Noise Pollution: Sources and Types

Environmental noise is a worldwide problem. However, the way the problem is dealt with differs greatly from country to country and is very much dependent on culture, economy and politics. But the problem persists even in areas where extensive resources have been used for regulating, assessing and damping noise sources or for creation of noise barriers. For example, huge efforts have been made to reduce traffic noise at source. In fact, today's cars are much uieter than those manufactured ten years ago, but the traffic volume has increased so much that the effect of this effort has been wiped out and the annoyance level has increased. !anufacturing uieter cars might have eased the problem for a period but it certainly hasn't removed it. Sources of Noise It is broadly divided into two parts" Industrial and #on$Industrial #oise. Industrial Noise #oise produced by industries is called Industrial #oise. In general it is produced, at every stage in industry by various aspects li%e welding, hammering, drilling, blowing, running machinery, motors, sheet metal wor%, lathe machine wor%, operation of cranes, grinding, turning, riveting, fabricating, forging, compressing, vaccumising, brea%ing, moulding, steaming, boiling, cooling, heating, venting, painting, pumping, pac%ing, transporting etc. It creates very serious of largescale noise problems; significantly affect the wor%ing people as well as surrounding people. &s mechanical noise is the ma'or part of industrial noise and is due to machinery of all %inds and often increases with the type of operation and power capacity of the machines . (he characteristics of industrial noise vary considerably depending on specific industrial process. High noise levels common in petrochemical, steel industries, thermal power stations, cement industries, and mines etc., can be due to presence of unsteady force and it's structural elements caused by moving parts, vibration of heavy e uipments, sound from engines,

gear, bearings, rotating and reciprocating machines, combustion, fans, pressurised flow, during shifting of raw materials and end products, truc%s and dumpers etc. Non - Industrial - Noise Road Traffic Noise )oad traffic is the most widespread source of noise in all countries and the most prevalent cause of annoyance and interference. It is directly proportional to the volume of vehicles. Increasing of population is increasing of vehicles and hence increasing of #oise pollution. (he ma'or sources of noise in automobiles are exhaust, inta%e, engine and fan, and tires at high speed. (he noise output of all components increases with speed. &s an example, %eeping all the conditions same, an approximately *+ dB ,&- increase with speed of a car from .+mph to /+mph. (he )oad traffic noise not only depends on volume of vehicles and also depends on several factors, some of them are below"

)oad 0onditions (raffic 0learance 0ondition of 1ehicles 2peed of the 1ehicle 0ommon 2ense

(he people living near roadside,highway- are mainly exposed. Rail Traffic Noise #oise from the trains includes *- diesel Exhaust 3- Engine and &ir Inta%e .- 0ooling Fans 4- 5heel$rail interaction 6- Electric generator and electric traction motor /- miscellaneous noise generated in freight and passenger cars etc. 7ther intermittent noises includes car impact sounds when trains are bra%ing and accelerating and the sounds of sirens or horns that produces *+ to 3+ dB ,&- higher than from other sources. (he noise generated in communities having long haul or rapid transit vehicles ,li%e !etros- in their environment will depend primarily on trac% observer distance, fre uency and train length and condition of trac%. (he rapid transit trains are short, so that their noise duration time is much less than that of goods trains. )apid transit vehicles produce lower level of noise than compare to lengthy trains.

Aircraft Noise #oise from commercial aircraft is only a problem around airports as this is where aircraft converge at low altitude and high engine power. Increasing air traffic with different types of aircraft's and city expansion will exacerbate the noise problems. #oise pollution of an aircraft will increase with the speed. (he aircraft noise reduction8 traffic and flight path restrictions can alleviate them. (he invention of supersonic aircrafts has added more noise for the plight of persons who live near aerodromes. (a%ing off and landing of an aircraft produces unbearable noise. It has been observed that supersonic 'et planes are one of the biggest irritants in today's noisy world. (he noise of these planes may sometimes brea% windowpanes, crac% on walls and sha%es the buildings also. By these effects of noise one can very easily understand that what would be the effects of such noise on human body. Residential & Community Noise In normal day 9to 9 day activities, various home appliances in our residences produce noise. 2ome of the ma'or sources are Exhaust Fans, lawn movers, mixis, grinders, Fan, 0ooling : Heating 2ystem, (.1 : !usic 2ystem, motors used for pumping etc. 0ommunity noise is one of the ma'or sources for affecting a large number of people living within the community. It occurs due to various activities of community during religious festivals, fairs, marriages, or public functions. (he use of amplifiers provides one of most fre uent sources of disturbances. ;oudspea%er systems are in almost continual use at many open$air events. ;oudspea%ers and amplified music are violently used in unrestricted way at restaurants, marriage functions, and clubs, religious and festive gatherings and even in sale of lottery tic%ets. (here is also the perennial problem of the use of portable radios and cassette players on beaches or in places where either people have gone in search of

