Noise

10 Key excerpts on "Noise"

• 

  eBook - PDF

  Roadmap to Greener Computing

  • Raoul-Abelin Choumin Nguemaleu, Lionel Montheu(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Chapman and Hall/CRC

    (Publisher)

  According to this description, we can say that certain types of sound are definitively more bothersome or annoying for some people than others and rather than being described as sound, they are perceived as Noise. Noise can then be defined as a loud, unpleas-ant, unexpected, or undesired sound. According to Environmental Protection UK, Noise is the most pervasive environmental pollutant. It has the potential to cause disruption, annoyance, and stress leading to sleep disturbances, interference with communication, and negative health impacts [6]. As mentioned in Section 4.2, Noise can also be defined as the brain’s interpretation of a physical sound. This interpretation depends on the psy-chological state of the person at the time he or she perceives the sound waves. This is why sometimes one person’s Noise is another person’s sound. Noise is subjective and can be divided into three categories: Psychology Acoustics Physiology Psychoacoustics FIGURE 4.19 Components of psychoacoustic. Computing Noise Pollution ◾ 115 1. Environmental Noise, which is defined as the Noise coming from the road and determined by the vehicle speed (tires on road surfaces or engine Noise, for example), Noise from rail or air transport (during takeoff, landing, and turning), and from industry facilities. 2. Local Noise is defined as Noise affecting a neighborhood or a small area; for example, Noise from a football stadium, a discotheque, a shopping mall, or kindergarten. The individual sources of local Noise can usually be found easily. 3. Domestic Noise disturbs the least number of people, but can be the most adverse and the most complained about Noise. Domestic Noise is generated in houses, offices, or by planes and cars. The most com-mon domestic Noise complaints are about loud music and television volume, shouting, cell phone ring tones, dogs barking, server room Noise, and do-it-yourself work.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Handbook of Environmental Engineering

  • Myer Kutz(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  18 Environmental Noise Pollution

  Sharad Gokhale

  Civil Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India

  18.1 Introduction

  Environmental Noise is the sound that is heard in the ambient.1 Louder and intermittent Noise annoys and can have adverse effects on humans, and, therefore, Noise pollution has come to the forefront of the environment‐related problems. Several human‐made sources of Noise exist in the environment. Noise has local scale impacts because it is an energy generated, transmitted, and lost in a short time within a small spatial scale (Allen et al., 2009 ; Weber, 2009 ). It is considered to be not threatening because it has not caused any catastrophic hazards as yet unlike a few well‐known air pollution disasters around the world that have induced. It, being an energy, does not leave a residual effect behind. But its health hazards upon longer and regular exposure are well understood. Humans who are regularly exposed for a long time to higher Noise are often at health risks. Its immediate effects are temporary and annoying but could be stress causing and upon longer exposure could be physiologically and psychologically damaging (Schwela et al., 2005 ).

  Several countries have, from time to time, enforced regulatory limits on the Noise in ambient environments to which people are exposed and also on the Noise originated from various sources such as equipment and vehicles at manufacturing stages. There is an emerging trend, due to growing concern, to include Noise impacts in the environmental impact assessments of new facilities or of the expansion of existing facilities. Hence, Noise impacts of transportation and other infrastructural projects on the environment need consideration at the planning and developing stages (Kiely, 2007

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Advanced Applications in Acoustics, Noise and Vibration

  • Frank Fahy, John Walker, Frank Fahy, John Walker(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  5.5 Noise effects 5.5.1 Environmental Noise So what is environmental Noise? Any sound existing outdoors and defined as unwanted for any reason can generally be classified as environmental Noise. The WHO uses the term ‘community Noise’ to mean much the same thing. Unwanted sound generated as part of the normal activities of a house-hold can be classified as ‘domestic Noise’, while domestic Noise generated next-door and passing through the walls or windows into someone else’s 194 I.H. Flindell and J.G. Walker house can be classified as ‘neighbour Noise’. Noise generated in the work-place and affecting workers is generally defined as ‘occupational Noise’ and does not concern us here, except that where it breaks out from the work-place and then affects nearby residents it is known as ‘industrial Noise’. In existing standards and regulations, industrial Noise is often dealt with as a separate category of environmental Noise. Construction Noise, road traffic Noise, railway Noise and aircraft Noise can all be considered as occupa-tional Noise in respect of workers employed on construction sites or around transport infrastructure and they can all be considered as different types of environmental Noise in respect of nearby residents. Amplified speech or music or the sound of people talking or shouting at each other in a restaur-ant, theatre or discotheque is usually defined as ‘entertainment Noise’ with varying implications, depending on whether we are considering customers, employees or nearby residents. When operating, all machinery generates Noise in differing degrees, which can then adversely affect any person residing or working in the vicinity. In the middle range of sound levels, which can occur in typical residential envir-onments, the relative significance or importance of the Noise can depend as much on the context in which the Noise is heard as on the actual sound levels.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Environmental Chemistry

