Element 6: Control of environmental noise

Learning outcomes

On completion of this element, candidates should be able to demonstrate understanding of

the content through the application of knowledge to familiar and unfamiliar situations. In

particular they should be able to:

8.1 Describe the potential sources of environmental noise and their consequences

8.2 Outline the methods available for the control of environmental noise.

People are becoming increasingly disturbed by the stridency of sounds in the environment. These

sounds are loud, intrusive and unwelcome side effects of our fast-paced society. While tolerating

noise in urban and even suburban environment may seem like a necessary compromise for the

services, improved construction and transportation we receive in return, noise in the natural

environment is much less palatable. It is now generally recognized that noise can affect humans

psychologically and be physically injurious, little attention has been paid to the potential effects

that noise may have on individual animals and populations within an area. This ignorance of the

potential harm that could be caused by our own actions and we must ask ourselves, how much we

value life beyond that which exists in the human form.

8.1 Sources of environmental noise and their consequences

Noise is referred as unwanted sound that can negatively disrupt human or animal life. However,

we can never completely agree on what noise is: a rock concert can be a musical nirvana to some

ears but an unbearable racket to others.

Physicist George William Clarkson Kaye’s 1931 defined noise as ‘sound out of place’. It is sound

that is unwanted, inappropriate, interfering, distracting and irritating (Henry, 2013).

Environmental noise, on the other hand, has been defined as any unwanted sound created by

human activities that is considered harmful or detrimental to human health and quality of life

(Murphy et al., 2009).

Specifically, environmental noise can refer only to noise affecting humans and is concerned

exclusively with outdoor sound caused generally by transport, industry and recreational activities.

Thus, environmental noise is a form of pollution. And this classification is quite useful because it
means that confronting noise becomes quite intuitive. By way of definition, pollution is something

that is to be avoided, controlled, regulated or eliminated because of its negative impact on humans

and human–environment relations.

• The characteristics of noise

Sound is the result of pressure variations in a medium – typically air. Pressure fluctuations above

and below atmospheric pressure are detected by the human ear and this results in the sensation of

hearing. Sound can also propagate through solid structures and water.

Sound travels in the form of a wave .Following figurer shows the wave form of a simple ‘sine’

wave (which would sound like a pure tone, e.g., a whistle).

The vertical axis corresponds to pressure fluctuations, measured in Pascal, while the horizontal

axis represents time.

All sounds have three fundamental characteristics: frequency, amplitude and wavelength.

The frequency of a wave, f, is the number of oscillations per second (or cycles per second). It is

expressed in Hertz [Hz] and is named after the German physicist, Heinrich Rudolf Hertz. Sounds

with higher frequency are generally heard as sounds with a higher ‘pitch’ (and variations in pitch

create a musical melody); for example, a house alarm has a high pitch.

The amplitude of a wave is represented by the maximum value of pressure in the vertical direction

in above figure. It corresponds to the amount of energy in the wave. Sounds with higher amplitude

have a greater intensity.

The wavelength, l, is the distance (measured in meters) travelled by a wave during one oscillation..

The wavelength can be measured between two successive positive peaks in the cycle and

corresponds to the physical size of a wave.

For sound waves in air, the speed of sound generally lies between 330 and 345 m/s. The speed

generally depends on air temperature, humidity and atmospheric pressure but 343 m/s is the usual

approximation for the speed of sound on the surface of the earth (at 20 _C and 1 atmospheric

pressure). The speed of sound, denoted by c, allows us to develop a relationship between the period

(measured in seconds) and the wavelength (measured in meters).

Sound is commonly measured using the decibel [dB] scale. Put simply, the decibel is a ratio of one

pressure to another. It uses a logarithmic scale and thus reduces a large range of information down
into something more manageable – it enables us to deal with very large and very small numbers

with some ease

low frequency (can carry long distances)

Noise is generally made up of a range of different frequencies and not just a single frequency. In

fact, the average healthy human ear can detect sounds from about 20 to 20,000 Hz .When dealing

with environmental noise we are rarely interested in sound above 20,000 Hz (ultrasonic

frequencies), whereas we are often interested in frequencies below 20 Hz (infrasonic frequencies).

