Civil Engineering Department

Centre for Diploma Studies (CeDS)

DAC 31303 Environmental Engineering
Semester II/ Session 20152016

Project:
NOISE POLLUTION

2DAA GB S2
Lecturer: Dr. Norhayati Binti Ngadiman
No. Name Matric No.
1. Chong Hou Wai AA140722
2. Koh Jia Jie AA141636
3. Poh Jiayi AA141369
4. Pua Ke Yong AA140360
5. Song Yi Wei AA141237

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 TABLE CONTENT

NO. TITLE PAGE

1. 1.0 Abstract 3
2. 2.0 Introduction 4
3. 3.0 Literature Review 5-8
4. 4.0 Methodology 9
5. 5.0 Results and Discussion 10-12
6. 6.0 Conclusion 13
7. 7.0 References 14
8. Appendices 15

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1.0 Abstract:
Sound pollution is a type of contamination depends on frequency and loudness. The
recognition of noise as an environmental problem and its impact both on community and
occupational environment is rapidly growing. High level of sound pollution can cause
serious effects to human as well as animals. The present study is aimed to report about the
noise pollution level that occurred in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. The method
used to analyse the severity of sound pollution is interviewing the students who live or
work at the area of UTHM. The interview survey pointed that the main sources of noise in
UTHM is contributed by noise making by students and the massive volume of vehicles.
The major effects of noise pollution include the interference and distraction as well as some
psychological shortcomings. Generally a request to minimize the pollution are mainly
practical and engineering control appeared to be the most frequent tools proposed by
respondents to overcome this issue. However, the authority of UTHM do play a vital role
to make significant changes of it and should take this pollution as seriously matter and
restricts the sound pollution to the optimum level.
Keywords: noise pollution, effects, engineering control, optimum.

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2.0 Introduction:
Noise pollution refers to sounds in the environment that are caused by humans and that
threaten the health or welfare of human or animal. In other words, noise can be generally
defined as an unwanted sound and eventually it is the sound which produce unpleasant
effects and discomfort to our ears. Noise pollution can be considered as a new form of
pollution, which does not give any residue. It is normally contributed by modern
civilization or urbanization and the drastic development of the industries. Sound pollution
is potentially a danger signal that will jeopardise the quality of environment as well as the
living organisms. Outdoor noise is summarized by the word environmental noise. Poor
urban planning may give rise to noise pollution, since side-by-side industrial and residential
buildings can produce excessive and unnecessary sound in the residential areas. Additional
noise pollution is contributed by office machines, sirens, power tools, and other equipment.
Noise pollution is not easy to measure because it is a complex form of contamination and
the very definition of noise depends on the context of the sound and the subjective effect it
has on the people hearing to it. A decibel is a standard measurement of noise. Noise which
is more than 115 dB is tolerant whereas normal range of human hearing is generally
considered to be 20 Hz to 20 kHz. Noise pollution exist everywhere nowadays but
unfortunately peoples have less awareness about it. Noise pollution is a new form of
contamination that occurred in UTHM recently. The impacts from noise are gradually
causing the equilibrium of nature to become unbalance and many shortcomings are
appearing. The aim of this case study is to investigate the noise pollution level in UTHM.
The objectives are to identify the sources of noise pollution in UTHM on the basis of
commuter response survey. Other than that, it is to show the adverse impacts of noise and
to explore the reactions of people against excessive noise. Furthermore, this id to find out
the suitable solutions for abatement of noise pollution. Thus, we are assigned to carry out
a case study in UTHM in order to identify this problem by interviewing the students and
their feedbacks are to be analysed and interpreted into a report of study.

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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

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leading noise sources will fall into the following categories such as roads traffic, aircraft,
railroads, construction, industry, noise in buildings, and 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.

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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
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,

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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.

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.

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4.0 Methodology:
During the searching and developing of the project, we used several methods to collect
substantive and relevant data such as literature survey, interviews and sound meter. For
literature survey, information reviewed through university library using a range of
information sources such as string searches in search engine, bibliographic, author's library
search and database search (Google scholar). Besides, string searches also included sets of
terms, namely "noise pollution," "road traffic noise," "transportation noise, "traffic noise
impact assessment." All the relevant and identified articles and papers are read in full and
used for information extraction and computed into this technical report.
For evaluation of the quality of the studies considered, interview has been used to suit the
review purpose and objective. Some criteria are adopted to assess the quality of the studies
considered included the following:

 Study population (age, gender, and number)

 Location
 Sample size: small (n ≤ 20), medium (n > 20 ≤ 50) and large (>50)
 Random sample selection

The questions asked for interview are based on the questions related to the noise pollution
in UTHM. The interview questions are prepared to obtain the feedback from the students.
Besides, the respondents are mainly from UTHM and is conducted to them at different
spots in the campus such as cafeteria, ATM area, library, bus stand and others in order to
visualize the range of the answers from the students. Our sample size is small which only
involved 10 respondents and the interview is based on random sample selection. Upon
collecting the qualitative data derived from said interviews, careful analysis and
interpretation is being done to identify the actual situation of noise level in UTHM and thus
the control measures for the noise pollution is submitted.