  A Comprehensive Approach

  • Muhammad A. Hanif, Farwa Nadeem, Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti, Hafiz Muhammad Tauqeer(Authors)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley-Scrivener

    (Publisher)

  9

  Noise Pollution

  9.1 What Is Noise Pollution?

  The excessive Noise and disturbing sound that significantly affects the normal hearing activity and balance of human beings and animals is termed as “Noise disturbance” or “Noise pollution”. Heavy motor vehicles, trains, aircrafts, transportation and machines are some major causes of outdoor Noise pollution all over the globe that can also be summarized as “environmental Noise”. Improper urban planning is the major factor that significantly enhances the level of Noise pollution; however, industrial areas closer to or side by side of the residential buildings are mainly responsible for such type of problems. The first documented urban Noise pollution dates back to the ancient times of Roman history. Outdoor Noise pollution in workplaces is mainly caused by the loud music performances, construction activities and heavy machinery. Loud sounds and distracting Noises possess enough potential to induce hearing loss largely because of an unbearable level of indoor and outdoor Noise pollution. A high level of Noise is known to have pronounced effects on the human beings in terms of severe cardiovascular diseases and increased risks of several coronary artery diseases. Noise pollution can even elevate the chances of death in animals as sound disturbance alters the predator-prey-detection and interferes in reproductive systems and navigation processes, resulting in the permanent ear damage and continuous hearing loss.

  9.2 Noise Sources

  Noise pollution and loud Noise is found everywhere, irrespective of the commercial, industrial and residential areas. The loudest natural sound experienced on the earth is thunder, which even reaches the threshold of an uncomfortable level. Similarly, sound produced by the takeoff of a jet aircraft is quite loud for a listener, and some industrial units are characterized by the continuous loud sounds. Furthermore, community Noises are produced by heavy motor vehicles and other transportation sources including airplanes. Sources of Noise are also found in residential areas and public building inhabited by the ordinary people.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Beyond Unwanted Sound

  Noise, Affect and Aesthetic Moralism

  • Marie Thompson(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  In this section, I critically consider what Noise has been, outlining four common definitional approaches. First, I describe what I call a ‘subject-oriented’ definition. As unwanted, unpleasant or ‘bad’ sound, Noise pertains to a value judgement that is made during perception. Second, I describe an ‘object-oriented’ definition, which defines Noise in relation to particular acoustic qualities and attributes. I then discuss two definitions that overlap with both subject-oriented and object-oriented definitions: Noise’s definition in relation to particular sound sources, and Noise’s definition in terms of loudness. With regard to the former, it is shown how Noise has been associated with particular ‘unnatural’ sources, as well as certain bodies deemed ‘other’. However, I also show how Noise may come from an unknown source, as exemplified by an unexplained sonic phenomenon called ‘the hum’. With regard to the latter, I discuss (loud) Noise’s capacity to cause physical damage, and its problematic equivocation with technology, modernity and capitalism.

  Subject-oriented Noise

  Noise is most commonly understood to be an audible problem, referring to sound that is in some way negative: it is that which is deemed to be unwanted, unpleasant, undesirable or just ‘bad’. Noise is something that we do not want to be around: we try to avoid and abate it as much as possible. It is associated with pollution, disorder and destruction. The British physicist G. W. C. Kaye, adapting the description of dirt as ‘matter out of place’, defines Noise as ‘sound out of place’ – in space and/or time.2 In being out of place, Noise may inhibit communication, or mask ‘meaningful’ sound. Alternatively, Noise can be sound that is considered meaningless, or whose meaning is disliked. Noise may be unwanted in the sense that it distorts and degrades an intended message; in the sense that it is judged to be excessive or degenerate; or in the sense that it may cause physiological and psychological harm. Or Noise may be unwanted because it is sound that simply annoys us.