Humans tend to feel infrasound rather than hear it. Sound in this frequency range can also

contribute to low-frequency noise issues.

Low-frequency noise (generally in the range between 20 and 200 Hz) is an issue worthy of some

consideration as humans are particularly sensitive to noise in this frequency range . The issue of

low-frequency noise is addressed throughout the book.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that as humans age, our hearing generally begins to deteriorate, both

in terms of the frequency and magnitude of the sound we can hear. However, some have recognized

the market potential of this issue. For example, high-pitch tones between 10,000 and 20,000 Hz

have been played at certain locations (e.g. shopping centres) to deter youths from congregating,

whereas adults, with deteriorated hearing, generally cannot hear these higher pitched sounds and

are thus unaware of the noise (some questions remain concerning the safety of such devices).

Another example includes mobile phone ringtones that claim to be audible to students but are

inaudible to the ageing teacher!

The WHO recognise the special place of LFN as an environmental problem suggesting that ‘low-

frequency components in noise may increase the adverse effects considerably. Noise at low

frequencies is considered more annoying by individuals. Moreover, related research has also found

that LFN has a greater degree of ‘unpleasantness’ than noise in the A-weighted frequency bands .

Exposure to LFN also causes sleep disturbance and its associated secondary effects with the WHO

noting that it ‘can disturb rest and sleep even at low-sound levels’. Indeed, the research work of

has demonstrated that LFN seriously impacts on the sleep quality of children.

Moreover,it is shown that adult exposure to low-frequency traffic noise is associated with greater

degrees of fatigue and a negative mood.

found multiple self-reported health effects including disturbance when falling asleep, awakenings,

frequent awareness of the noise, irritation and disturbance when reading

Speech such as a tannoy (tend to try to listen and make out what is being said)

Public announcement systems are common; they are used at sports grounds, bus and rail stations

and at airport departure and arrivals

• Tannoy systems rely on volume rather than quality of communication

• Announcements are often blurred or intelligible

• The best system design utilises a large number of speakers, covering the area for communication

systematically, at low volume

Chiswick Park station neighbour: “We have never complained about train noise ... these we accept

came as a package with the house.... What has driven us mad is the introduction of the loudspeaker

system.

‘Mind the gap’; ‘Please stand behind the yellow line’; 'There are minor disruptions on the District

Line’. All Londoners are familiar with the regular announcements made on the Underground

system. Some provide useful information; none can be avoided while travelling. But what if these

announcements were broadcast into your back garden, or even worse, if you heard them while

inside your own home? 2.2. At open stations, sound can travel out into the surrounding neighbor

hood if it is not properly contained. This sound leakage may become a nuisance, which is

exacerbated at greater volumes and frequencies of announcements and is especially disruptive

when the noise continues late into the night or starts very early in the morning.

A neighbour of Wimbledon Park station questions, “Why did they [the announcements] have to

wake me up, and then be played approximately every 4 minutes. It really is like a psychological

torture – anticipating the next one.”

Intermittent such as sirens and explosives

A sudden noise such quarry blasting is more disturbing than a continuous one and the sirens on

emergency vehicles are meant to catch attention. They often emit sound at levels and frequencies

that are painful to hearing

• They are a constant reminder of the emergency services in action, particularly at night, resulting
in disruption of the local populations’ sleep patterns

• Explosives are generally used for commercial or entertainment use

• The most common use of explosives commercially is in the extraction of ore from quarries

• The use of explosives in the manufacture of fireworks has grown significantly over the last 10

years

The effects of noise i.e. nuisance, stress, loss of sleep, disruption of wildlife

Nuisance

Annoyance response to transportation noise and other sources is considered to be quite a complex

phenomenon. However, it is generally accepted to be the subjective discomfort associated with

environmental noise exposure in humans and can be induced by individual perceptions of

noisiness, disturbance to daily activities or a broadly negative feeling about the surrounding

acoustic environment. One of the main characteristics affecting an individual’s perception of sound

as noise is its loudness or perceived intensity .loudness comprises the intensity and tonal

distribution of sound.

