Noise Pollution

Most of us are very used to the sounds we hear in everyday life. Loud music,
the television, people talking on their phone, the traffic and even pets barking in the
middle of the night. All of these have become a part of the urban culture and rarely
disturb us. However, when the sound of the television keeps you from sleeping all
night or the traffic starts to give you a headache, it stops becoming just noise and
start turning into noise pollution. For many of us, the concept of pollution is limited
to nature and resources. However, noise that tends to disrupt the natural rhythm of
life makes for one solid pollutant.
By definition, noise pollution takes place when there is either excessive
amount of noise or an unpleasant sound that causes temporary disruption in the
natural balance. This definition is usually applicable to sounds or noises that are
unnatural in either their volume or their production. Our environment is such that it
has become difficult to escape noise. Even electrical appliances at home have a
constant hum or beeping sound. By and large, lack of urban planning increases the
exposure to unwanted sounds. This is why understanding noise pollution is
necessary to curb it in time.
Causes of Noise Pollution
1. Industrialization: Most of the industries use big machines which are capable of
producing large amount of noise. Apart from that, various equipments like
compressors, generators, exhaust fans, grinding mills also participate in producing
big noise. Therefore, you must have seen workers in these factories and industries
wearing ear plugs to minimize the effect of noise.
2. Poor Urban Planning: In most of the developing countries, poor urban planning
also play a vital role. Congested houses, large families sharing small space, fight
over parking, frequent fights over basic amenities leads to noise pollution which
may disrupt the environment of society.
3. Social Events: Noise is at its peak in most of the social events. Whether it is
marriage, parties, pub, disc or place of worship, people normally flout rules set by
the local administration and create nuisance in the area. People play songs on full
volume and dance till midnight which makes the condition of people living nearby
pretty worse. In markets, you can see people selling clothes via making loud noise
to attract the attention of people.
4. Transportation: Large number of vehicles on roads, aeroplanes flying over houses,
underground trains produce heavy noise and people get it difficult to get
accustomed to that. The high noise leads to a situation wherein a normal person
lose the ability to hear properly.
5. Construction Activities: Under construction activities like mining, construction of
bridges, dams, buildings, stations, roads, flyovers take place in almost every part of
the world. These construction activities take place everyday as we need more
buildings, bridges to accommodate more people and to reduce traffic congestion.
The down point is that these construction equipments are too noisy.
6. Household Chores: We people are surrounded by gadgets and use them
extensively in our daily life. Gadgets like TV, mobile , mixer grinder, pressure
cooker, vacuum cleaners , washing machine and dryer, cooler, air conditioners are
minor contributors to the amount of noise that is produced but it affects the quality
of life of your neighborhood in a bad way.
While this form of pollution may seem harmless, it in fact has far reaching
consequences. The adverse effects on the health of the environment are quite