  To describe Noise as unwanted sound requires a listener to hear it as such. Sounds become Noise when they are heard in a particular way – it is a value ascribed in relation to perception. The task of constituting Noise thus lies with the listener. As Paul Hegarty states:

  Noise is not the same as Noises. Noises are sounds until further qualified (e.g. as unpleasant Noises, loud Noises, and so on) but Noise is already that qualification; it is already a judgement that Noise is occurring. Although Noise can occur outside of cognition (i.e. without us understanding its purpose, form, source), a judgement is made in reaction to it.3

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Urban Sound Environment

  • Jian Kang(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Urban Noise evaluation Environmental Noise is unwanted or harmful sound, usually generated by human activities including road traffic, railways, air transport, industry, recreation and construction, and is perceived in the domestic environment such as in and near the home, in public parks and schools. This chapter starts with an overview of the subjective evaluation of urban Noise in terms of acoustic/physical factors and social/psychological/economic factors, and commonly used evaluation methods (Section 2.1), followed by a series of objective descriptors relating to urban sounds (Section 2.2). It then summarises key/typical Noise standards/regulations and their principles (Section 2.3), and the current situation of urban Noise climate in some coun- tries (Section 2.4). 2.1 Subjective Noise evaluation The evaluation of sound is a complex system and is related to a number of disciplines including acoustics, physiology, sociology, psychology and statistics. In this section the effects of these factors are discussed, and commonly used evaluation models are outlined (Marquis-Favre et al. 2005b). 2.1.1 Acoustic/physical factors The overall sound level is certainly an important factor for subjective evaluation. Relation- ships between annoyance and Noise exposure, such as those measured by the equivalent continuous sound level, L eq (see Section 2.2.2), have been intensively studied (Schultz 1978; Kryter 1982; Miedema and Vos 1998; Arana and García 1998; Ali and Tamura 2003; Klæboe et al. 2004). Lambert et al. (1984) divided the daytime traffic Noise annoyance into three levels: <55dBA, no annoyance; 55–60dBA, some people annoyed; and >65dBA, definite annoyance.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - ePub

  Environmental Noise Pollution

  Noise Mapping, Public Health, and Policy

  • Enda Murphy, Eoin A King, Eoin King(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Elsevier

    (Publisher)

  In this context, recent research around the sonic dimension of the landscape more generally has started to receive more attention in the academic literature (Mazaris et al., 2009). Here, this research is often referred to within the context of the concept of ‘soundscape’, a term coined by Schafer (1994) to describe perceptions of the acoustic environment in a landscape setting. Thus, while there are other more positive aspects of the sound environment being researched, it is clear that it is the negative aspects that have the greatest need for attention given their ability to impact public health and quality of life issues negatively. In this regard, the recent publication by the WHO (2011) of its seminal Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise document not only sets out the evidence base on the health effects of environmental Noise in Europe but also attempts to quantify the extent of the problem. The document elucidates the extent to which Noise pollution is a serious public health problem and that, contrary to the trend for other environmental stressors (e.g. second hand smoke, dioxins and benzene), which are declining, Noise exposure is actually increasing in Europe and worldwide. Moreover, as further evidence of the growing recognition of Noise as a health problem, the evidence emerging from the WHO document informed the recently established WHO European health policy – Health 2020. 3.2 The Noise–Health Problem Table 3.1 shows a summary of the results from the WHO (2011) Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise study. The results are the first comprehensive effort at identifying the impact of excessive environmental Noise on public health. The study concludes that one in three individuals in Europe is annoyed during the daytime and one in five has disturbed sleep at night purely from traffic Noise alone

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Highway Pollution

  • R.S. Hamilton, R.M. Harrison(Authors)
  • 1991(Publication Date)
  • Elsevier Science

    (Publisher)

