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NOISE POLLUTION
It'sMore
than Meets the Ear!
by
Clayton Steep
High noise levels are not just disagreeable- they are injurious
to health and peace of mind.
''S
ILENCE
is golden," says
an old German proverb.
A nd fo r t he milli ons
packed together in u r–
ban sprawls, s ilence is indeed
becomi ng as valued as the
precious meta l.
Ha r ried city dwellers are
subjected to the confused din
of a utos, buses and trucks, the
rumble of tra ins, the wail of si–
rens, the jolt of jackhammers,
the roar of jet planes. the
noises of industry, commerce,
construction and demolition.
And all the o t her activities
that are part of today's city
life.
The suburbs aren't nccessarily
quict havcns eithcr. Starting with
the janglc of thc alarm clock in the
morning, the eardrums may be
assaulted throughout the day with
strident, nerve-racking sonic dis–
sonance coming from household
appliances, TYs, stereos, power
lawn mowers, chain saws, garbage
trucks, passing motor bikes and, oh
yes, the incessant yapping of the
neighbor's dog.
"Our society is driving itself
nuts with noise," declared Dr. T.
Carlin, director of the Speech and
Hearing l ns t itute at the Universi- .
ty of Texas Health Service Ceo–
ter. Noisc pollution , he said, can–
not only be blamed for loss of
hearing, bu t also brings about
other physical ailments, s tress in
November / December 1983
marr iage, a letdown in worker pro–
ductivity and "all in all makes life
miserable" (AP interview by Rob
Wood).
What ls " Noise" Anyway?
For convenience, let's make a dis–
tinction between sounds and noise.
There are many sounds that are
beautiful, peaceful, awe-inspiri ng,
edifying. These are pleasant to
bear. T here are other sounds that
are not necessarily beautiful, but
which are acceptable by-products
of human activity. Then there is
noise. Noise , as someone once
wrote, is any undesired sound. l t is
sound at the wrong time and in the
wrong place.
A dog barki ng as it cavorts
across the countryside is an under–
standable and acceplable sound. 1n
the middle of the night, 1
O
feet
from a bedroom window in a city, a
dog's barking is an aggravating
noise.
For the most part, noise is the
result of human activity. Why is
the dog barki ng 1
O
feet from a
bedroom window instead of out in
a field where it would rather be?
Because it is tied up or othcrwise
t rapped in circumstances of hu–
man devising- a part of city
life.
Whenever people are crowded
together into cities, the noise
made by sorne disturbs others.
It
is nothing new. The poet Decimus
Junius Juvenalis commented on
conditions in a ncient Rome: " l n–
somni a cau ses more dea t hs
amongst Roman invalids t han any
other factor. ... How much sleep,
l ask you , can one get in lodgings
here? Unbroken nights-and t his
is the root of tbe trouble-are a
rich man's pr ivilege. The wagons
t hundering past t hrough t hose
narrow twisting streets ... wou ld
suffice to jolt the doziest sea-cow
of an emperor into permanent
wakefulness."
Today, in addition to the noise of
modern traffic, we have to endure a
deafening tumult from a multitude
of modern mass-produced mechani–
cal noisemakers.
Emo tl onal and Physical Effects
Sound is measured in decibels. A
prolonged noise leve! of from 65
to 80 decibels puts a severe st rain
on the ears. A short period of
more t han 90 decibels can damage
the hearing. Tiny hairs in the
hear ing mechan ism, once de–
s troyed by excessive noise, never
grow back. T he damage is perma–
nent.
You think you are not exposed
to excessive noise in today's tech–
nologically oriented society? Well ,
a vacuum cleaner registers about
70 decibels; a hai r dryer , 100; a
garbage disposal, 80; a power
mower, 90 to 100; an average fac–
tory, 85; an electric shaver, 90;
heavy traffic at 25 feet, 90; a
motorcycle at 50 feet, 80 or more;
a jet plane at takeoff, 150; a typ–
ical d isco, 120. Daily exposure at
lower but constan t levels, from air
condi tioners, freeways or other
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