Sound Pollution
Population increases in our cities due to migration from village to city and consequently distorted urbanization, city traffic and technological activities have made sound a serious environmental and health problem.
The silence of the old times, the pleasant natural sounds, the nature's own acoustics, have been replaced by noise, a surplus of today's technology. Silence is very important to man. Disturbing, unwanted sounds distort the natural beauty of the environment, threatening the health of all people and even living things, causing sound pollution . The negative effects of noise on human health are as important as air pollution and water pollution.
Being in a noisy environment can cause significant hearing loss starting from the inner ear. It also causes many negative effects such as stress, not sleeping, and decrease in work efficiency.
Sound intensity is measured in Decibels. The most severe sensation and pain wave is 150 decibels. For example, a truck passing by makes a noise of 80 decibels. A jet plane that is about to fly has reached a pain threshold of 120 - 145 decibels.
It is seen that the majority of workers working in mines or in some branches of other industries are hard to hear. This is due to the deterioration or damage of the hearing organ in the inner ear. This is caused by the effect of noise.
The negative effects of noise, which is an important environmental pollution, on human beings can be grouped as physiological and psychological. The most important effect is that the noise destroys the hearing. Noise not only causes hearing impairments, but also has been scientifically proven to cause many adverse effects such as heart, blood circulation, metabolic disorders, decreased skin temperature and decreased stomach secretions. Most people working in noisy areas have been irritable. Therefore, preventive effects of sleep should be prevented.
In particular, hospitals, schools, various education centers should be located away from the sound pollution and acoustic characteristics should be to minimize noise.
Until the 1950s, there was no particular method of measuring noise.
This prevented the adoption of noise-related laws. Because it was impossible to make necessary laws on the subject without noise measurement .
In the last 50 years, electrical engineers have developed sound level meters.
Social scientists continued the work of noise, and acoustic engineers advanced methods of measuring noise reliably and continuously.
Today, the noise pollution standards set by the International Standards Organization have been adopted by the EEC (European Economic Community). Based on these standards, the EEC member states have limited the amount of noise that can be emitted by the noise law that other people are affected by. These laws have enabled people who do not have enough knowledge about noise in time to become more familiar with the concept of noise as a result of increasing urbanization and to understand the related laws very well.
Damages of Sound Pollution
Makes people uneasy.
It prevents verbal communication.
It reduces the effectiveness of the study and may prevent thinking. Studies related to memory and studies conducted to learn words are affected by noise.
Disturbing sleep, making it difficult to fall asleep.
Causes damage to the sense of hearing and pathways.
May cause behavioral disorders. (Anger, excitement)
May cause character changes. It leads to aggravation of problems and anxiety in those who have a tendency.
Negative effects of learning experiences have a decreasing effect on learning effectiveness especially in schools. Reading, comprehension can also be important for school health as it decreases the level of learning.
These adverse effects most commonly affect the hearing organ and may cause acoustic injury or trauma, temporary threshold loss and permanent threshold loss. The initial effect is defined as hearing fatigue, and as the intensity and intensity of this sound increases, so does the hearing fatigue. A single sound can be perceived as two separate sounds. The sound may give signs such as back-ting, humming. Intermittent and sudden noise can cause sudden adrenaline discharge, increase heart rate, respiration rate, blood pressure, decrease in attention and cause sleep disturbances. In sudden noise, heart rate increases and dilatation occurs in pupils.
The human ear hears sounds between 20-2000 Hertz. The bottom of this infrason, the frequency above the sound is called ultrasonic sound. Even if they are not heard by people, they may cause nausea, headache and restlessness. The most common infrases in the technology community are particularly effective. Airplanes, vehicles, houses that are open to traffic noise, the effect of these sounds is high.
Sources of Sound Pollution
Industrial applications, construction, office work, home life and recreational activities can be the source of noise, industry and technology-based sounds are gradually increasing. It is accepted that the noise is more treble and pure, and causes more damage.
Some sound measurement results are measured in dB (A). This value is based on the frequency sensitivities of the ear. When measured in dB, the sound value of a circular saw and the bus is the same. However, since the proportion of high-frequency sounds in the saw is higher, the disturbing and detrimental effect is greater. dB (A) provides predominantly measurement of different frequency values.
DB (A) values in office measurement:
Office Features dB (A) value
Private Workplace 65
Single typewriter 70
Near the Zeroks machine 75
Banking 79
Business Services (photocopy, printing) 80
Computer operations 85
Human Sounds
Sounds, falling objects can be uncomfortable. The resultant noise of the environment is particularly important.
Audio sets, headphones and radios may be harmful to the hearing system.
In the last 10-15 years, it has been found that there is an increase in the average 15-20 dB intensity of sound pollution in big cities. The noise level that can damage the hearing system is 100-1000 Mz. 85 dB pressure level.
80 dB sounds are generally harmful. Sounds exceeding 90 dB often cause hearing loss. Sound exposure time is also important.
Sound Pollution Control
In addition to noise prevention efforts at workplaces with personal protectors, measures to reduce noise at source need to be taken. The same principles apply to the reduction of social noise. However, measures need to be taken to reduce noise at the source rather than personal protectors, or prevent the resulting noise from reaching homes and workplaces.
Sound Pollution Control can be done in 3 stages.
Control at source
Control at the receiver
Check out
Source Control
In order to reduce traffic noise, measures to reduce noise in the vehicle must be taken during the design and production phase. A good engineering project can avoid most noise.
In order to control the noise at the source, suitable and effective silencers must be installed on the vehicles.
Prohibition and inspection of air and normal horns is important.
Protection of Affected Persons
Polyurethane plugs placed in the outer ear canal reduce the intensity of sounds up to 25 dB (A) at low frequencies and 40 dB (A) at high frequencies. The most effective method of personal protection is headphones. It provides a reduction of 30 dB (A) at low frequencies and 50 dB (A) at high frequencies. In addition, insulating the noise-producing machines well, using well-closed doors, using sound-absorbing devices on the walls, shifting the workers in order to reduce the damage of noise is partially reduced.
Check Out
Especially in the reduction of traffic noise in cities;
- Selection of settlements,
- Measures taken on roads and roadsides,
- Building group (neighborhood units) planning
is of great importance.
The distance of buildings to the road and the height relative to the road can change the effect of noise. Technical characteristics such as wall properties and double glazing of buildings reduce noise by at least 30 dB (A).
The fact that there is an evergreen wooded area between the road and the building is at least 30 meters wide creates a very useful measure to prevent traffic noise from reaching the houses.
Curtains and obstacles placed on the sides of the road reduce noise significantly.
Noise pollution in cities has become an important problem requiring the participation of all community members. The horns, brakes and engine sounds of traffic vehicles are a major daily stressor.
As a preventive measure for people who make people uncomfortable and make the environment uninhabitable, everyone has a duty, and it is a natural duty of the relevant institutions to enforce laws against those who make noise in the city.
In developed countries, efforts to reduce and prevent the spread of harmful noise have been increased and laws have been enacted.
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