March 22

Speak up! I can’t hear you!

Greetings urban dwellers, welcome back to another post on metropollution. Today’s article will cover extensively and provide more nuances to noise pollution.

For most types of urban pollution, there is usually a distinct socio-economic divide between the levels of pollution inflicted onto the different social classes. Take land pollution for example, as covered previously under the garbage mountain post, the poor are generally forced to be at the short end of the stick due to their socio-economic immobility and ‘stickiness’ to their environment. However, for noise pollution, it inflicts upon both the rich and poor. You might be wondering that the rich has the capacity to live somewhere secluded and less urbanised and away from the city center. But a misconception such as this proves how little we understand noise pollution. 

Public Address systems erected on vehicles in India (https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/public-address-system.html)

Noise pollution does not exist solely from construction noises or traffic. Albeit those anthropogenic activities do contribute to noise pollution, a study conducted in New Delhi has explained how electrical appliances like televisions and public address systems are significant as contributors to noise pollution. One way to conceptualise noise pollution is to understand it from unique and passive angles.

Events like festivals and concerts within the cityscape add to noise pollution from a unique angle as there is a sudden rise in noise generated in the duration. These sources that contribute to noise pollution are easier to resolve because it is easy to locate and recognise them, thus finding a solution does not pose much difficulties. The challenge comes for noise pollution that happens passively. Examples ranging from the ringing of alarms to noise generated from railways, they are difficult to resolve them as they are essential to daily living. They are considered passive because as urban dwellers, we have become so acclimatised to the sonic landscapes embedded within the urban environ that we do not consider them as noise pollution. As such, I shall end off with a question to you readers to ponder: “to what extent do we consider sounds emitted from certain activity/lifestyle to be unwanted and therefore deserve to be severed off from the urban?”

You Live in Urban, You Fight for Urban

 

Your metropollution warrior,

BriChua

 

Reference:

Singh, N., & Davar, S. C. (2004). Noise pollution-sources, effects and control. Journal of Human Ecology, 16(3), 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/09709274.2004.11905735


Posted March 22, 2022 by brichua in category Uncategorized

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