  The problem is worst in the industrially developed countries but traffic Noise is beginning to have a significant affect in newly industrialised parts of the world. The climate in such places as Korea and Malaysia and the relatively small proportion of air conditioned buildings require open windows thus allowing particularly high levels of Noise in schools, offices and homes. The relatively high proportion of noisy motorcycles exacerbates the traffic Noise problem. Early awareness of the need for Noise control and of the options for Noise control can lead to measures that have lasting and widespread effectiveness rather than being merely remedial and local in their impact. In this rhapter after reviewing basic descriptions of sound and subjective response to sound, methods of assessing traffic Noise impact in the community are outlined. The sources of traffic Noise are discussed and brief details of methods of control at source are given.Methods of measuring and monitoring traffic Noise and highway -induced vibrations are described. Factors to be considered in forecasting the propagation of sound outdoors and in prediction schemes for Noise both from free flowing traific and from stop-start traffic are introduced. Finally methods of traffic Noise control are detailed. 2. 2.1 Noise is unwanted sound. Sound is a form of energy that is an inevitable consequence of mechanical processes. On the other hand it represents only a small fraction of the total energy involved in a mechanical process. BASIC ACOUSTICS AND SUBJECTIVE RESPONSES Sound pressure. freauencr 4 ravelennth [2] Sound may be characterised by frequency or wavelength and pressure. An example of a single frequency sound is that from a tuning fork. Frequency is a physical measure or assessment of the subjective sensation of pitch. The separation between frequencies is often 340 described in terms of octaves. A separation of one octave means that the higher frequency is twice the lower.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  The Use and Abuse of Music

  Criminal Records

  • Eleanor Peters(Author)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Emerald Publishing Limited

    (Publisher)

  105 5 Noise POLLUTION INTRODUCTION This chapter will look at how music as a form of Noise has impacted on people’s daily lives, beginning with a discussion about how sound is closely correlated with concepts of the city. While criminologists, sociologists and urban geographers have often looked at the influence of the built environment of the city on people’s actions and behaviours, the aural has usu-ally been side-lined. The examples of boomboxes or mobile phones to play music in public lead to a discussion of ‘sound-scape’ and how people experience and interpret sound in their environment. People’s responses to sensory encounters is also considered, for example, the widespread use of recorded music that is played quietly and continuously in public places. There will be an analysis of why some music is subject to Noise abatement, or anti-social behaviour measures and others not. The section will also look at how silence is a scarce resource for many, and how the impact of Noise can result in an une-qual distribution of sound and silence. Urban territorial strat-egies in blocking out and isolating other Noise and replacing it with their own personalised soundscape will be considered. 106 The Use and Abuse of Music: Criminal Records SOUNDS OF THE CITY The city has always been a place of excitement: it is a theatre, a stage upon which citizens can display themselves and be seen by others. (Jacobs & Appleyard, 1987, p. 116) The history of the city is one that is filled with Noise. The market squares of towns in medieval times would be noisy places; the sounds of people shouting, animals making Noises and the songs of visiting minstrels and other performers. Travelling musicians had an important role in disseminating news and prior to musical scores being produced, this would be the only way for people to hear new songs (Attali, 1985). Early modern cities would be filled with the sounds of horses’ hooves, clattering carriages and church bells (Garrioch, 2003).

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book
• 

  eBook - PDF

  Noise Pollution

  The Unquiet Crisis

  • Clifford R. Bragdon(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • University of Pennsylvania Press Anniversary Collection

    (Publisher)

  Ill The Nuisances and Hazards of Noise Noise is part of the environment in which we live. To determine the severity of Noise as an environmental concern, some criterion has to be chosen. Health is a logical criterion because it covers all the effects upon the organism, rather than merely the absence of disease. For our purposes, we consider health as a quantitative measure of physical, emotional, and social well-being. 1 The health problem of Noise has two facets. First, Noise is a hazard disruptive to the organism's physiology. Noise-induced hearing loss, for example, is principally an organic disability affecting the hearing mechanism of the ear. Second, Noise can be an annoyance. It may evoke a feeling of resentment as it intrudes into physical privacy, or into one's thoughts. 2 Annoyance, as a subjective response to Noise, is capable of affecting health in terms of emotional and/or social well-being. Generally, the physiological damage caused by Noise is more severe than the psychological problems of annoyance and irritability. But although permanent hearing disability due to Noise is of greater con-cern, Noise annoyance should not be overlooked. The effects of Noise on health represent a continuum from hazards to less severe nuisances (see Figure 3.1). ! Hazards (Stages 1, 2) challenge survival, causing physical injury, while nuisances (Stages 3, 4) reduce human performance or affect human comfort and enjoyment. To rid the environment of Noise pollution completely requires eliminating the health effects described in all stages, beginning with Stage 1 (Insure Survival). E O 2 NUISANCES AND HAZARDS OF Noise 65 Protecting human life is a fundamental concern, and occasionally Stage 1: Insure life itself becomes threatened by Noise. Fatalities occur because Noise Survival interferes with, or masks, important sound messages. Physical survival can also be threatened, although less frequently, when there are sonic disturbances or booms.

  Sign up to read

  Learn more about book