Extent of traffic induced noise in the noise sensitive institutions of Chittagong city, Bangladesh (original) (raw)

Health Impacts of Urban Road Traffic Noise

2014

Though technological advance has brought many conveniences, it has also resulted in many hazards. Pollution of various types is one of them. These include air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution and noise pollution. Noise and sound need to be carefully distinguished. Sound is a term used to describe wave-like variations in air pressure that occur at frequencies that can stimulate receptors in the inner ear. Noise implies the presence of sound but also implies a response to sound: Noise is often defined as unwanted sound. Road transportation plays a major role in the economic and social development of any country. With the increase in vehicle population, noise level will also increase. Noise pollution in urban cities is a serious problem and steadily increasing over the years. This has direct and indirect affect to the people. Exposure to excessive noise is the major avoidable cause of permanent hearing impairment. Worldwide, 16% of the disabling hearing loss in adults is attr...

TRAFFIC NOISE AND ITS EFFECTS ON HUMAN HEALTH AND BEHAVIOR IN SOME SELECTED INTERSECTIONS OF KHULNA CITY

2020

Traffic noise has reached in an unacceptable level with the growing number of vehicles in urban areas. Exposure to traffic noise causes significant health and behavioral risks for the people who are vending or working along the roadside. This research explores the traffic noise levels at six selected intersections of Khulna City and identifies its effects on human health. So, noise level (in dB unit) was measured by Sound Meter, an android application which supports calibration to achieve actual reading. Using a cluster random sampling technique, a total of 120 respondents were surveyed through questionnaire together with collecting noise levels' data of different times at all selected intersections. Questionnaire of this study included issues related to demographics, health and exposure to noise. Then appropriate statistical analysis was carried out by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and R Studio. Among the six intersections, highest (111 dB) level of traffic noise was found in Dakbangla and lowest (51 dB) in Moilapota. In fact, noise levels at all the intersections are greater than expected level. Intersections with inadequate carriageway width to accommodate all traffic flow along with low level traffic management can be considered as one of the major causes of high traffic noise levels at the intersections. High noise levels have been found to be correlated with rising risk of noise related physical and mental health issues. Most of the people got affected by several health related problems simultaneously such as hearing impairment, communication problem, sleeping disturbance, cardiovascular and psychophysiological issues, mental health problems and performance related problems. Among them, some people were found with diabetes mellitus who were affected by traffic noise while working along the roadside of these intersections. It is also observed that age is moderately correlated with noise related health problems. Although the study didn't withstand effects of other factors on health related problems, but it has explored something on this aforementioned issuse that creates an enormous scopes for clinical research and upgrading relevant policy.

Noise pollution: A visible threat to human life (2 nd Part

In recent years, noise pollution has become the burning question of the day and the hot topic of discussion among the researchers all over the world. Every day, we have to experience varied levels of sound in our environment; we can have the sounds from television and radio, household appliances and traffic. But, noise that is long-lasting or lasts for a short period can equally be detrimental to our health. According to a recent research, road traffic and aircraft noise increase the risk of high blood pressure, especially noise exposure at night. Here, aircraft noise was associated with increased risks of hospital admission and death for stroke, coronary heart disease, and cardiovascular disease in the nearby area. Another study reports that aircraft noise exposure over a much longer time period of 15 years shows that deaths from heart attacks has increased when the noise will be louder and endure over a longer period of time. The latest estimates suggest a ten decibel average increase in aircraft noise exposure is related to an increase in high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes of between 7% and 17%. Generally, music enthusiasts think that intermittent noise is not hazardous. But is it true? Health experts define that even intermittent noise also has a negative impact on human hearing in the long run. Common sources of noise include vehicular traffic, factories involved in the manufacturing process, and home appliances like vacuum cleaners and music systems. Noise pollution may lead to human health hazards; it creates a number of physical and mental ailments and so, the impact of noise on human health is a matter of great concern to the common people. Noise pollution can affect us in several ways.

Public health perspectives on noise and cardiovascular disease

Introduction: Emerging research suggests that noise impacts human health beyond simply the auditory system. There have been recent amendments to acceptable noise level thresholds within the occupational setting and new European Union directives for noise in the community from air and road sources. The purpose of this review will be to assess the relationship between noise and cardiovascular disease in different settings. Methods: A literature review was conducted using PubMed on noise and more cardiovascular disease endpoints. All studies published in the English language between 2000-present were included. Studies on noise annoyance were excluded. Results: There is a strong positive association between occupational noise exposure and cardiovascular outcomes. There is a moderate association with noise in the community setting from road sources and a weak association with aircraft noise. The strength of the association across settings is dependent on the outcome type, interaction with age and sex of subjects, and time of measurement. Road source noise had the strongest association with myocardial infarction, notably in women during night exposures. The association with hypertension and road noise, when stratified by sex, was significant in men during night-time exposures and in pregnant older women. Only nighttime aircraft noise was associated with statistically significant findings in adults. All sources of noise demonstrate a dose response relationship, which peaks at different noise thresholds. Occupational noise exposure had the strongest association with noise > 85 dB (A) and duration of exposure. Conclusion: There is sufficient evidence to warrant the precautionary public health principle to reduce noise at the population levels for industry workers through stronger legislation, regular compliance inspections, and health promotion. Where population wide noise legislation has not yet been enacted, noise exposure reduction at the individual level may be beneficial.

