subject: Noise Pollution: What is Noise Pollution and What are its Causes [print this page] Noise Pollution: What is Noise Pollution and What are its Causes
Undesirable and unpleasing sound is referred to as noise. Music that is too loud can already be considered as noise. Too much noise that can already cause imbalance with the surrounding is called noise pollution. In this article, noise pollution will be discussed, as well as its causes and what could be its possible effects to people and other living creatures.
Decibel (dB) is the measurement of sound. A normal conversation between two persons is usually about 60dB and shouting measures about 80dB. The increase of 10dB in sound is equal to ten times the strength normal measurement of that certain sound. Sound measuring 120dB can damage the eardrums. However, even an 85 dB sound can already be harmful to one's health if the person is exposed to such intensity of the sound constantly.
Sources of noise pollution can be categorized in to two. First source is the indoor source. This includes noise from appliances and too loud music. The second source is the outdoor source which refers to sounds created by vehicles and other machines in big from factories and workshops. Majority of the sound contributing to noise pollution come from outdoor source. This simply explains why urban places are noted to have higher noise pollution compared to rural places.
Constant exposure to noise pollution can be detrimental to one's health. It has physical and psychological effects on people as well as on animals. People who are always exposed to higher decibels may have problems in hearing, abnormal sleep pattern and high blood pressure. Psychologically, they may also develop aggression, irritability and stress.
Due to increasing noise pollutions, some places resulted to creation of noise pollution laws. These law aims to reduce the noise level of a place by prohibiting loud noises or allowing noises only at certain time of the day.
These are the basic information about noise pollution. Now that we already know how harmful can noise be, it is now one of our responsibilities to avoid contributing to the noise in our environment.