Sound meter is used during our survey too. Sound level meter is an instrument, which
indicates, sound pressure levels (SPL) in the audible range. Its purpose is to provide a result,
which can give a reasonably good indication of human perception of the measured sound.
It measures, the root mean square sound pressure with the aid of a microphone that converts
the signal to an equal electrical signal. The signal is passed to weighting network, which
provides a conversion and gives the sound pressure level in dB. The collected data from
the sound meter is recorded and tabulated to complete the analysis.

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5.0 Result and Discussion:

After we have interviewed a few respondents at different spots such as ATM bus stand and
Arked Café in UTHM, we found that although there are noise pollution occurred in some
places of UTHM, however the noise level in UTHM is still acceptable. During the
investigation, we used sound meter to determine the sound level in our investigation point
in UTHM which is Arked Café and ATM bus stop. We found that the sound level in Arked
Café is 387Hz with 68.0dBA, while bus stop have a sound level of 301Hz with an average
67.8dBA. From the sound level findings, it obviously showed that the sound level in cafe
in much more higher than the sound level at bus stop. Despite the sound level in cafe is
much higher, though the sound level is still acceptable for human hearing range because it
is lower than 85dBA which might cause permanent damage to hearing after exposure more
than permissible hours, 8 hours. During the interview, we have asked a few questions
related to their understanding of noise and their opinions towards the noise level in UTHM.
When we asked about their understanding of noise, the respondents replied that noise is
some unwanted sound that caused by humans, cars or vehicles, and some of them even
claimed that it make people feel discomfort and lose his or her control. From their feedback,
we noticed that most of the respondents do not have fully understanding on the definition
of noise. They have only a partial apprehension on the definition and concept of noise
pollution.

Next, we moved to the next question asking about the factors that caused noise in UTHM.
According to their responses, we found that the major noises are contributed by groups of
student and vehicles at food court and bus stop. Some of the respondents commented that
the noise also caused by machinery that are not well maintained and the traffic due to the
speeding of motorcyclists. Based on their feedback, we can conclude that they felt that
noise is disturbing and annoying which caused them to feel uncomfortable and unable to
focus on things.
When we interviewed on their thought on the spots in UTHM with highest level of noise
pollution, they came out with different opinions which are food court, Automated Teller
Machine (ATM) bus stand, stadium, and main entrance. These is due to the reasons of the
crowd of people, shouting of audience during event in the field and heavy volume of
vehicles on the main road near the main entrance. Besides, we also asked them about their
reaction when they heard a loud noise in UTHM. They responded that they will feel anxious
and then cover their ears and leave the place. However, only a respondent commented that
he will try to ignore it.

Last but not least, we asked respondents about the measures to prevent noise pollution from
happening in UTHM during the interview. We have quite some good feedbacks on this
matter. One of the respondent gave enforcement type of suggestions which are placing
“silent” signboards in crowded places and enlarge the space of food court. Another

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interviewee offered us a technical approach which is installing some soundproof materials
in buildings, walls and ceiling. The other respondent presented us with impractical
suggestions, namely enforcing law to control speed limit and amount of vehicles. He also
suggested us to reduce the noise pollution in surrounding campus by planting more trees
to absorb and diffract sound. Only one respondent claimed that it is impossible to prevent
noise pollution from happening in UTHM. Based on the interview we have carried out, the
level of noise in UTHM varies from one place to another place depend on the sources of
the sound. From the results we obtained through this interview, cafeteria is the spot that
contributed more noises if compared to the bus stop in our survey among the respondents
in UTHM.

