In an urban backdrop we wake up to both perching of birds as well to the thud of newspapers dropped at the door front. The silence of the wee hours of the morning soon merges within the rumblings of urban life. Domestic sounds from kitchens to bathroom taps begin to compete with the volume of television sets, which make ritualistic jumps from songs that awaken the gods to predictions for the day and self-repeating news, and a whole lot of intermittent ads.
The harmony gets accompanied by active neighborhoods, non-stop lifts and kids getting ready to go to school. And when it is about 9 am, comes the real conquest from the roads: the fury of automobiles, the beeping of phones everywhere and over the top cell phone conversations. The day eventually passes the test of loud workplaces and culminates with an amplified evening routine. Finally, it's the night that offers some respite to the soul that has been searching for silence.
Our days are filled with hundreds of sounds with some pleasant and many undesired, what we may otherwise call as noise. Noise pollution comes from many sources, from indoor to neighborhood and from roadways to a workplace. We get acclimatized to the inevitable noise of our surrounding and since unlike other forms of pollution, its effect on health is not immediately known we neglect it scornfully. Many countries have mandatory noise level limits for industrial workplace, outdoor and indoor environment. For example, an indoor noise level of less than 45 DbA (Decibel), at night time is said to be a quiet setting for a good night sleep.
In our country, especially in the cities, we face higher and persistent noise levels throughout the day. Many times, nights are not spared either. Road works and other constructional activities happen in the neighborhood, despite rules that prohibit high decibel activities at the night time. During festivities and election campaigns, we see an excess use of loud speakers. Worship places also resort to such usage. Now it has become a trend to burst high decibel crackers even during marriages and release of new movies. Celebrating any joyful occasion is something we should have no regrets upon, but should we not care for the sanity of the environment too?
Not just the loudness of noise, but also the quality and suddenness of noise harms human health (both physical and psychological). Prolonged exposure to high decibel noise at the workplace can result in permanent loss of hearing, while noise, in general, can result in increased blood pressure, vasoconstriction (narrowing of blood vessels), migraines, vertigo, tinnitus, and even coronary heart diseases. Noise can have a negative impact on the cognitive skills of children. A research report says that babies in urban centers are likely to have a heart rate of 2 beats more per minute compared to babies in rural pockets. Noise also impacts physical development and behavior in the fetus, during the early stages of development of the central nervous system. Vasoconstriction in pregnant mothers can even cut down the supply of oxygen to babies. And as much it impacts humans, it also affects birds and animals, and their behavior and survival instincts.
Invariably everyone hates noise, but we have always overlooked the impact of noise on human health and behavior. Much of the noise we experience is anthropogenic in nature, means it's we the humans who create them, in the form of domestic, neighborhood, industrial and vehicular noise pollution.
But, as on date, India lags behind many developed nations, who have both policy level regulations to curb noise, as well application of technology and infrastructural changes to reduce or absorb noise at the source level. So the onus is on us until a comprehensive policy on noise and its implementation become reality in our country. As individuals, we may have to become more conscious of the noises that we create, every day and every minute of our lives, and strive to bring them down.