severe. Not only is the local wildlife affected by the pollution, humans also face a
number of problems due to it.
Effects of Noise Pollution
1. Hearing Problems: Any unwanted sound that our ears have not been built to filter
can cause problems within the body. Our ears can take in a certain range of sounds
without getting damaged. Man made noises such as jackhammers, horns,
machinery, airplanes and even vehicles can be too loud for our hearing range.
Constant exposure to loud levels of noise can easily result in the damage of our ear
drums and loss of hearing. It also reduces our sensitivity to sounds that our ears
pick up unconsciously to regulate our bodys rhythm.
2. Health Issues: Excessive noise pollution in working areas such as offices,
construction sites, bars and even in our homes can influence psychological health.
Studies show that the occurrence of aggressive behavior, disturbance of sleep,
constant stress, fatigue and hypertension can be linked to excessive noise levels.
These in turn can cause more severe and chronic health issues later in life.
3. Sleeping Disorders: Loud noise can certainly hamper your sleeping pattern and
may lead to irritation and uncomfortable situations. Without a good night sleep, it
may lead to problems related to fatigue and your performance may go down in
office as well as at home. It is therefore recommended to take a sound sleep to give
your body proper rest.
4. Cardiovascular Issues: Blood pressure levels, cardio-vascular disease and stress
related heart problems are on the rise. Studies suggest that high intensity noise
causes high blood pressure and increases heart beat rate as it disrupts the normal
blood flow. Bringing them to a manageable level depends on our understanding
noise pollution and how we tackle it.
5. Trouble Communicating: High decibel noise can put trouble and may not allow
two people to communicate freely. This may lead to misunderstanding and you may
get difficult understanding the other person. Constant sharp noise can give you
severe headache and disturb your emotional balance.
6. Effect on Wildlife: Wildlife faces far more problems than humans because noise
pollution since they are more dependent on sound. Animals develop a better sense
of hearing than us since their survival depends on it. The ill effects of excessive
noise begin at home. Pets react more aggressively in households where there is
constant noise.
They become disoriented more easily and face many behavioral problems. In
nature, animals may suffer from hearing loss, which makes them easy prey and
leads to dwindling populations. Others become inefficient at hunting, disturbing the
balance of the eco-system.
Species that depend on mating calls to reproduce are often unable to hear these
calls due to excessive man made noise. As a result, they are unable to reproduce
and cause declining populations. Others require sound waves to echo-locate and
find their way when migrating. Disturbing their sound signals means they get lost
easily and do not migrate when they should. To cope up with the increasing sound
around them, animals are becoming louder, which may further add to the pollution
levels. This is why understanding noise pollution can help us lower the impact it has
on the environment.
As of now, there do not exist many solutions to reduce sound pollution. On a
personal level, everybody can help reducing the noise in their homes by lowering
the volume of the radio, music system and the television. Listening to music without

headphones is also a good step forward. Removal of public loudspeakers is another

way in which the pollution can be countered. As is controlling the sound levels in
clubs, bars, parties and discos. Better urban planning can help in creating No-Noise
zones, where honking and industrial noise are not tolerated. It is only when our
understanding noise pollution is complete, can we take steps to eradicate it
completely.
Noise pollution prevention and control tips
Below are a few things people and governments can do to make our communities
and living laces quieter:
Construction of soundproof rooms for noisy machines in industrial and
manufacturing installations must be encouraged. This is also important for
residential buildingnoisy machines should be installed far from sleeping and
living rooms, like in a basement or garage.
Use of horns with jarring sounds, motorbikes with damaged exhaust pipes,
noisy trucks to be banned.
Noise producing industries, airports, bus and transport terminals and railway
stations to sighted far from where living places.
Community law enforcers should check the misuse of loudspeakers,
worshipers, outdoor parties and discos, as well as public announcements
systems.

Community laws must silence zones near schools / colleges, hospitals etc.
Vegetation (trees) along roads and in residential areas is a good way to
reduce noise pollution as they absorb sound.
What are the sources of noise pollution?
Household sources:
Gadgets like food mixer, grinder, vacuum cleaner, washing machine and dryer,
cooler, air conditioners, can be very noisy and injurious to health. Others include
loud speakers of sound systems and TVs, ipods and ear phones. Another example
may be your neighbors dog barking all night everyday at every shadow it sees,
disturbing everyone else in the apartment.
Social events:
Places of worship, discos and gigs, parties and other social events also create a
lot of noise for the people living in that area. In many market areas, people sell with
loud speakers, others shout out offers and try to get customers to buy their goods.
It is important to note that whey these events are not often, they can be called
'Nuisance' rather than noise pollution.
Commercial and industrial activities:
Printing presses, manufacturing industries, construction sites, contribute to noise
pollutions in large cities. In many industries, it is a requirement that people always
wear earplugs to minimize their exposure to heavy noise. People who work with
lawn mowers, tractors and noisy equipment are also required to wear noise-proof
gadgets.
Transportation:
Think of aero planes flying over houses close to busy airports like Heathrow
(London) or Ohare (Chicago), over ground and underground trains, vehicles on road
these are constantly making a lot of noise and people always struggle to cope
with them.

