3.

0 Literature Review:
A review of the literature on the Noise Pollution is to investigate the actual knowledge
state of noise effects after critical analysis and reflect on research direction in terms of
noise pollution in the future. Sound can be defined as a mechanical disturbance or an
oscillation in pressure, particle displacement and particle velocity propagated in an
elastic medium of such character as to be capable of exciting the sensation of hearing.
Noise pollution takes place when there is either excessive amount of noise or an
unpleasant sound that causes temporary disruption in the natural balance. Of late, noise
pollution is rather a new subject among all and became more problematic with the
developments associated with industrialization and urbanization. This issue is to be
explored in such of four major parts which are characterization of noise, its source, its
effect and its control measures. Overall this studies concentrated on the noise that brings
disturbance to the environment and impacts that to be curbed by implementing
incentive measures. It has been found that noise interferes with behaviour, including
communication and concentrated activity or desired states such as relaxation and sleep.
The intensity, duration and the frequency of noise do manipulate the hazardous effects
on humans whether they are heart-related, psychological or other forms. Being able to
cope with noise solely depends on the characteristics of noise and aspects of the noise
situation itself. However, environmental noise is beyond the control of individuals
which means it is a societal problem that needs cooperation of peoples to overcome.
Unfortunately, noise is still considered as relatively minor form of contamination and
public awareness on its shortcomings is lower than of other pollutions.
The characterization of noise or sound can be divided into two, which is frequency and
amplitude. Sound is the quickly varying pressure wave travelling through a medium.
The higher the frequency, the more high-pitched a sound is perceived. The frequency
of sound is expressed in wavelengths per second or cycles per second (CPS). It is more
commonly referred to as Hertz. Low frequency noise is 250 Hertz (Hz) and below while
high frequency noise is 2000 Hz and above. Mid-frequency noise falls between 250 and
2000 Hz. When sound travels through air, the atmospheric pressure varies periodically.
Another property of sound or noise is its amplitude. The amplitude of sound is
expressed in decibels (dB). This is a logarithmic compressed scale dealing in powers
of 10 where small increments in dB correspond to large changes in acoustic energy.
Sound wavelengths are the linear measurement of one full cycle of displacement where
the motion of air molecules is first compressed and then rarefied or expanded. The
wavelength is determined by the ratio of the speed of sound to the frequency.

Overall, the noise pollution has two sources, which is industrial and non- industrial.
The industrial source includes the noise from various industries and big machines
working at a very high speed and high noise intensity. Non- industrial source of noise
includes the noise created by transport or vehicular traffic and the neighbourhood noise
generated by various noise pollution can also be divided into categories, namely natural
and manmade. Most leading noise sources will fall into the following categories such
as roads traffic, aircraft, railroads, construction, industry, noise in buildings, and

3
consumer products. For industrial sources, most of the industries use big machines such
as generators and compressors which are capable of producing large amount of noise.
The unwanted sound produced by these equipment will cause severe impact to the
workers if the exposure is sustained for a long time.

For the non-industrial sources such as household sources come from the gadgets like
food mixer, grinder and vacuum cleaner can be very noisy and make peoples feel
annoying. Others include loud speakers of sound systems and television might cause
sleeping disorder if the users tune it at a very high loudness at night. Another example
like dogs barking all night might can disturb the residents around. Besides, social events
will create a lot of noise for the people living in that certain area. In many market areas,
people selling with loud speakers or by shouting in order to attract customers but
indirectly this has caused noise pollution to the surroundings. Transportation is one of
the non-industrial source of pollution too. Large number of vehicles on roads,
aeroplanes flying over houses, underground trains produce heavy noises and peoples
are difficult to get accustomed to that. The high level of noise leads to a situation where
in a normal person loses the ability to hear properly. For construction activities, they
take place in almost every part of the world. Unfortunately, all the heavy machinery
and plants used such as hydraulics hammers will produce a high level of noise and
contribute to pollution.

