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NOISE
POLLUTION
It's More than Meets the Ear!
by
Clayton Steep
High noise levels are not just disagreeable-they are injurious
to healt h and peace of mind.
~~SI LENCE
is golden," says
an old German prov–
erb. And for t he mil–
lions packed together tn
urba n sprawls, silence is
indeed becoming as hard to
find as t he precious metal.
Harried city dwellers are
subjected to the confused d in
of autos, buses and trucks, the
rumblc of trains, t he wail of
sircns, the jolt of jack ham–
mers, the roar of jet planes,
the noises of industry, com–
merce, construction, demoli–
tion. And all the other act ivi–
tics that are part of today's
city life.
Thc suburbs aren't necessarily
quict havens either. Starting with
the jangle of the alarm clock in
the morning, the ear drums may
be assaulted throughout the day
with strident, nerve- wracking
sonic dissonance coming from
houschold appliances, TVs, ster–
eos, power lawn mowers, chain
saws, garbage trucks, passing
motor bikes, and, oh yes, thc
inccssant yapping of the neigh–
bor's dog.
"Our society is driving itself
nuts with noise," declared Dr. T.
Carlin, director of the Speech and
Hearing 1nstitute at the Universi–
ty of Texas Health Service Ceo–
ter. Noise pollution, he said, can–
not only be blamed for loss of
hearing, but also brings about
May 1981
other physical ailments, st ress in
marriage, a letdown in worker
productivity and "all in all makes
life miserable" (AP interview by
Rob Wood).
What l s " No i se " A nyway?
For convenience, let's make a dis–
tinction between sounds and
noise. There are many sounds
that are beautiful, peaceful, awe–
inspiri ng, ed ifying. T hese are
pleasant to hear. T here are other
sounds that are not necessarily
beautiful, but which are accepta–
ble by-products of human activi–
ty. Then there is noise. Noise, as
someone once wrote, is any unde–
sired sound.
It
is sound at the
wrong time and in the wrong
place.
A dog cavorting across the
countryside is a happy sound. 1n
the middle of the night, 1
O
feet
from a bedroom wi ndow in a city,
it is an aggravating noise.
For the most part, noise is the
result of human activity. Why is
the dog 1
O
feet from a bedroom
window instead of out in a field
where it would rather be?
Because it is tied up or otherwise
trapped in circumstances of
human devising-a part of city
life.
Whenever peoplc are crowded
together into cities, the noise
made by sorne disturbs others.
lt
is nothing new. T he poet Deci–
mu s J unius Juvenalis com–
mented on conditions in ancient
Rome: " Insomnia causes more
deaths amongst Roman invalids
than any other factor... . How
much sleep, 1 ask you, can one
gét in lodgings here? Unbroken
nights- and this is the root of
the trouble-are a rich man's
privi lege. The wagons thunder–
ing past through those narrow
twisting st reets ... would suffice
to jolt the doziest sea-cow of an
emperor into permanent wake–
fulness."
Today, in addition to the noise
of modern traffic, we have to
endure a deafening tumult from a
multitude of modern mass-pro–
duced mechanical noisemakers.
Emo t iona l and Phys ical Effec t s
Sound is measured in decibels. A
prolonged noise level of from 65
to 80 decibels puts asevere strain
on the ears. A short period of
more than 90 decibels can dam–
age the hearing. Tiny hairs in the
hearing mechanism, once de–
stroyed by excessive noise, never
grow back. The damage is perma–
nent.
You think you are not
exposed to excessive noise?
Well, a vacuum cleaner registers
abou t 70 decibels; a hair dryer,
lOO;
a garbage disposaJ, 80; a
power mower, 90 to 100; an
average factory, 85; an electric
shaver, 90; heavy t raffic at 25
feet, 90; a motorcycle at 50 feet,
100 to 1 1
O;
a jet p lan e at
takeoff, 150; a typical d isco,
120. Daily exposure at lower but
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