Effects of acoustic pollution by Vilte Ziginskaite

These days there are various sounds surrounding us. Hearing is very important for us,
so some sounds play really important roll in our life. It warms us about the danger (car horns,
people shouting “be careful”, animals can hear their predator, etc…), make us orient in the
environment. Nevertheless, sounds that are not reasonable and too loud causes too much of a
harm for our health and the atmosphere itself, as it is not natural, not how it used to be, when
humans’ impact wasn’t that big.
Firstly, it is very dangerous for animals. Anthropogenic noise makes animals’ stress
hormone levels rise. It is clearly seen among marine mammals, such as whales.1 Sound is the
main way to orient for them, therefore shipping traffic doesn’t help them to communicate
properly (Richard Schiffman, 2016). As the example, there is a famous study2 that came out
in 2012. The New England Aquarium has been measuring stress levels among whales, before
9/11, during and after. Studies show that while the shipping traffic was decreased, due to the
catastrophe, there were much lower amount of stress hormones in whales’ poop. Also, marine
mammals aren’t the only ones, who communicate due to sound and sometimes we can’t even
hear them due to different frequencies, we can not hear. 3 But it’s enough to know about the
ones we can hear. Birds find their mates and it causes reproduction. send messages, but the
anthropogenic sounds interrupts that. Therefore, it affects the reproduction. 4 Also, animals
use sounds to detect their prey and humans’ noise makes it harder to detect.5 In 2016
scientists made a research, examining owls, as they are specialized acoustic predators It
showed that owls’ ability to detect prey was negatively impacted by increases in traffic noise.
Another research was made6, when researchers picked a stretch of wilderness far from actual
roads and set up 15 pairs of speakers along 1/2 kilometre path. The played recordings made
the noise of cars going by every 12 minutes. As a result, there was a 25% decline in
migratory bird abundance in the area. It clearly shows that even slight impact of humans
makes negative changes in the natural habitats, pollutes it.
Secondly, it is very dangerous for humans to live around excessive sounds
constantly.7. It is natural for humans to be in silent environment and noise around signals
about the danger. Therefore, constant noise makes us stressed and not relaxed. It impacts our
sleep, the quality of it. As we all know, sleep is needed for us to be alive and fuctionate.8
Because of that, noise negatively affects our immune system and health. More to that,
excessive noise damages your hearing and chances of hearing loss becomes bigger. The
human ear can tolerate noise up to 85 decibels without damage. 65 decibels an above
increases blood pressure, heart rate, etc. 9Unfortunately, we are constantly hear around 70
decibels. This is the reason why all of us are constantly tires and can’t focus. To illustrate it,
there was a school in New York right next to the train station. When trains passed, the noise
pollution in the classroom in the East was detected 59 to 89 decibels. This happened every
4,5 minutes for 30 seconds each time. The two researchers compared results of two groups.
One included students, whose windows were in front of the station, and another group
consisted of students from the other side of the building. Students near the station, were on
average 4 months behind reading level and performed more poor on achievement test. After
making changes (rails cushioning, sound-absorbing materials in the classroom, youngster
improved as much as a full grade level.10 As we are a part of ecosystem, damage for us is
damage for environment.
To summarize, it is important to acknowledge this problem and don’t disturb the
silence. At least, stop riding motor bikes, when it is not needed, don’t shout in the forest and
for our health, we should wear noise cancelling earplugs and avoid places, where the sound is
too high. Acoustic pollution isn’t as well known as other sources of pollution but it’s
definitely important. We must know what are the affects of it for animals, humans, plants and
whole ecosystem, which surely damages due to these unnecessary noises.

Sources of information cited:

1
Science. 2012. Shhh… Ocean Noises Stress Out Whales. Available at: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2012/02/shhh-
ocean-noises-stress-out-whales
2
Yale Environment 360. 2016. How Ocean Noise Pollution Racks Havok on Marine Life Available at:
https://e360.yale.edu/features/how_ocean_noise_pollution_wreaks_havoc_on_marine_life
3
University of Helsinki. 2020. Animals communicate in frequencies that we cannot hear. Available at:
https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/news/life-science-news/animals-communicate-in-frequencies-that-we-cannot-hear
4
Stephen Nowicki, William A. Searcy "SONG AND MATE CHOICE IN BIRDS: HOW THE DEVELOPMENT OF
BEHAVIOR HELPS US UNDERSTAND FUNCTION," The Auk, 122(1), 1-14, (1 January 2005)
5
Clinton D. Francis, Futoshi Nakamura, Masayuki Senzaki, Yuichi Yamaura, ,. 2016. Traffic noise reduces foraging
efficiency in wild owls. Scientific reports 6 Article number: 30602
6
Barber, J. R. ,Carlisle, J., Kaltenecker, G., McClure, C. J. & Ware, H. E., , (2013). An experimental investigation into the
effects of traffic noise on distributions of birds: avoiding the phantom road. Proceedings. Biological sciences, 280(1773)
7
Medical News Today. 2020. What Are Health Effects of Noise Pollution. 2020. Available at:
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/noise-pollution-health-effects#definition
8
Healthline. 2020. 10 Reasons Why Sleep Is Important. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-why-
good-sleep-is-important
9
Centres of Disease Control and Prevention. 2019. What Noises Cause Hearing Loss. Available at:
https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/hearing_loss/what_noises_cause_hearing_loss.html
10
The New York Times. Students Scores Rise After Nearby Subway Is Quieted. April 26, 1982, Section B, Page 4