this is not healthy when you hear about
pollution you might picture exhaust
fumes littering or oil spills but
there's another kind of pollution
you might not know noise pollution like
any other pollution it's a nuisance to
society plus everyone hates it
she years ago the Census Bureau did a
survey on what people liked and disliked
about their neighborhoods and what they
found was that noise was Americans
number one complaints about their
neighborhoods and the number one reason
why they wish to move but comfort isn't
all that's at stake are hearing overall
health and well-being of our children is
in jeopardy in 2016 fifty four point
five percent of the world's population
lived in cities by 2030 it's estimated
that that population will grow to be
sixty percent
noise pollution can be found anywhere
but it's especially bad in cities here's
a map of the loudest places in the u.s.
not surprising cities top the list they
have background levels between 55 and 67
decibels that's about as loud as the hum
from your air conditioner and it sounds
like this
you'll notice that's not including
random spikes of noise you hear
throughout the day like this
the human ear can tolerate noise up to
85 decibels without damage anything
louder poses a risk of permanent hearing
loss yet
studies show that anything at or above
65 decibels can trigger an increase in
blood pressure heart rate and stress
hormones in the blood this is what an
average New Yorker hears every day
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over time we can get used to these
sounds but that doesn't make them any
less dangerous so I don't think we build
up a tolerance to sound anatomically
there's nothing that changes that can
protect you from sound in your ear just
because you're you're around it a lot
it's probably more of a psychological
effects that you just don't notice it
because you hear it all the time in 2007
researchers release results from their
study on 200-thousand hearing tests
worldwide they discovered that city
residents had noticeable levels of
hearing loss their hearing was what it
should have been if they were 10 to 20
years older and once the damage is done
it's irreversible we have microscopic
hairs in our ears that relay sound to
the brain they're fine tuned to detect
vibrating frequencies from our eardrum
if those vibrations are too strong it
can bend break or even destroy these
delicate hairs but unlike the hairs on
your head these don't grow back since we
cannot see or feel these hairs the
damage from noise pollution can go
unnoticed for years even decades
according to the World Health
Organization noise is an underestimated
threat that can cause a number of short
and long-term health problems such as
sleep disturbance cardiovascular effects
and poorer work and school performance
one of the most famous studies on noise
pollution was in 1974 it happened here
at public school 98 in New York City the
east side of the building faces the
subway when trains passed the noise
pollution in the classroom went from an
average of 59 decibels to 89 teachers
had to shout over the noise and this
happened about every 4 and a half
minutes for 30 seconds at a time the two
researchers compared test scores and
reading levels of students on the East
versus the West size of the building
while students on the west side weren't
affected students on the east side were
on average four months behind on reading
level and they performed worse on
achievement tests more studies have gone
on to show that children who live in
noisy environments have elevated blood
pressure and
hormones there is one silver lining to
all of this
a pair of inexpensive earplugs are an
easy temporary fix to this problem for
more short-term solutions various cities
have started implementing quiet hours or
ticketing people for noise pollution
under the category of quality of life
funds what one great example is Germany
there they banned lawn mowing on Sundays
you know his Sunday's are supposed to be
a day of rest and so who can rest when
all of your neighbors are blasting away
with their lawn mowers and leaf blowers
also in Europe the European Union
generally they have significant noise
restrictions on commercial products like
dishwashers and refrigerators and other
household items and lawnmowers and leaf
floors I also understand that India has
now banned the two-stroke gas engine so
definitely there are other countries
that are taking this issue much more
seriously in the US if there ever is a
permanent fix to this problem it hinges
on one question when will we start
taking noise pollution seriously
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