Noise Control: How to Deal with Noise Pollution

I don't like too much loudness. I don't' like my environment being too quiet either. Truly, too much of either is bad. But if there are no choices left, I would rather choose to stay in a very peaceful place for two reasons: noise tolerance and health.

Any sound we find unnecessary and disturbs our activity is called noise. You don't need to be an expert to measure the decibels, as long as you find it too hard to endure, it is noise. Too much noise is dangerous to our health. It may lead to annoyance, disturbances and anger that may further lead to more serious physiological and psychological complications. You may even lose one of the important senses of your body - hearing. And you don't want that to happen.

Noise is a unique type of pollution. Unlike water and air pollution, where we deal with physical particulate matter, with noise pollution, we encounter interfering waves as contaminant to the natural waves in the environment instead. The causes of noise, human activities and technology, are also the answer to the problem. Human themselves can regulate their activities and can use technology to mitigate noise. In order to protect our health and to live in comfort, we need to reduce the negative impact of noise pollution to our daily lives, thus, the first best thing to do is to learn on how to control and deal with it.

Noise Control Starts with You

Mitigating noise starts with you. You don't have to shout when unnecessary. Softer-voice communication must be practiced first at home as this will be carry over to the neighborhood and eventually to the larger picture of the community.

You can control your activities as well particularly in operating any sound emitting devices. A good example for this is using loudspeakers when listening to music. If there are no good reasons, like you have a party going on, then be considerate with your neighbor. Always follow the golden rule "if you do not want others to do it unto you, then do not do it to them."

Noise Control: Provide No Entry!

We cannot avoid noise pollution but there are some simple ways to reduce the entry of noise in our houses that include:

Turn-off appliances - if you're no longer using your television or radio or any electronic devices, you can switch it off. There are people who are too lazy or just forgetful to do it. This cut your electricity cost too.

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Appliances should be located away from your resting area - to avoid disturbance during your relaxation or sleeping hours, place your devices away or put sound barriers like insulated walls or doors.
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Check for holes - if air can pass through, noise can surely too.
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Add insulation materials - you can choose several types of absorbing materials that will reduce transmission of noise. Examples of these are: double-paned windows, solid core doors, carpets, etc.
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Maintenance of equipment - particularly if you have a vehicle, regular check-up is recommended to know the health of your equipment (do you need to lubricate now? Does it need service or tuning?). Loose parts create noise. This will lengthen the life of your things too.

Abide by the Rules for Noise Control

Laws and ordinances for noise pollution differ among countries. There can be an ordinance that generally prohibits generation of nuisance noise. Or there can be specific regulations that allow certain of level of noise at a specific time and activity. Also, there are certain standards that need to be followed for building codes, development of roadways, highways and aircrafts, and urban planning.

A person can file a complaint against the cause of excessive noise whether by an operation or an individual per se; however, many are still unaware about their legal right to do so. Another consideration is the fact that it is expensive to bring the case in the court.

Fight Stress

Be positive

Don't be in despair when you can not fully get rid of noise. Having a good outlook in life will prevent stress to power over your life and you can actually deal with noise then.

Healthy lifestyle

As you will be experiencing stress cause by these irritating sounds, you can do some mediation and relaxation exercises to calm your senses. Coupled with a good and balanced diet, you will gain high resistance to fight stress.

Sound Spa

There is a good alternative in converting this stress-causing sound in to a relaxing and blissful one.

Ever heard of a white noise machine? It is a simple yet very useful device for noise control that will mask stressful environmental noises and will produce sounds that are pleasant to our ears. This machine is already available in the market.

Each of us contributes to the accumulation of noise. Noise pollution can cause serious and adverse effects to humans, animals and the environment. Unfortunately, less attention is given to it as compared with air and water pollution. As much as we are campaigning against these two types of pollutions, isn't it time that we give an equal interest to noise pollution as well?