Hello! Today I will be briefly talking about a commonly overlooked form of pollution! Can you guess what it is? You can hear it… Yes you are right it is noise pollution! SO what is noise pollution? Well, noise pollution is basically ‘any disturbing or unwanted noise that interferes or harms humans or wildlife’ (Jain, Domen and Cui, 2016). Just like light pollution, people do not think much about this problem, but unknown to many of us, this can have serious effects on our health! I learnt some really interesting information about noise pollution from my GE3246 lecture and just wanted to share some of this information to you!
For noise pollution, they are usually in the frequency range of 20 to 200Hz. Sound is usually then measured in the level of noise (decibels dBs, loudness) and in frequency content (the pitch of the sound). I also learnt that Sound has three components which are:
- frequency (measured in Hertz, Hz)
- amplitude (measures the amount of energy)
- wavelength (distance travelled by wave in an oscillation)
Noise pollution occurs in various places in the city, from construction sites to even renovation noise from own homes. Constant exposure can cause detrimental effects to our health. The most common illness from noise pollution is hearing loss. However, there are other non-auditory forms of health impacts which includes “elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry” (Chepesiuk, 2005). According to WHO, this could possibly lead to a drop in productivity, lower learning capabilities and increased risk of accidents (Chepesiuk, 2005).
In the next few blogpost, I will be talking about case studies that demonstrate the harmful effects of noise pollution and what is being put in place to reduce its effects.
Reference:
Chepesiuk, R., 2005. Decibel Hell: The Effects of Living in a Noisy World. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113(1).
Jain, R., Domen, J. and Cui, Z., 2016. Environmental Impact of Mining and Mineral Processing. [online] pp.53-157. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/noise-pollution>.
Featured Image:
Gunnarsson, T., 2016. Human Right Ear. [image] Available at: <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Human_right_ear_(cropped).jpg> [Accessed 5 November 2020].