When there are excessive amount of sounds produced, living organisms and well-being
are subjected to the negative impacts of noise. Generally, effects of noise included
health related problems, hearing disruptions, effect on wildlife and so on. The most
apparent and immediate effect of noise pollution to a person is the impairment of
hearing. Any unwanted sound that our ears have not been built to filter can cause
problems within our body. Our ears are built with several structures that can only take
in certain intensity and frequency of sounds without getting any damages. Prolonged
exposure to noise will cause damages to human ears especially eardrums that act as the
membranes of the middle ears that vibrate in response to sound stimuli. This will also
reduce the sensitivity of ears to interpret the sounds involuntary in order to regulate our
body’s natural rhythm.
Apart from that, health related issue is one of the shortcomings of noise too. The
psychological manifestations such as anxiety, stress reaction, aggressive behaviour and
in extreme cases fright can happen owing to excessive exposure to noises in
construction sites, bars and offices. Studies has showed that noise can influence
psychological health of humans and these in turn can cause more severe and chronic
health issues later in life. Other than that, sleeping disorders can happen quite frequently
owing to the noise pollution. Loud noises can certainly hamper the sleeping pattern and
subsequently leads to irritation and insomnia. For these reasons, sleep disturbance is
usually considered the most severe non-auditory effect of environmental noise exposure.

Noise exposure modifies the function of multiple organs and systems. Cardiovascular
diseases are on the rise as well as blood pressure levels due to the happening of noise

4
pollution. Research suggest that high intensity of noise can cause high blood pressure
and indirectly increases heart beat rate as it disrupts the normal circulation of blood in
human body. In addition, experts also suggest that long term exposure of sound
pollution can impact on children physical development especially in the aspect of
cognitive. This is due to the children have been exposed to the levels of noise that
interfere with speech, then they may have some difficulties in reading or speech due to
the auditory processing function are compromised. Children that exposed to noise in
learning atmosphere will experience trouble with word discrimination and eventually
this is associated with the writing learning impairment.

Noise pollution also develop negative effects on wildlife such as marine life. Masking
occurs when noise interfere with an animal’s ability to detect or perceive a sound.
Elevated sound can mask important sound for marine life and the degree of masking is
influenced by the level, frequency and the duration of the noise in comparison to the
sound of interest. Moreover, behavioural effects will also manifest on marine animals
owing to the pollution of noise. The significance of a behavioural change of animal is
depending, whether it is vary from the aspects of species or circumstances. As a result,
there is abandonment of territory and loss of reproduction happening among the animals.

Noise control is a set of strategies to reduce noise pollution or impact of that noise
whether outdoors or indoors. The main areas of noise mitigation or abatement
are transportation noise control, architectural design, urban planning and occupational
noise control. These are because all these factor contribute to the issue is increasing the
noise level. Noise pollution can be effectively controlled by taking the following
measures. First off, we can control the pollution level at its source. To control noise at
the source, it is first necessary to determine the cause of the noise and then decide on
what can be done to reduce it. It may be done either indirectly or directly. It is possible
to do some maintenance to the automobiles with regular servicing and tuning of
vehicles in order to reduce the noise pollution. Besides that, we are able to control the
noise pollution by controlling the transmission path of noise. When the sound has left
a source and get established in surrounding of building, it would travel some distance
before reaching the point at which the noise nuisance will take place. When this
situation arises, certain steps should have taken to reduce the transmission of noise such
as installation of barriers between noise source and receiver can attenuate the noise
levels. Constructing soundproof buildings and planting trees along the roads is one of
the measures as they can minimize the menace of the pollution. Installation of panels
or enclosures where a sound source may be enclosed within a paneled structure also
can reduce the noise levels at the receiver. Noise control at the receiver might as well
considered as a way to bring down the level of pollution. For peoples working in noisy
installations, ear-protection aids like ear-plugs, noise helmets and headphones must be
provided to reduce occupational exposure. The time of exposure operation must be
reduced as persons who are working more than 8 hours under a noise environment will
be exposed to occupational health hazards.

5
From this review, we know that noise pollutions are developed from various sources
either manmade or due to some machines and gadgets used. Unfortunately, peoples are
not aware that this do contribute various negative impacts on living organisms as well
as environment. All the effects mentioned has jeopardised the natural equilibrium
indirectly and shortcomings are increasing tremendously. Initiatives must be taken in
order to curb the menace to ensure the future world is free from noise pollution.