The major findings that being discussed in this case study is the noise pollution level in
UTHM. This clearly stated that the unwanted sound level in our campus are being
investigated to gather the information required and computed as in this report. The purpose
of this study is to investigate in depth on the topic of noise pollution and identify all its
characterization, sources, effects and measures that associated with this contamination. By
determining all these elements, we are able to sort them and interpret into a further degree
of details for this report. Our findings suggested that the noise level in the surroundings is
important as it will bring impacts to the students and users in UTHM. This is due to the
impacts or negative effects of sound pollution will vary and depending according to the
level of its contamination. Thus from all the interpretation of the elements that included in
the sound pollution, we carried out the interview survey in our campus in order to study
the level of noise pollution that occurred in UTHM. This is important as we can discover
all the related informations of noise pollution and being understandable to the real concept
of this form of pollution. Subsequently, we are able to map the findings with the results of
our interview with respondents. From the research, noise pollution is being defined as the
unwanted noise that caused disturbance and nuisance to human in terms of health,
psychological and mental. Thus, this case study proved that noise pollution do bring some
shortcomings such as distraction on carrying task, anxiety and discomfort from the
interview of students. By making the students of UTHM to speak up their opinions, so that
initiatives or measures can be taken to curb this situation from expanding.
All studies have their limitations and precautions. All in all, we have no advance
instruments during the conducting of this research. In our study, we only tested the noise
level by using sound meter. Future research should include the statistics of noise pollution
level in a long term period and the respective impacts due to the prolonged exposure in
details. While the precautions taken during this case study is all the interviews that being
carried out with respondents are private and confidential. This play an important role as
the answers of respondents are the primary sources of our case to be studied. Suggestions
on how to minimize the sound contamination are contributed by respondents are mainly
practical and feasible such as planting trees and the installation of sound proof materials.

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Research and development are to be done in the future so that appropriate and correct
measure will be imply to root this problem.

Noise pollution caused by high-volume sounds that make the surrounding area into a noisy
and unpleasant. Thus, peoples should be aware of the risk factors of noise pollution by
taking proper steps for solutions. By reviewing this study, it can be considered as a new
form of pollution and thus various problem solving method should be discovered in
advance.

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6.0 Conclusion:

Noise pollution is a nuisance to the environment caused by noise or sound that resulted in
discomfort for living in the vicinity. Noise is produced by almost everything we humans
do. From the interview that we conducted during our survey, we determined that the sound
level at Arked Café is higher than in the bus stop which is 387Hz and 68.0dBA respectively.
Based on the articles reviewed for this study, the sound level that have been tested in our
report is still considered tolerate to humans’ hearing system. The respondents in our survey
showed a general trend of understanding and concept to the noise pollution which they
didn’t have a thorough perception towards it. According to the interviewees’ responses,
major commotion are come from groups of students at food court and the heavy volume of
vehicles at bus stop and the road nearby main entrance. They had different opinions of the
highest level of noise in UTHM are mainly produced at the food court, Automated Teller
Machine (ATM) bus stop, stadium, and main entrance. From this aspect, we know that the
sound level is vary in every different place in UTHM which have different sources of it.

Overall, we can conclude that the noise in UTHM is produced mainly by human activities
such as shouting and speeding of vehicles. Another conclusion can be drawn is the
exposure to sound levels in UTHM are less than 85 dBA, thus it does not produce any
hearing damage and impairment to the students in UTHM regardless of the duration of
exposure. As we know that, educating oneself may not guarantee a lifetime of good hearing,
but it certainly gives a person better odds. In order to overcome the problem associated
with the highest sound level at UTHM, university students are to be educated about the
danger of high level noise pollution that is creeping into our daily lives. As the initiatives
of this menace, university should promote awareness of the ever-increasing problem of
noise pollution and the dangers of noise to the students as well as all the peoples involved
in order to have an effective changes and improvement to this contamination that might in
turn harming humans’ health to a certain degree.

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7.0 References:
1. Book References
i. SP. Singal (2000). Noise Pollution and Control. New Delhi, India: Narosa
Publishing House.

ii. Howard K. Pelton (1993). Noise Control Management. New York: Van
Nostrand Reinhold.
iii. Mackenzie L. Davis, David A. Cornwell (2008). Introduction to
Environment Engineering, Fifth Edition. United State of America:
McGraw-Hill.

2. Website References
i. Environmental Protection Department
http://www.epd.gov.hk/epd/noise_education/web/ENG_EPD_HTML/m1/i
ntro_5.html
Date of access: 14th April 2016
ii. Case Study on Noise Level in Mysore City
http://www.engineeringcivil.com/case-study-on-noise-level-in-mysore-
city.html
Date of access: 28th April 2016
iii. Cause and Effects of Noise Pollution
http://darwin.bio.uci.edu/sustain/global/sensem/S98/Nunez/Noise.html
Date of access: 5th May 2016

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Interview Questions of Noise Pollution:

1. In your opinion, what is noise?

__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. What is causing this problem in UTHM?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. How does noise pollution produced in UTHM make you feel?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
4. Where do you think the spot in UTHM has the highest level of noise pollution?
Why?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
5. What is your most common reaction when you hear a loud noise in UTHM?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
6. How can we try to prevent noise pollution from happening in UTHM?
__________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

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