Radiation Pollution: Types, Sources, Effects, Control of Radiation Pollution

Radiation is the process by which radiant energy is transferred from one place to
another in the form of electro-magnetic waves.
The various types of radiation differ from one another by their frequency or
wavelength. Higher the frequency or lower the wavelength of a radiation, higher will
be its energy. Again, higher the energy of the radiation, it will cause higher damage
to the living organisms.
Non-ionising Radiation:
These are the radiations which induce the ionisation of atoms and molecules.
An atom is ionised when energy supplied to it separates one or more of its electrons. Ionisation of a molecule produces two fragments. The radiation pollution is
mainly caused by non-ionising radiation.
Alpha (), beta (), and gamma () radiations are mainly responsible for
radiation pollution. Alpha radiation contains energetic -alpha particles. Each alpha
particle carries two units of positive charges and interacts strongly with living
tissues.
Beta, radiation is made up of energetics electrons. Each beta particle carries
one unit of negative charge and interacts strongly with matter. Gamma radiations
are made up of high energy photons. Photons bring about strong electro-magnetic
interaction with matter.
Sources of Radiation Pollution:
Radiation sources are mainly natural but partly manmade.
The natural sources of radiation may be:
1. Radioactive minerals;
2. Cosmic rays;
3. Radio nuclides.
1. Radioactive Minerals:

The minerals containing Uranium- 235 (U235), Uranium-238 (U238), Thorium232 (Th232), Plutonium- 239 (Pu239) etc. are capable of emitting energetic
radiations causing pollution.
2. Cosmic Rays:
The cosmic rays containing highly energetic particles reach the surface of the
earth causing pollution. The intensity of cosmic rays depends on latitudes and
altitude of the place. The intensity is maximum at the poles and minimum at the
equator.
3 .Radio nuclides:
The unstable radio-nuclides in the atmosphere can be splitted up into smaller
parts emitting energetic radiation. The smaller radio-nuclides enter into the body of
organism along with air during respiration.
The various sources of manmade radiation pollutions may be:
1. Nuclear power plants;
2. Radio-active wastes;
3. Nuclear explosions; and
4. Radio-isotopes.
1. Nuclear Power Plants:
Nuclear power plants emit radiation to a very smaller extent except
accidental leaks (Chernobyl accident of undivided USSR).
2. Radio-active Wastes:
The nuclear power plants produce a lot of nuclear radio-active wastes. The
disposal of these wastes has become a global problem. Some countries producing
large quantity of nuclear wastes dump them in ocean near other countries.
3. Nuclear Explosion:
During nuclear explosion, a large number of radio-nuclides are generated in
the atmosphere. The radio nuclides settle down with rain contaminating the soil and
water bodies. Finally, these enter into food chain causing serious problem to the
living organisms.
4. Radio-isotopes:
Radio-isotopes are also prepared artificially either by nuclear fusion or by
nuclear fission. If these radio-isotopes are not properly handled, these emit
radiations causing pollution.
5. Television Set:
Television sets produce radiations which can also cause cancer.
Effect of Radiation Pollution:
When radiation passes through different living organisms the following disorderness takes place:
1. Radiation splits the molecules of the tissues into ions and free radicals and
causes mutation by breaking DMA (Deoxy ribonucleic acid) molecules in the
nucleus.
2. Radiation in bone marrow may cause leukemia.
3. Radiation may cause skin burns which may lead to skin cancer.
4. Radiation at pelvic regions of pregnant ladies, cause damage to the foetus.
Control of Radiation Pollution:
Radiation pollution can be controlled in the following ways:
1. Care should be taken to check manmade radiation pollution at source.
2. Nuclear reactor should be perfectly maintained to avoid accidental leakage.
3. Nuclear tests should be banned.