Noise Pollution

Nizam Mat Ali

 The cochlea is long coiled canal whose wall is covered with
small nerve ended hairs – the cilia – which detect the motion
of the fluid.

Section diagram of the human ear

Effects of noise pollution
 There are about 25000 hair cells in our
ear which create wave in our ear,
responding to different levels of
frequencies.
 With increasing levels of sound the cells

get destroyed decreasing our ability to

hear the high frequency sound.
HOW LOUD AND HOW LONG CAN HUMANS
HANDLE?
DECIBEL: MAXIMUM EXPOSURE: EXAMPLE:

85 8 hours Heavy traffic; Noisy

restaurant
88 4 hours --

91 2 hours Lawn mower; Hair

dryer
94 1 hour Motorcycle

97 30 minutes --

100 15 minutes Chainsaw

103 7.5 minutes --

106 3.7 minutes --

 109 112 seconds Rock concert

112 56 seconds --

115 28 seconds --

118 14 seconds --

121 7 seconds Thunderclap; Night

club; Ambulance;
Airplane taking off
124 3 seconds --

127 1 second --

130-140 Less than 1 second Gun shot; Fire cracker;

Jet take-off
 -85 decibels are considered to be harmless
o 10 dB – Breathing; 20 dB – Whispering; 40 dB –
Fridge humming; 70 dB – Car ride

 140 decibels is the highest possible sound to

occur  when heard, immediate nerve
damage can occur
HEALTH EFFECTS OF NOISE
POLLUTION
Health Effects
 According to the USEPA, there are direct links
between noise and health. Also, noise
pollution adversely affects the lives of
millions of people.
 Noise pollution can damage physiological
and psychological health.
 High blood pressure, stress related illness,
sleep disruption, hearing loss, and
productivity loss are the problems related to
noise pollution.
 It can also cause memory loss, severe
depression, and panic attacks.
Health effects of noise
 2 kinds of health effects of noise
◦ non-auditory effects and
◦ auditory effects
 Non-auditory effects = Stress, Physiological
and behavioural effects, and Safety concerns.
 Auditory effects = Acoustic trauma, Tinnitus,

THL(TTS), PHL(PTS)
Some of the more common ways noise pollution may affect you are:

 Provides poor concentration

 Communication difficulties
 Annoyance
 Discomfort
 Fatigue due to insufficient rest
 lowered property value
 However, as more and more research are being done,
more serious health risks have developed due to the increase in noise
pollution. 
Some of these risks include:

 Hearing loss (conductive or sensorineural)

 Hypertension
 Aggressive behavior
 Serious sleep loss
 Heart disease (stress related)
 Danger to people - cover warning signals &: Cause accidents
1. Hearing impairment:

• an increase in the threshold of hearing as clinically

assessed by audiometry (in short, you lose your
sense of hearing)
• Before you experience hearing loss, you experience
TINNITUS, a ringing or buzzing in your ears after
going to a party, or other really loud event and
usually lasts until your ears gradually readjust to
normal sound levels. But over time, too much
exposure to loud noise can lead to a condition
known as NOISE-INDUCED HEARING LOSS (NIHL).
• The main source for NIHL are personal music
players (iPod
2. Interference With Spoken Communication

 Noise pollution interferes with the ability to comprehend normal speech

and may lead to a number of personal disabilities, handicaps, and
behavioral changes.
 These include problems with concentration, fatigue, uncertainty, lack of
self confidence, irritation, misunderstandings, decreased working
capacity, disturbed interpersonal relationships, and stress reactions.
Some of these effects may lead to increased accidents, disruption of
communication in the classroom, and impaired academic performance.
3. Sleep Disturbances
• This causes mood changes, decrements in
performance, and other long-term effects on
health and well-being.
• It is known, for example, that continuous
noise in excess of 30 dB disturbs sleep.
• For irregular noise, the probability of being
awakened increases with the number of noise
events per night.
4. Cardiovascular Disturbances:

• A growing body of evidence confirms that noise

pollution has both temporary and permanent
effects on humans (and other mammals) by way of
the endocrine and autonomic nervous systems.
• It has been postulated that noise acts as a
nonspecific biologic stressor eliciting reactions that
prepare the body for a fight or flight response.
• For this reason, noise can trigger both endocrine
and autonomic nervous system responses that
affect the cardiovascular system and thus may be a
risk factor for cardiovascular diseases
5. Disturbances in Mental Health:
 Noise pollution is not believed to be a
cause of mental illness, but it is assumed
to accelerate and intensify the
development of latent mental disorders.
 Noise pollution may cause or contribute
to the following adverse effects: anxiety,
stress, nervousness, nausea, headache,
emotional instability, argumentativeness,
sexual impotence, changes in mood,
increase in social conflicts, neurosis,
hysteria, and psychosis
6. Impaired Task Performance:

• Noise pollution impairs task performance at school

and at work, increases errors, and decreases
motivation. Reading attention, problem solving,
and memory are most strongly affected by noise.
• Two types of memory deficits have been identified
under experimental conditions: recall of subject
content and recall of incidental details.
• Both are adversely influenced by noise. Deficits in
performance can lead to errors and accidents, both
of which have health and economic consequences.
7. Negative Social Behavior and
Annoyance Behavior:
• Noise has been used as a noxious stimulus in a variety of
studies because it produces the same kinds of effects as
other stressors.
• Annoyance increases significantly when noise is
accompanied by vibration or by low frequency
components.
• The term annoyance does not begin to cover the wide
range of negative reactions associated with noise
pollution; these include anger, disappointment,
dissatisfaction, withdrawal, helplessness, depression,
anxiety, distraction, agitation, or exhaustion.
• Lack of perceived control over the noise intensifies these
effects
EFFECTS OF NOISE ON HUMANS
 a) Auditory effects interfering with hearing; auditory fatigue
and deafness.

 b) Non-auditory effects interfering with social behaviour;

problems with communications, sleep, recreation, mental
equilibrium (peace), and the ability to concentrate at work.

 c) Physiological effects affecting biological functions; anxiety,

neurosis, insomnia, dizziness, nausea, fatigue, visual
symptoms, hypertension, cardiovascular symptoms, liver
changes, nervous symptoms, changes in skin, fast irregular
heart beats (tachycardia).
EFFECTS OF NOISE ON HUMANS
d) Endocrine and hormonal changes relating to
stress and noise levels. i.e. raised adrenaline and
cholesterol. Noise causes blood vessels to close
cutting down blood supply to the fingers and
toes. Respiratory changes occur due to noise.
 e) Psychological effects; physical and mental

fatigue, loss of concentration, lower efficiency,

reduced output, absenteeism, higher rates of
accidents, behavioural changes, errors at work,
loss of sleep, psychosomatic disorders, diseases
related to stress, mental illness, aggravation of
existing stress problems and mental illness,
neurotic effects, rage anger, crime.