EFFECT OF NOISE POLLUTION

Noise pollution is unwanted or disturbing sound.  Sound becomes unwanted when it either interferes with normal activities such as sleeping, conversation, or disrupts or diminishes one’s quality time of life.  The fact that you can’t see, taste or smell it may help explain why it has not received as much attention as other types of pollution.  The air around us is constantly filled with sounds, even though most of us would probably not say we are surrounded by noise.  Though for some, the persistent and escalating sources of sound can often be considered an annoyance. This “annoyance” can have major consequences, primarily to one’s overall health

EFFECT OF NOISE POLLUTION

Generally, problems caused by noise pollution include stress related illnesses, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity. Most importantly, there are three major effects :

Hearing

The immediate and acute effect of noise pollution to a person, over a period of time, is impairment of hearing. Prolonged exposure to impulsive noise to a person will damage their eardrum, which may
result in a permanent hearing impairment.

Marine Animals

Marine scientists are concerned about excessive noise used by oil drills, submarines and other vessels on and inside the ocean. Many marine animals, especially whales, use hearing to find food, communicate, defend and survive in the ocean. Excessive noises are causing a lot of injuries and deaths to whales. For example, the effect of a navy submarine’s sonar can be felt 300 miles away from the source. SONAR is the use of sound by submarines and other fishing vessels to deterring the depth of water, the closeness of an object, or detect movement of other objects in the water. Many of these beached whales have suffered physical trauma, including bleeding around the brain, ears and other tissues and large bubbles in their organs.This is not only about whales, but the larger marine life are all affected in one way or the other.

Effects on general health

Health effects of noise include anxiety and stress reaction and in extreme cases fright. The physiological manifestations are headaches, irritability and nervousness, feeling of fatigue and decreases work efficiency. For example, being pounded by the siren of fire fighters, police or ambulance in your city all night everyday leave people (especially elderly people) stresses and tired in the morning.

Its is worth noting that these effects may not sound troubling, but the truth is, with time, the consequences can be very worrying.