Effects of Noise on Health

From silence came sound, not all of which was good. And the sound that was not welcome was called noise. And there got to be more and more of it, because who wants to rake when you can blow? Noises are sounds that are not only unwanted but also unpredictable and uncontrollable.

Air and water pollution are two major environmental problems, but so is noise pollution as our surroundings grow noisier. More people are complaining about the noise from automobile traffic, overhead airplanes and helicopters, leaf blowers, pneumatic drills, and neighbors who play their televisions and stereos much too loudly. Children are at high risk from noise pollution. Noise pollution from aircraft and road traffic has adverse effects on children’s cognition and health. The effects include annoyance, stress related psycho physiological effects, impaired cognitive function, and raised blood pressure and sleep disturbances. Knowledge is lacking for exposure-effect relationships for cognitive function and health, from road traffic noise, aircraft noise and combinations of these, and on the link between child health and total physical and social environments at school and home.

Uninterrupted sleep is known to be a prerequisite for good physiologic and mental functioning in healthy individuals. Very high levels of noise can wake people from their sleep with a jerk and keep them awake or disturb their sleep pattern. This could make them irritable and tired the next day.

Sometimes, even low levels of noise are irritating and can be frustrating, and high volumes can be annoying. Natural sounds are less irritating than those we find uncontrollable but intermittent sounds such as a tap dripping water can be more irritating than the sound of falling rain.

Social and behavioral effects of noise exposure are complex, subtle, and indirect. These effects include changes in everyday behavior e.g., closing windows and doors to eliminate outside noises; avoiding the use of balconies, and turning up the volume of radios and television sets. changes in social behavior

Measures of noise : Noise pollution is measured in decibels. When noise is at 45 decibels, no human being can sleep, and at 120 decibels the ear is in pain and hearing begins to be damaged at 85 decibels.