Duration and frequency components of sound as well as the number of sound events involved in

determining annoy+ance. It can be seen then that noise annoyance is subjective and this is

primarily because, physiologically, individuals vary in their sensitivity to noise. It is found that

self-reported sensitivity to noise is the most important variable for predicting ratings of annoyance.

Put another way, different people may be more or less annoyed by the same sound intensity. Thus,

non-acoustic factors such as age, socio-economic characteristics and fear of noise have been found

to play a major role in determining individual reactions to noise in the form of annoyance scores.

The WHO report on the Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise concludes that one in three

individuals in Europe is annoyed during the daytime. It is estimated that around 57 million people

(12% of the population) in 25 EU countries are annoyed by road traffic noise with approximately

24 million (42%) of those being severely annoyed. In addition, rail traffic noise is estimated to

cause annoyance in about 5.5 million people (1% of the European population), 2 million of who

are severely annoyed (den Boer and Schroten, 2007).

Indeed, research studies have shown that individuals annoyed by noise tend to experience a series

of negative emotions including anger, disappointment, unhappiness, withdrawal, distraction,

Thus, environmental noise has negative impacts on a person’s quality of life and often forces

unwanted alterations in the everyday behaviour of individuals.

Examples include preventing residents from using residential areas such as balconies and common

areas due to excessive noise levels as well as the shutting of windows in homes to prevent noise

immission .

Conversation, watching television and listening to the radio are the activities most disturbed by

aircraft noise, while traffic noise is often most disturbing for sleep but similarly affects everyday

behaviour negatively.

Noise and Stress

Noise activates the sympathetic and endocrine system. Changes in stress hormones are frequently

found in acute and chronic noise experiments. Indeed, the results from laboratory studies have

found changes in blood flow, blood pressure (BP) and heart rate in reaction to noise stimuli; they

have also found increases in the release of stress hormones .

starts with noise-induced disturbances of activities such as communication and sleep. More

pragmatically, noise tends to induce stress by disturbing sleep and interfering with relaxation and

concentration as well as other cognitive effects that activate the sympathetic nervous system and

the endocrine system . As a result, can initiate physiological stress reactions which may result in a

number of negative health effects especially as a result of long-term exposure.

Sleep disturbance is considered to be part of the extra-auditory effect of noise. The processing of

auditory information involves a complex network of brain structures. Indeed, it has been

established that individuals can experience autonomic responses to noise at low levels that do not

lead to wakefulness .

As a result, an individual who is sleeping will still respond physiologically to noise stimuli from

the surrounding environment even though the exact extent of the noise sensitivity of each

individual is often dependent on several factors and can vary considerably.

that excessive environmental noise exposure can significantly disturb sleep in the form of

awakenings and in reducing the amount of time an individual spends in the deep sleep stages.

esearch has shown that sleep quality at home is reduced after exposure to traffic noise when
compared to a quiet reference night

Disruption of wildlife:

Noise disrupting the wildlife can be any human sound that alters the behavior of animals or

interferes with their natural functioning. Animals rely on meaningful sounds for communication,

navigation, avoiding danger and finding food against a background of noise. The level of

disturbance may be considered as damage (harming health, reproduction, survivorship, habitat use,

distribution, abundance or genetic distribution) or disturbance (causing a detectable change in

behavior).

Possible disruption to animal communication that would result as human-made noise encroached

on the natural environment. the bat, relying totally on echo location, is unable to find food when

interference is produced by natural or mechanical means." A similar threat would also exist for

marine mammals and others who depend on echo location for finding prey, mates or determining

their migration routes.

Sources of industrial environmental noise:

Transport noise

In urban areas, unwanted sounds (environmental noise) come overwhelmingly from road-based

transportation but rail-based, airport transportation and industrial noise are also important sources.

In the European Union (EU), problems with noise pollution have often been given similar concern

ratings as those for global warming.