Effects of exposure to traffic noise on health

Traffic noise cause adverse effects on health and quality of life of population exposed to it, including annoyance, sleep disturbance, decreased performance at school/work, stress, hypertension, and ischemic heart disease. Despite of that, there is still a lack of standards on regulations/policies regarding noise in urban environments. In Australia, there are many discrepancies in thresholds, regulations, and policies with regard to noise levels when states and regions are compared. Currently Victoria has day-tonight threshold for noise level high above the accepted levels in Europe, and they are incomplete, since there is no standard for the late night period. A better understanding of the effects of noise on health for the Australian situation is necessary for developing more informed and unified policy for traffic noise management. This paper reviews existing literature, evidence and policies related to urban noise, and combines them to a case study of mapping noise and population exposure levels.

Effects of Noise Pollution on Human Health

2021

Presently a day, noise contamination is definitely not another issue for the everyday person, particularly in most modern towns what're more, metropolitans' urban areas. Noise Pollution implies any solid that is undesired by the beneficiary. The impact of sound on people relies on its recurrence. Human ears are known to be touchy to a very wide scope of force differed from 0 to 180 dB. The noise is created by the human through different ways. In a current exploration article, different wellsprings of noise contamination, estimation of clamor, dB scale, kinds of gear utilized in the estimation of clamor levels, effects of clamor, unfriendly wellbeing impacts of noise contamination, control of indoor noise, control advances accessible for noise contamination and Indian punitive codes to forestall Noise Pollution are the primary concerns of focal points of consideration. Noise must be controlled and forestalled by utilizing different viable methods at the actual source is the present need. The goal of this work is to think about the different methods of the age of clamor, their impacts on people, its avoidance and control.

Assessment of Harmful Health Impact of Environmental Noise

2015

Environmental noise is an unavoidable phenomenon in urban environments. Even though efforts are continuously being made to reduce exposure to environmental noise, it still presents a problem, mostly due to rapid development of urbanization and transportation. Road, railway, and aircraft traffic are the main contributors to the overall environmental noise load. The ever-decreasing quiet zones in urban areas impact the health and well-being of urban population. Excessive exposure to noise can potentially cause a number of physical or psychological health effects, such as sleep disturbance, restricted communication, annoyance, cognitive impairment, and stress. The cardiovascular system can also be affected by prolonged exposure to traffic noise. Nevertheless, the precise impact of environmental noise has to be determined through risk assessment.

Noise Pollution -Menace to Health

Psychologically and physiologically responding to sound is known as psychoacoustics. Sound wave propagates and hits eardrum, tympanic membrane, so listening is mechanical and neural phenomenon. But role of auricle, which has a shape of Fibonacci Double Helix Spiral, is to capture sound and allow mostly the midrange frequencies, about 400 Hz -4k Hz, to pass through the ear cannel. But for listening pleasure, precisely music, we tend to use high fidelity gadgets to augment higher or lower frequency sides, or adjust the whole audio frequency range according to our choices. And by doing so we wont to make neighbors annoyed, which is noise to them. But while travelling by bus, train and car we expose ourselves to road/rail noise. We do sound masking by listening to music, but the question remains if this concealment is enough. Environmental noise has adverse effect on our sleep. The troubled nocturnal architecture has synergistic influence on our cardiovascular system. Educating ourselves on noise and complying with recommended procedures can deny cardio ailments.

Noise Induced Health Impacts in Urban Areas: A case study in Allahabad

In the 21st Century, human population is experiencing the manmade plague of environmental noise from which there is virtually no escape, no matter where we are - in our homes and yards, on our streets, in our cars, at theaters, restaurants, parks, arenas, and in other public places. There are many factors, both emotional and physical, which contribute to the variation in human reaction to response. The existence of these variables prohibits defining an exact individual and community response. Exposure to noise induces fatigue, depressed mood and well-being, and decreased performance. Decreased alertness leading to accidents, injuries, and death has also been attributed to lack of sleep and disrupted circadian rhythms. Noise during sleep causes increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, increased pulse amplitude, vasoconstriction, and changes in respiration, cardiac arrhythmias, and increased body movement.

Health Hazards Associated with Noise in Urban Area

2014

Noise or unwanted sound is an environmental stressor. At the international level studies are based on the auditory and non-auditory effects of aircraft noise mostly. The present survey was conducted among people exposed to loud noise in Kolkata, a metropolitan city in India. The study area includes railway stations of Sealdah and Dumdum and music shops in Chandni Chowk. The study was conducted among the working class people among whom the adverse health effects may lead to productivity loss with corresponding economic losses. A detailed social survey was carried out to investigate the ill effects of noise on exposed male individuals. The ages of interviewed persons were ranging from 26-35 years (18.3 %), 36- 45 years (26.7% ), 46-55 years (13.3% ), 56-65 years (18.3% ) and 23.3% were below the age of 25 years. The average time of exposure to noise was 68.25 hours per week. Among the sixty persons interviewed the effects were found as moderate to severe fatigue (87% suffered), loss o...