peace and uiet. !ost of the problems, which occur in public, originate from these main sources" &mplified sound i.e. loud spea%ers, public gatherings and festivals8 Indecency behaviour of people8 )ash driving with various %inds of horns < music with unnecessary use in vehicles. Fre uency !eig"ting 7ur hearing is less sensitive at very low and very high fre uencies. In order to account for this, weighting filters can be applied when measuring sound. (he most common fre uency weighting in current use is =&$weighting= providing results often denoted as dB ,&-, which conforms approximately to the response of the human ear. & =0$ weighting= is also used, particularly when evaluating very loud or very low fre uency sounds. &t home and at wor%, we often hear noise from ventilation or heating systems that is hardly noticeable because it has no prominent features. (he noise never stops and has no tone, but if the fan suddenly stops or starts to rotating, the change may disturb or even annoy us. 7ur hearing recognises information in the sounds that we hear. Information we don't need or want is noise. #oise features that ma%e us listen and ta%e notice are tones or changes in sound level. (he more prominent the tone, and the more abrupt the change in sound level, the more noticeable the noise. &mbient noise is the noise from all sources combined $$ factory noise, traffic noise, birdsong, running water, etc. Types of Ambient Noise 2election of e uipment and the duration of noise monitoring is based on the type of ambient noise. #ontinuous Noise 0ontinuous noise is produced by machinery that operates without interruption in the same mode, for example, blowers, pumps and processing e uipment. !easuring for 'ust a few minutes with hand$ held e uipment is sufficient to determine the noise level.

#ontinuous Noise Intermittent Noise 5hen machinery operates in cycles, or when single vehicle or aeroplane pass by, the noise level increases and decreases rapidly. & single passing vehicle or aircraft is called an event.

Intermittent Noise Impulsive Noise (he noise from impacts or explosions, e.g., punch press or gunshot, is called impulsive noise.

Impulsive Noise Tones in Noise &nnoying tones are created in two ways" !achinery with rotating parts such as motors, gearboxes, fans and pumps often create tones. >nbalance or repeated impacts cause vibration that, transmitted through surfaces into the air, can be heard as tones. ?ulsating flows of li uids or gases can also create tones, caused by combustion processes or flow restrictions.

Tones in Noise $%&%' (o) Fre uency Noise ;ow fre uency noise has significant acoustic energy in the fre uency range @ to *++ HA. #oise of this %ind is typical for large diesel engines in trains, ships, and power plants and, since the noise is hard to muffle and spreads easily in all directions, it can be heard for miles.

(o) Fre uency Noise

Typical Noise (evels 0ompared to the static air pressure ,*+ 6 ?a-, the audible sound pressure variations are very small ranging from about 3+ B?a ,3+ C *+$/ ?a- to *++ ?a. 3+ B?a corresponds to the average person's threshold of hearing. It is therefore called the threshold of hearing. & sound pressure of approximately *++ ?a is so loud that it causes pain and is therefore called the threshold of pain.

#omparision of Noise (evels )it" Static Air Pressure% & direct application of linear scales ,in ?a- to the measurement of sound pressure leads to large and unwieldy numbers. &nd, as the ear responds logarithmically rather than linearly to stimuli, it is more practical to express acoustic parameters as a logarithmic ratio of the measured value to a reference value. (his logarithmic ratio is called a decibel or dB ,&-. (he advantage of using dB ,&- can be clearly seen in the illustration in the picture on the next page. Here, the linear scale with its large numbers is converted into a manageable scale from + dB ,&- at the threshold of hearing ,3+ B?a- to *.+ dB ,&- at the threshold of pain ,*++ ?a-.