Commercial and industrial activities:

- noise from commercial activities, eg, machinery, extraction systems, compressor systems, public

address systems

Some industrial processes are much noisier than others, but it is known that permanent hearing

damage is often found in connection with weaving, ship-building, boiler-making, forging, pressing

and blasting operation

Industrial machinery and processes are composed of various noise sources such as rotors, stators,

gears, fans, vibrating panels, turbulent fluid flow, impact processes, electrical machines, internal

combustion engines etc. The mechanisms of noise generation depend on the particularly noisy

operations and equipment including crushing, riveting, blasting (quarries and mines), shake-out
(foundries), punch presses, drop forges, drilling, lathes, pneumatic equipment (e.g. jack hammers,

chipping hammers, etc.), tumbling barrels, plasma jets, cutting torches, sandblasting, electric

furnaces, boiler making, machine tools for forming, dividing and metal cutting, such as punching,

pressing and shearing, lathes, milling machines and grinders, as well as textile machines, beverage

filling machines and print machines, pumps and compressors, drive units, hand-guided machines,

self-propelled working machines, in-plant conveying systems and transport vehicles. On top of

this there are the information technology devices which are being encountered more and more in

all areas.

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.

Agricultural noise, eg, bird-scarers

Common noise hazards identified included firearms, tractors without cabs, workshop tools, small

motors (e.g., chainsaws, augers, pumps), manual handling of pigs, shearing sheds, older cabbed

tractors, and heavy machinery such as harvesters, bulldozers, and cotton module presses. We found

that use of firearms without hearing protection presents a pressing hearing health priority.

However, farming activities involving machinery used for prolonged periods also present

significant risks to farmers' hearing health.

Noise is an important element of bird scaring, but to be effective it must be part of a multifaceted

‘best practice’ approach. Effective and acceptable bird control measures, including audible bird

scaring devices, are required to avoid personal and community losses.

Construction noise

On construction worksites there are many different noise sources and these sources exhibit many

differing types of noise such as background noise, idling noise, blast noise, impact noise, rotating

noise, intermittent noise, howling, screeches and squeals that need to be controlled. The activities

and job functions at a construction site are constantly changing as the job progresses. For example,

when a new building is being constructed, carpenters may build forms for the cement workers to

then pour the foundation; steel workers may erect steel structures and do welding; then the building
is enclosed by other workers including stucco workers, roofers and brick masons. Once the

building is enclosed, carpenters, ventilation installers, electricians and plumbers begin their work,

followed by drywallers, carpenters, painters and floor and ceiling men.

Each trades use very different equipment to perform their jobs, and therefore, the noise created

may vary. These tasks often overlap, so workers performing jobs that are relatively quiet may be

exposed to noise from the other trades working around them.

Quarrying and mining

In quarries and mines , the noise generation depend on the particularly noisy operations and

equipment including crushing, riveting, blasting, shake-out , punch presses, drop forges, drilling,

lathes, pneumatic equipment (e.g. jack hammers, chipping hammers, etc.), tumbling barrels,

plasma jets, cutting torches, sandblasting, electric furnaces, pumps and compressors, drive units,

hand-guided machines, self-propelled working machines, in-plant conveying systems and

transport vehicles.

• Other sources of noise:

Social events:

- noise from pubs and clubs

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.

Neighbour noise, eg, loud music

Noise from musical instruments and electrically amplified sound equipment (e.g. radios, TVs, CD

and DVD players, and home theatre systems) that can be heard in any habitable rooms of a

neighbouring residence must cease during certain times: midnight to 8am on Friday, Saturday or

any day preceding a public holiday and 10pm to 8am on any other day.

Intruder and vehicle alarms

Intruder alarms are designed to be loud in order to protect property. However, if they are poorly

installed or not adequately maintained, they may trigger unnecessarily, which causes disturbance

to people in the neighbourhood. If an alarm is sounding continuously or repeatedly, then action

Wind farms

The level of sound or noise produced by wind turbines is a contentious issue. at the beginning that

wind turbines do not produce a lot of noise. Close to a turbine the sound level allows conversation

without raising one's voice; in technical terms the sound level is about 55 dB. By contrast, a car

travelling at highway speed generates about 80 dB. (The sound energy in an 80 dB sound is about

300 times as high as in a 55 dB sound.)

