Noise pollution effects and solutions | what causes noise pollution
Mainly, noise pollution causes consists churning the sound of machines, transportation, etc. Bearing high levels of noise may result in stress and hearing impairments.
Noise pollution has adverse effects on us as well as on the environment. Though, young children are very delicate and are easily affected. Noise is a measurable quantity having its unit, decibels.
db are abbriviation for decibles. For instance, 80 db are considered very high level responsible for impacts having hearing damage and further unhealthy disturbances.
Noise pollution effects are major causes of poor concentration, decreased working capacity, irritation, and reduced self-confidence.
It also caused a state called noise in the mind that creates interference in speaking and unbearable headaches. It also leads to the improper secretion of hormones that concludes hormonal imbalance.
Noise Pollution Effects
Sleep Disturbances
Noise pollution leads to sleep disturbance which further impacts health and mood. Insufficient sleep leads to tiredness, depression, and low mood.
Moreover, noise pollution is harmful to heart health too. This disturbance also creates hindrance in the proper performing of tasks. Sometimes, when indoor noise level decreases, problems like rapid eye movement, slow-wave sleep can increase.
Increased noise pollution may lead to night awakenings. Although according to some people noise pollution does not cause any effect at night as they become used to it.
Whereas, some studies show that noise pollution could be the main reason for deteriorating cardiovascular health. It may also result in increased body movement while sleeping.
Among people vulnerable to mental illness, disturbance of noise leads to increased symptoms of disorders.
In one study, noise pollution and sleep disturbance contributed to emotional instability such as anxiety, nervousness, moodiness, and sometimes it made people argumentative, causing conflicts.
Loss of Hearing
Human beings have five senses, and one of those is satisfied by the ears. We hear a variety of voices, sounds, and also noise through it. But it can serve us up to a limit as exposure to prolonged high-level noise could permanently damage your ears, which causes loss of hearing.
Even animals suffer a lot of problems due to increasing levels of noise pollution. Some birds and animals like dolphins, whales, bats use their hearing senses to move from one place to another. This way, they locate their prey, detect the location of their teammates or call or talk. Their hearing ability is widely known as echolocation.
Noise pollution creates an obstacle in such activities as they work as illusions or divergence to them. The noise of construction and mining produces an enormous impact on such hearing ability.
Similarly, electromagnetic waves generated by several electronic devices severely ruin their hearing capacity and even prove to be deadly for them.
This act leads to the migration of many birds and animals. It forces them to abandon their natural habitat and move to places away from human interference.
Psychological and cardiovascular effects
Prolonged exposure to noise pollution increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Research studies show that a high level of noise causes the contraction of blood vessels. It also increases the pulse rate, which further leads to heart attacks or high blood pressure.
Sometimes even after getting used to noise could have a high impact as it may result in psychological disorders, as it becomes a part of daily life that we usually do not consider a problem.
Pieces of the study suggest that bearing too much noise for a long time makes people irrational at some tasks, nervous, constant unease, and irritable for the whole day.
In some extreme cases, researchers found that noise pollution can make you stressed that it becomes a reason for social hesitation, poor concentration, emotional instability, sometimes, reduced self-confidence. Noise pollution effects could make people irritable, or they may develop a suppressive personality.
Causes of Noise Pollution
Noise pollution is either a high level of sound that is unpleasant to the ears and has adverse effects on our health, heart, and mind. This noise causes natural imbalances in several indirect ways.
Noise pollution includes the noise due to machines rather than by natural sources. Such noise generally includes appliances that we deal with in our day-to-day life, such as electrical appliances, transportation, airplanes, ships, etc.
Poor urban planning also contributes to this hectic devil called noise pollution. Before preventing noise pollution, we should create a sense of its sources. Here are some causes of noise pollution:
1) INDUSTRIES
Industrialization is the demand of many countries as it creates a base of development in the country. Essentially, industries include massive machines producing a large amount of noise. Workers working in such areas should wear earplugs or earmuffs to avoid any frustration with hearing.
Machines out there include compressors, enormous grinders, exhaust fans, generators, etc., which contribute to hearing loss. Textile mills have its significant role in noise pollution, the reason being, their enlarged accessories and systems produce a noisy environment for a wide area or region.
2) POOR URBANIZATION
Many cities are still under development, and as the area is developing, the inclusion of construction workings everywhere makes it noisy. Similarly, printing press, industrial works, construction sites, transportation such as airplanes, trains, vehicles are obvious sources of noise in large cities.
