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Noise pollution (or environmental noise) is displeasing human or machine created sound that disrupts the activity or happiness of human or animal life. A common form of noise pollution is from transportation, principally motor vehicles.Senate Public Works Committee, Noise Pollution and Abatement Act of 1972, S. Rep. No. 1160, 92nd Cong. 2nd session The word "noise" comes from the Latin word nausea meaning "seasickness", or from a derivative (perhaps Latin noxia) of Latin noceō = "I do harm", referring originally to nuisance noise.Copia verborum: Latin translations
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The source of most noise worldwide is transportation systems, motor vehicle noise, but also including aircraft noise and rail noise.C. Michael Hogan and Gary L. Latshaw, The relationship between highway planning and urban noise, Proceedings of the ASCE, Urban Transportation Division specialty conference, May 21-23, 1973, Chicago, Illinois. by American Society of Civil Engineers. Urban Transportation Division Poor urban planning may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential area.
Other sources are office equipment, factory machinery, construction work, appliances, power tools, lighting hum and audio entertainment systems.
Noise from recreational vehicles has become a problem.[citation needed] ATVs, also known as quads, have increased in popularity and are joining the two wheeled dirt motorcycles for off-road riding. The noise produced by these vehicles is particularly disturbing due to the wide variations in frequency and volume.
Noise health effects are both health and behavioral in nature. The unwanted sound is called noise pollution. This unwanted sound can damage physiological and psychological health. Noise pollution can cause annoyance and aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, and other harmful effects.S. Rosen and P. Olin, Hearing Loss and Coronary Heart Disease, Archives of Otollaryngology, 82:236 (1965)J.M. Field, Effect of personal and situational variables upon noise annoyance in residential areas, Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 93: 2753-2763 (1993) Furthermore, stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems, whereas tinnitus can lead to forgetfulness, severe depression and at times panic attacks. Karl D. Kryter, The Effects of Noise on Man , Academic Press (1985)
The mechanism for chronic exposure to noise leading to hearing loss is well established. The elevated sound levels cause trauma to the cochlear structure in the inner ear, which gives rise to irreversible hearing loss. A very loud sound in a particular frequency range can damage the cochlea\'s hair cells that respond to that range thereby reducing the ear\'s ability to hear those frequencies in the future.http://www.headwize.com/articles/hearing_art.htm However, loud noise in any frequency range has deleterious effects across the entire range of human hearing.http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA056415
The outer ear (visible portion of the human ear) combined with the middle ear amplifies sound levels by a factor of 20 when sound reaches the inner ear.Noise: A Health Problem United States Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Noise Abatement and Control, Washington, DC 20460, August, 1978
In Rosen\'s work on health effects and hearing loss, one of his findings derived from tracking Maaban tribesmen, who were insignificantly exposed to transportation or industrial noise. This population was systematically compared by cohort group to a typical U.S. population. The findings proved that aging is an almost insignificant cause of hearing loss, which instead is associated with chronic exposure to moderately high levels of environmental noise.
A landing Qantas Boeing 747-400 passes close to houses on the boundary of London Heathrow Airport, England
High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects and exposure to moderately high levels during a single eight hour period causes a statistical rise in blood pressure of five to ten points and an increase in stressS. Rosen and P. Olin, Hearing Loss and Coronary Heart Disease, Archives of Otollaryngology, 82:236 (1965) and vasoconstriction leading to the increased blood pressure noted above as well as to increased incidence of coronary artery disease.
Noise pollution is a cause of annoyance:
A 2005 study by Spanish researchers found that in urban areas households are willing to pay approximately four Euros per decibel per year for noise reduction.Jesús Barreiro, Mercedes Sánchez, Montserrat Viladrich-Grau (2005), "How much are people willing to pay for silence? A contingent valuation study", Applied Economics, 37 (11)
Noise can have a detrimental effect on animals by causing stress, increasing risk of mortality by changing the delicate balance in predator/prey detection and avoidance, and by interfering with their use of sounds in communication especially in relation to reproduction and in navigation. Acoustic overexposure can lead to temporary or permanent loss of hearing.Effects of Anthropogenic Noise in the Marine Environment
An impact of noise on animal life is the reduction of usable habitat that noisy areas may cause, which in the case of endangered species may be part of the path to extinction. One of the best known cases of damage caused by noise pollution is the death of certain species of beached whales, brought on by the loud sound of military sonar.Balcomb, Ken (2003-05-12). US Navy Sonar blasts Pacific Northwest killer whales. San Juan Islander. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
Noise also makes species communicate louder, which is called Lombard vocal response.www.dosits.org/glossary/pop/lvr.htm Scientists and researchers have conducted experiments that show whales\' song length is longer when submarine-detectors are on.Variation in humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song length in relation to low-frequency sound broadcasts If creatures don\'t "speak" loud enough, their voice will be masked by anthropogenic sounds. These unheard voices might be warnings, finding of prey, or preparations of net-bubbling. When one species begins speaking louder, it will mask other species\' voice, causing the whole ecosystem to eventually speak louder.
Zebra finches become less faithful to their partners when exposed to traffic noise. This could alter a population\'s evolutionary trajectory by selecting "sexy" traits, sapping resources normally devoted to other activities and thus lead to profound genetic and evolutionary consequences.Milius, S. (2007). High Volume, Low Fidelity: Birds are less faithful as sounds blare, Science News vol. 172, p. 116. (references)
Technology to mitigate or remove noise can be applied as follows:
Governments up until the 1970s viewed noise as a "nuisance" rather than an environmental problem. In the United States there are federal standards for highway and aircraft noise; states and local governments typically have very specific statutes on building codes, urban planning and roadway development. In Canada and the EU there are few national, provincial, or state laws that protect against noise.
Noise laws and ordinances vary widely among municipalities and indeed do not even exist in some cities. An ordinance may contain a general prohibition against making noise that is a nuisance, or it may set out specific guidelines for the level of noise allowable at certain times of the day and for certain activities.
Most city ordinances prohibit sound above a threshold intensity from trespassing over property line at night, typically between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., and during the day restricts it to a higher sound level; however, enforcement is uneven. Many municipalities do not follow up on complaints. Even where a municipality has an enforcement office, it may only be willing to issue warnings, since taking offenders to court is expensive.
Many conflicts over noise pollution are handled by negotiation between the emitter and the receiver. Escalation procedures vary by country, and may include action in conjunction with local authorities, in particular the police. Noise pollution often persists because only five to ten percent of people affected by noise will lodge a formal complaint. Many people are not aware of their legal right to quiet and do not know how to register a complaint.
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