I’d first like to cover land sources of noise pollution. As introduced on the Stuff You Should Know podcast, land sources of noise pollution can be categorised into 3 – industrial, traffic, and community (Clark and Bryant, 2017). In this post, I’ll be covering noise pollution caused by traffic, and continuing with industrial and community sources in other posts.
We can classify noise into 2 categories, intermittent noise that starts and stops, as well as continuous noise. I suppose whether noise produced by traffic is considered intermittent or continuous depends on where one lives. Someone who lives by train tracks or near the airport is likely to experience intermittent traffic, whereas someone who stays along the main road or large intersections could experience continuous noise from passing vehicles.
Life in the city
For urban dwellers, traffic noise is part and parcel of everyday life. The European Environment Agency identifies road traffic noise to be the most pervasive source of noise exposure, with 125 million Europeans experiencing noise levels higher than 55 decibels throughout the day (Godwin, 2018). In Singapore alone, it was discovered that noise by traffic contributed more than 50% of total urban noise (Chin, Thang and Saju, 2019). This includes the sounds of honking and speeding vehicles, or even an idling engine.
Locally, the National Environment Agency sets out an exhaust noise emission standard for vehicles to minimise the noise pollution caused by vehicles’ exhausts, overloading, or speeding (National Environment Agency, 2022).
Public transportation is also another form of noise pollution. An article on Guardian recorded up to 101.9 dB in New York’s Manhattan 86th street station as trains passed through, akin to the volume of a power lawnmower (Oksman, 2016). This is far higher than 70dB, and can cause hearing loss over time.
You’ll be hearing about noise pollution from industries next – see you then!
References
Chin, C., Thang, Z.Y. and Saju, S. (2019). Study on impact of noise annoyance from highway traffic in Singapore City. 178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America.
Clark, J and Bryant, C. (2021) “Noise Pollution: Arrrgh!” Stuff You Should Know, iHeartPodcasts, October 14, Available at https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-stuff-you-should-know-26940277/episode/noise-pollution-arrrgh-87999418/ [Accessed January 2022]
Godwin, R. (2018). Sonic doom: how noise pollution kills thousands each year. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/jul/03/sonic-doom-noise-pollution-kills-heart-disease-diabetes.
National Environment Agency (2022). Vehicular Noise Control. [online] www.nea.gov.sg. Available at: https://www.nea.gov.sg/our-services/pollution-control/noise-pollution/vehicular-noise-control.
Oksman, O. (2016). NYC subway exposes commuters to noise as loud as a jet engine. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/31/new-york-city-subway-trains-noise-pollution-jet-engine [Accessed 20 Jan. 2022].