twenty-foot wide plantation inside the compound protects the house from the noise of vehicular traffic (web), for that reason, new buildings being built now have courtyards fitted into their architecture. They serve as a sink for pollutants, check the flow of dust and bring down noise pollution level (web).

In metropolitan areas a green belt of vegetation and open spaces in general have a great value in noise control as in air purification. It has been seen that plants are efficient absorbers of noise, especially noise of higher frequency. Plants are known to easily moderate airplane noise, hence green belts should be planted around airports (web). Therefore, green belts prove not only to be a great value in air purification, but also in noise reduction.

Furthermore, educating and informing the public about noise pollution is another important step in purging the world of noise. Firstly, everyone should know the health impacts of noise, about enforcement actions taken, different noise levels effects, and who to complain to. Friends, family, and colleagues must all be alert to hazardous noise in the environment, and protect children who are too young to protect themselves. Each city should have a capable otolaryngologist, a physician who specializes in diseases of the ears, nose, throat, head and neck, and an audiologist, a health professional trained to perform hearing tests that identify and measure hearing loss and rehabilitate people with hearing impairments. Secondly, every city should have noise maps, which people must learn how to monitor and model soundscapes by publishing results. Thirdly, a sufficient number of noise experts must be trained by having the required university or high school curricula.

Fourthly, a serious initiation of research and development by funding information generation according to scientific research needs and of behavior changes must be begun. Behavior changes refer to speed reduction when driving, use of horns, use of loudspeakers for advertisements, not to mention many others (web). After all, half the responsibility for keeping vehicles quiet lies with the driver, making sure the car is in good working condition; for example, that the brakes do not squeak. Additionally, drivers' must be aware that their vehicles are likely to cause noise, and they have to drive in a way that reduces the annoyance to others; not racing along quiet residential roads, avoiding driving at night, unless necessary ("Transportation" web). By raising public awareness on the terrible implications of noise, humanity will finally be able to work together as a community against noise pollution.

In any event, the decibel levels of noise have been mounting progressively for the past decade, and now it is time for noise to begin its descent. This will only transpire when mankind decides to take action. From 29 June to 3 July, 2003, the Eighth International Congress of Noise as A Public Health Problem, organized by International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise will be taking place in the Venue Concert and Congress Centre De Do elen, Rotterdam, the Netherlands (web). The purpose of this global meeting is not to seek an absolutely silent world as John Cage made it clear there is no such thing as silence, which is defined as a total absence of sound because "even here it can be demonstrated that the much poeticize d silences with which the country restores nerves shaken by city life are made up of an infinity of noises, and that these noises have their own timbres, their own rhythms, and a scale that is very delicately enharmonic in its pitches" (web).

In modern cities, with machines, life has created the most varied source of sounds, which should render the few, small, and pleasing ones of the countryside as nothing. On the other hand, nature and the country, which would be frightening tombs without sound, have been around for long enough that their sounds are tolerated to the point that most agree they are the most important part of the emotions that accompany the beauty of certain panoramas. Over the time of human evolution, quietness has incorporated itself as the preferred environment. In this reality, country music renders city noise as excessive, extreme, and displeasing. That is why Cage created 4'33", four minutes and thirty-three seconds for people to listen for the noises of the world and accept them all as music. The Eighth International Congress of Noise as A Public Health Problem aspires for a world where the peace of quiet is a normal part of life; where it is possible to listen to the sounds of nature without the constant intrusion of machine noise and artificial stimuli; and for soundscapes of public spaces - which is common property, like air for breathing- that are appropriately respected.

Noise pollution continues to escalate. Thus, mankind must unite in global noise awareness; develop reduction and elimination strategies for this cacophonous catastrophe, to pave the crucial road for a quieter way of life! "Airport Noise 'Harms Children's Health'". 10 June 2001. United Kingdom Independent. 9 May 2003.

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