Decibel Dilemma
- During a single day, people living in a typical urban environment can experience a wide range of sounds in many locations, including shopping malls, schools, the workplace, recreational centers, and the home
- Even once quiet locales have become polluted with noise
- It’s difficult today to escape sound completely
- In its 1999 Guidelines for Community Noise, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared, “Worldwide, noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible
occupational hazard, and it is estimated that 120 million people worldwide have disabling hearing difficulties." - Growing noise pollution problem has many different causes such as booming population growth, the loss of rural land to urban sprawl, the lack of adequate anti-noise regulations in many parts of the world, the electronic nature of our age, the rising number of vehicles on the roads, and busier airports
- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has long identified transportation-passenger vehicles, trains, buses, motorcycles, medium & heavy trucks, and aircraft- as one of the most pervasive outdoor noise sources
- More than 100 million people in the United States are exposed to noise sources from traffic near their homes
- Some experts define noise simply as “unwanted sound,” but what can be unwanted for one person can be pleasant or even essential sound to to another—consider boom boxes, car stereos, drag races, and lawn mowers
- Sound intensity is measured in decibels (dB); the unit A-weighted dB (dBA) is used to indicate how humans hear a given sound
- Mark Stephenson, a Cincinnati, Ohio based senior research audiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), says his agency’s definition of hazardous noise is sound that exceeds the time-weighted average of 85 dBA, meaning the average noise exposure measured over a typical eight-hour work day
- In the United States, about 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous sound levels on the job, according to NIOSH
- Industries having a high number of workers exposed to loud sounds include construction, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and the military
- Noise in U.S. industry is an extremely difficult problem to monitor, acknowledges Craig
Moulton, a senior industrial hygienist for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - Indeed, the term secondhand noise is increasingly used to describe noise that is experienced by people who did not produce it and can also have a negative effect on the workplace
- Even disregarding other people’s noise, there are any number of household tools and appliances that can produce harmful sound levels in the comfort of one’s own home
- Dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers can all reach or exceed 90 dBA
- Even the countryside is not immune to the impact of noise pollution
- According to the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health in Cooperstown, a
staggering 75% of farm workers have some kind of hearing problem, largely the result of long-term exposure to loud equipment - Noise is indeed everywhere, and experts expect no decrease in noise levels, given the powerful impact of technology on modern life
- Numerous scientific studies over the years have confirmed that exposure to certain levels of sound can damage hearing
- Prolonged exposure can actually change the structure of the hair cells in the inner ear, resulting in hearing loss
- It can also cause tinnitus, a ringing, roaring, buzzing, or clicking in the ears
- The American Tinnitus Association estimates that 12 million Americans suffer from this condition, with at least 1 million experiencing it to the extent that it interferes with their daily activities
- Noise has an insidious effect in that the more exposure a person has to noise, the more the hearing loss will continue to grow
- Hearing loss is irreversible. Once hearing is lost, it’s lost forever
- For many young people, changing their environment and their behavior would be a wise and healthy move
- Non-auditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that don’t cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry
- These health effects, in turn, can lead to social handicap, reduced productivity, decreased performance in learning, absenteeism in the workplace and school, increased drug use, and accidents
- Studies have revealed that as children grow they are exposed to sounds that can threaten their health and cause learning problems
- Other human and animal studies also have linked noise exposure to chronic changes in blood pressure and heart rate
- Noise can prevent people from getting a good night’s sleep
- The Noise Control Act of 1972 empowered the EPA to determine noise limits to protect the public health and welfare, and to establish a noise control office
- Congress did establish the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC), as well as federal standards for business, industries, and communities, and it did begin researching the effects of sound exposure
- In 1982, however, the Reagan administration defunded the office
- Activists believe that closing the ONAC has had a tremendous negative effect at the state and local level
Noise is something we will always encounter in our everyday life and as we know it, it is inevitable because it is ubiquitous and that no matter what we do or where we go there is noise. Many people alike have come across this in many locations such as shopping malls, schools, recreational centers, and even at the home. Noise is becoming more evident that it has the possibilities of causing severe health effects. The World Health Organization says that in a worldwide perspective, noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard and it was estimated that 120 million people worldwide disabling hearing difficulties. Noise is difficult to monitor as it is connected to many factors. Sound or noise is evaluated in decibels or dB and dBA is how we hear or perceive that sound/noise. Working in our activities that expose us to loud sounds are from construction, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and the military. Even the things at home we use produce sounds that are beyond belief as dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers have the potential to reach up to or exceed 90 dBA. Another issue is that we face secondhand noise which is not produced by the people but are experienced and is causing negative effects in the workplace. The tracks doesn't stop here as people even from the countryside also have similar issues with noise pollution even if they don't have all that cool gadgets and technology we have. Now on to the health effects. Studies shown that exposure to certain levels of sound can damage hearing and that over an extended period of time can result in hearing loss due to the change in structure of hair cells in the ear. More consequently, once a person reaches hearing loss, the hearing is lost forever and its irreversible. However, direct auditory sound may cause hearing loss but the non-auditory sounds can cause elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, etc. The problem also looks at the youth and many young generations who are also affected by sound as it harms their health and learning while still growing up. All is not lost, the Noise Control Act of 1972 gave the EPA to determine noise limits to protect the public health and welfare, and to establish a noise control office to combat this issue. Moreover, the shift in environment and behavior can improve an individual's health.
I can't believe that sound really has a long list of negative effects because I never knew it could do something like that. Even if sound is all around us, we can still minimize its effects on the environment for the people. Some ways that can be done is to build soundproof walls that don't allow sound to pass through easily like a normal wall does and provide soundproof gear that acts similarly to a headphone in which you hear music but something that is put on the head and blocks sound effectively for those who work in the workplace. Also, since there are so many driveways and cars in the roads we can build engines that don't run so loud. On a more creative thought, I think the noisy industries and other businesses should be placed on restricted grounds to where they can be built that is not anywhere nearby homes or people. I mean c'mon there is lots of ways that we can do to lessen the effects of sound and improving the security for everyone to be safe from sound.