Since the cities are still growing, construction and transportation are a regular part of it and are a dominant cause of noise pollution.
3) PUBLIC ADDRESSES AND PARTIES
As for the growing country, public demands are growing, and a more satisfying way to meet the requirements is through advertisements. Promotion of sales, political parties, religious festivals, etc., includes public addressing that is one of the causes of noise in the surrounding.
Talking about social events, it is one of a kind that contains lots of high volume music through parties, marriages, pubs, worship, etc.
You may have come across many loud noise advertisements that might create a sensation through your ears. Public addressing ads, therefore, contribute to noise pollution.
4) HOUSEHOLD ENTITIES
The equipment we use in our everyday life, like a grinder, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, electric cooler, create a noisy environment. However, it does not seem disturbing or ‘used to’ noises but confines its effects in expressions of irritations, moodiness, and acute headaches.
Some of its major contributing and highly affecting household entities include TV, radio, computer, and such electronic devices. Not only their noise but their harmful radiations hold back our health as well as of nature and its components.
Therefore, mobile towers are an extreme threat to our health. The reason is its waves that are wide-ranging and vastly affecting health conditions.
5) TRANSPORTATION
Transportation plays a sufficient role in noise pollution. As the need for different sectors has raised, there has been a consistent rise in the transport system. The increased transportation has resulted in traffic congestion that leads to continuous horning and loud abuses of impatient victims.
Furthermore, they are notable reasons for noise pollution as well as air pollution. It gives rise to several disorders as prolonged suffering such as noise can cause irritation, mental disorders, etc.
Reducing Noise Pollution
Go green. By planting more trees, we can reduce noise pollution to unbelievable extents. Plants generally work as noise absorbers and are needed in several environmental issues. Thus, planting more trees provide us an environment free of noise, air, and soil pollution.
Noise pollution is reducible by simply planting more trees. Planting more trees does not have only one advantage. It could be helpful in numeral ways. Thus, we should grow more and more trees.
We should turn off the machines at home and workplaces to reduce the noise produced in the surrounding. Switching off appliances like TVs, computers also relieves ears as they create stress when used unnecessarily.
Turn off the appliances or machines when not in use is a better way of reducing noise pollution. It will be beneficial for saving energy which is a topic of great concern nowadays.
For example, whenever caught in traffic, turning your vehicle off would be a great help. Similarly, regular maintenance of vehicles or machines keeps them from spreading harmful combustibles and disturbing noise.
The use of Earplugs and earmuffs helps reduce noise pollution effects. Using earplugs or earmuffs can reduce the sound to bearable levels. Earmuffs could be more effective as they cover the whole outer ear and protect them from impactful noise.
Lower the volume of TVs, radios while using headphones reduce the stress created on the ears. Loud music generally impacts ear canals, increasing the risk of hearing damage.
The sound of loudspeakers, outdoor parties, and political/public announcements should be kept limited. They must follow the community rules and should reduce the noise to prevent disturbance.
Stay away from noisy areas like industries, airports, and highways. Residential areas are always away from such places as regular disturbing noise causes difficulty for children and senior citizens.
Shut the door whenever you use noisy machines. While using devices, we should keep the door shut. It will reduce some amount of sound.
People should always take care of areas like schools, institutes, hospitals, where noise control is required, the most. These are some sensitive areas with reduced noise production, called silent zones, for students and patients.
Sometimes to eliminate the noise, it is helpful to create healthier sounds like music, birds chirping, and other natural sounds. This phenomenon could help rather than getting irritated by unwanted noise of machines, traffic, transport, electric appliances, etc. that are more frustrating.
One more way to reduce noise from machines is to put noise absorbers. According to the type of noise, we can place different absorbers and resolutions reducing noise pollution.
The use of lubrication timely and better maintenance reduce the noise and enhance the efficiency of a machine. Proper lubrication deals better with friction providing smooth working of tools with less or no noise.
Conclusion
Noise is a topic of concern for humans as well as birds and the environment. It impacts hugely on behavior, cardiovascular health, hearing abilities it proves to be very harmful.
Although large animals can withstand noise pollution exposures for small animals and birds, it could be life-threatening.
Also, studies show that several marine and bird species die every year due to the severe effects of noise pollution. Thus, we should follow the steps to control noise pollution to avoid such disasters and save ourselves from its harmful effects.
The article would be worth writing if it convinced you to follow two to three steps to reduce noise pollution.
Related: If you are interested in cardiovascular health, read more about why we should cycle and swim a good exercise.