Noise Pollution? What is it?

Hi everyone!

 

Before I talk specifically about Noise Pollution with regards to music festivals, let me first give you a run down as to what noise pollution is.

 

Noise pollution is defined as unwanted or excessive sound that can have deleterious effects on human health, wildlife and environmental quality.

 

How sound works:

 

According to the Britannica, sound waves are vibrations of air molecules carried from a noise source to the ear and are described in terms of the amplitude of sound and the frequency of the sound wave. A normal human ear can detect sound from 0dB to 140dB however hearing any sound that is over 120dB will cause them pain.

 

Effects on humans

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has documented seven categories of adverse health effects of noise pollution on humans.

 

1. Hearing Impairment

 

Noise exposure at certain levels and durations can result in damage to one’s eardrum as well as the hair cells of the inner ear which could ultimately cause temporary or permanent hearing loss. According to Britannica, most people who are repeatedly exposed to more than 150dBA will suffer a certain extent of hearing loss.

 

2. Interference with Spoken Communication

 

Large amounts of Noise would interfere with one’s ability to comprehend normal speech which may lead to secondary problems such as decrease in performance, fatigue, uncertainty, irritation and lack of self-confidence.

 

3. Sleep Disturbances

 

Though this point may seem quite straight forward and self-explanatory, the inability to have uninterrupted sleep due to noise pollution negatively impacts a person’s health. According to WHO, “when sleep disruption becomes chronic, the results are mood changes, decrements in performance and other long-term effects on health and well-being”. Additionally, “noise during sleep causes increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, increased pulse amplitude, vasoconstriction, changes in respiration, cardiac arrhythmias and increased body movement”.

 

4. Cardiovascular Disturbances

 

It has been suggested that noise acts as a biologic stressor evoking a reaction that prepares the body for a ‘fight or flight’ response thus triggering responses from both the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems. These responses negatively impact the cardiovascular system and therefore may be a risk for cardiovascular disease.

 

These effects can be due to both acute long-term daily exposure to noise as well sudden unexpected influxes in noise. Noise exposures that are temporary in nature allow for readily reversable changes, however, noise exposures of a long duration and of a certain intensity aren’t as readily reversable.

 

 

5. Disturbances in Mental Health

 

Since noise pollution is known to cause adverse effects such as anxiety, stress, nervousness, nausea and emotional instability, while it may not be believed to be a cause of mental illness, it is assumed to be able to accelerate the development of such illnesses.

 

6. Impaired Task Performance

 

Noise pollution is able to impair task performance in numerous instances. Be it in school or at work, the intrusion of unwanted noise increases errors, and decreases one’s motivation to complete a task. It is also known to have an impact on one’s ability to recall and retain information.

 

 

7. Negative Social Behaviour and Annoyance reactions

 

 

According to an article by Lisa Goines and Louis Hagler, “Annoyance is defined as a feeling of displeasure associated with any agent or condition believed by an individual to adversely affect him or her”. Therefore, different types of noise can be seen to stimulate a sense of annoyance among people which would result in negative social behaviour such as aggressiveness, unfriendliness, nonparticipation or disengagement.

 

Effects on wildlife and environment

 

Many animals rely on sound for a variety of reasons, be it to communicate with one another, hunt for food, avoid predators, and attract a mate. Some notable ones being insects, frogs, birds and bats. As such, noise pollution has the ability to interfere with these animals livelihood and serves as a real threat to them.

 

This problem of noise pollution is especially an issue for marine animals such as dolphins and whales as they rely on echolocation to move around in the ocean in the dark or when there is poor visibility. As such, noise pollution from sources such as naval solar devices as well as the propeller engine of boats and ships would cause a disruption to their ability to effectively echolocate. According to the National Geographic, “Research has shown that sonar can cause mass strandings of whales on beaches and alter the feeding behavior of endangered blue whales”.

 

This video gives a good overview as to what noise pollution is and how it has detrimental impacts on not only human lives but also wildlife and other environmental impacts. One point that was mentioned in the video that I found to be quite notable was:

 

“if we could see the sound that we generate, it would look like litter, as though we were driving through the countryside, throwing things out of the car”

 

Hope this blog post gave you some insight into noise pollution and if you can, Just try to think of this quote whenever you hear noise during your day to day activities, and you’d probably notice how much noise pollution is actually occurring all around you.

 

References:

 

Goines, L., & Hagler, L. (2007). Noise pollution: a modem plague. South Med J, 100(3), 287-94.

 

Noise pollution. (2020, November 03). Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/science/noise-pollution

 

National Geographic Society. (2019, July 15). Noise Pollution. Retrieved November 06, 2020, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/noise-pollution/