Methods for the control of environmental noise

Noise can often be eliminated or reduced by replacing the noisy equipment or process with

different, quieter equipment or process, e.g.

• Diesel/petrol engines replaced by electric motors.

• Pneumatic tools replaced by electric tools.

• Solid wheels replaced by pneumatic rubber tyres.

• Metal chutes, buckets, boxes replaced by rubber or plastic ones.

Planned maintenance, replacement of worn parts and regular oiling can reduce noise and increase

efficiency. Many machines are noisy because of worn parts, poor maintenance, inadequate

lubrication, or being “out of balance”.

Instead of replacing a complete machine or process it may be possible to carry out simple

modification, e.g. plastic or rubber-coated rollers and guides on a conveyor belt may be used for

handling glass or metal components.

These are management decisions on work activities, work rotation and work load to reduce

workers’ exposure to high noise levels. Typical management decisions that reduce worker

exposures to noise are: moving workers away from the noise source; restricting access to areas;

rotating workers performing noisy tasks; restricting the access of vehicles, and shutting down noisy

equipment when not needed

Isolation

In many cases the best method of noise control is to enclose the noise source. Machinery enclosures

must have a heavy noise-reflecting outer skin and a noise-absorbent lining such as mineral fibre.

They should be mounted so that they do not transmit noise and vibrations to the floor.
To be effective, enclosures must be airtight as the smallest gap allows sound to escape and reduces

the attenuation of the noise inside the enclosure. For example, this is a particular problem with

woodworking machines such as saws and planes, where timber is fed in a tone end and comes out

at the other. Such equipment can, however, be fitted with noise reducing feed and delivery tunnels

which should be lined with noise absorption materials and fitted with windows to allow clear

viewing and with adequate lighting.

Absorption and Insulation

Machines are often situated in large acoustically reverberant (echoing) areas which reflect sound

and build up noise levels within the room. Noise levels in adjacent rooms can be reduced

significantly by using sound-absorbing materials on walls and other large surfaces. The absorptive

surfaces reduce the echoing component of the overall sound and consequently the level of noise in

general. As well as possessing absorbent properties, noise screens or enclosures and havens must

be acoustically insulating. It means that they must transmit very little noise and so they tend to be

heavy. The superficial density of the barrier must be high.

The positioning of barriers is important. They should be near the noise source or the noise

receiver. Generally speaking, the least effective place to position a barrier is at an equal distance

from the source and receiver. Barriers can reflect noise away from the receiver as

well as absorbing it.

Damping

Vibration is one of the main causes of noise. The vibrations can be transmitted from the source via

a rigid connection to a variety of sites such as the panels of a machine, floors, walls and tables.

These large surfaces act as sounding boards and increase the level of noise. Simply by isolating

the machine on anti-vibration dampers or rubber mountings may reduce noise levels considerably,

e.g. putting rubber feet around the legs of machines. Other damping techniques include

construction methods using bolts rather than welds and surface coatings or bonding applied to

sheet metal.

Silencing

Certain types of equipment involving the intake or discharge of air or other gases may be fitted

with acoustic silencers, similar to the way in which gun shot sounds or the noise from car exhausts
may be suppressed. These work by absorbing the sound pressure generated by the process at its

source.

Management Controls:

Hours of working:

Most of the work can be done in day time when most of people are out and busy .Working hourse

could be restricted in evening and nights

Contolling Road way noise:

Roadway noise can mitigated in urban planning , roadway design, noise barrier design, speed

control, surface pavement selection and truck restrictions. Options to avoid or minimize noise, say,

through adopting alternative transport such as railway, pedestrian link, cycling path, underground

roads can also be considered at the early planning stage .Speed control is effective since the lowest