All the noise around us from that busy city street, regular construction, non-stop honking, or overhead planes are invisibly harming our health. In fact, the European Environment Agency links around 12,000 premature deaths and 48,000 heart disease cases to noise. This issue needs to be addressed and solved. Thus, in this blog, we’ll discuss ways to reduce noise pollution.
Ways to Reduce Noise Pollution
You can lower noise through soundproofing options like carpets and wall coverings that absorb and soften sounds. If we are exposed to sound levels over 100 dB, it can lead to permanent hearing loss.
Before we discuss the tips in detail, let us go through the primary causes of noise pollution:
- Industrialization: The use of heavy machinery including generators, mills, and large exhaust fans.
- Vehicles: The rapidly growing number of vehicles on the roads is another cause.
- Events: Weddings and public gatherings are notorious for using loudspeakers for music.
- Construction sites: Activities like mining and building construction also add to this pollution.
Now that you are aware of the causes, let’s shift our focus on the effective ways to reduce it.
1. Ways to Keep Your Home Noise-Free
Apart from being bothersome, excessive noise can lead to tiredness, hearing loss, and mental health issues. To minimize your surroundings’ noise, try to keep both indoor and outdoor machine sounds controlled.
a) Use Soundproofing Measures: Choose affordable options like carpets, wall coverings, hanging blankets, acoustic foam panels, bookcases filled with books, shag, or flokati rugs.
Also, check out Sustainable Thermal and Sound Proofing Solution
b) Place Noisy Machines Away From Your Bedroom and Living Areas: Try minimizing machine usage to reduce noise. Try turning off the AC and opening your windows.
c) Practice Meditation to Cope With Noise: You need to sit still, close your eyes, and focus on deep breaths. Take 10 breaths, let go of worries, and ignore the surrounding sound.
d) Utilize Earplugs and Noise-Canceling Headphones: Earplugs are cost-effective but noise-canceling headphones are a bit expensive but are worth the peaceful and quiet ambiance they create.
e) Close the Windows and Doors: This prevents annoying sounds from entering your home. To contain noise, you can open windows during quieter times (like evening) and then run loud appliances in separate rooms.
f) Put Up a Fence: By installing a fence, you create a barrier that absorbs these waves. It helps to reduce noise around your office or home.
g) Minimize Noise from Electronic Devices: When you are not using electrical devices, you should always turn them off. When using, try a moderate volume setting and add padding underneath noisy appliances.
h) Reduce Noise in Machinery with Absorbents and Regular Lubrication: The latter decreases friction between movable parts which helps in effective noise reduction.
i) Use Canceling or Masking Techniques: You can counter unwanted sounds using calming sounds like wind chimes or fans, and white noise machines.
J) Use a Sound Camera to Detect Noise Leaks: The camera helps detect air leaks in doors, windows, and facades. It identifies the noise source and thus makes fixing the problem more easy.
K) Live in Quiet Areas to Reduce Noise: Moving away from noisy places like industrial districts, airports, train stations, and major highways can significantly lower noise levels.
2. Ways to Reduce Noise Pollution in Office
Corporate offices are also not free from noise, especially those with open-concept spaces where you need to work closely without much separation. If you are facing this issue, here are some tips:
a) Include Plants: They can absorb sound and thus are useful for reducing noise in homes and businesses. Ferns, fiddle-leaf figs, and palms are some of these popular plants.
b) Purchase Sound Absorption Tiles or Panels: You can try foam panels or mineral wool for soundproofing. You can use them in quiet spaces to reduce incoming sound and in noisy areas to contain the noise.
c) Provide High-Quality Audio Equipment: If you aren’t able to invest in facility-based noise management, you can provide your team with noise-canceling earbuds, headsets, and noise-buffering microphones.
d) Move Materials Around: If you’re not ready to make new design choices, use what’s already there. Move more smooth surfaces (like acrylic, plastic, glass, mirrors, smooth metal) to noisy areas, as these items reflect sound. In areas you want to keep quiet and calm, incorporate fabric.
e) Use Noise to Manage Noise: In some cases, you can counter noise with ambient sounds such as binaural beats, nature recordings, coffee shop ambiance, or light jazz.
f) Create Loud Zones and Quiet Zones: For different activities, you can create distinct zones in the office and move the meeting space to an office space with sound absorption panels.
g) Install Movable Walls: These versatile walls offer exceptional sound absorption and are thus great for open office space. These panels, usually 6 to 10 feet tall, come with sliding discs or wheels, making them easy to move.
h) Choose Office Furniture for Noise Control: You can replace your old office furniture with sound-absorbing chairs and sound-proofed desks to combat noise pollution.
i) Explore Portable Pods or Booths for Soundproofing: They can help contain noise and make a quieter work area. They are available in different sizes and can be used as meeting corners.
j) Put Baffles in Your Ceilings: Although these ceiling panels are costly and require a bit more effort to install, they are a great long-term solution for minimizing low-impact noise.
k) Think About Sound-Friendly Flooring: Opt for bamboo or rubber as it can improve the acoustics in your space. If you prefer laminate flooring or tile, install absorption padding underneath the floor.
l) Relocate to a Building with Improved Acoustics: When your current office lease ends, consider moving to a new office space with better acoustics. As it may be expensive, plan wisely.
3. Ways to Manage Noise Pollution in School
As per the World Health Organization, the noise level in a classroom should be under 35 decibels for optimal learning conditions. However, many classrooms today are much louder. Teachers can use the following ways to minimize the impact of noise pollution in school:
a) Silence Machines and Devices: Schools should pay attention to noise levels and prioritize features that allow for easy muting of notifications and other sounds.
b) Use Microphones: For effective learning, students require instruction to be amplified 15-20 decibels louder than background noise. A microphone can make the teacher’s voice stand out amidst other classroom noise.
c) Enhance Classroom Acoustics: You can do so by adding rugs, curtains, and soft materials to walls.
d) Utilize Apps: They can help manage classroom noise levels with various visual displays like stoplights and smiley faces. There are a variety of paid and free apps for this purpose.
e) Distribute Headsets: Good quality headsets provide clearer audio and also feature soft foam padded ear pads that create noise isolation.
Also See: How to Produce Electricity from Sound at Home
4. Ways to Reduce Noise Pollution Caused by Vehicles on Road
City streets see all types of noise. Here’s how to control noise pollution on roads in cities caused by cars:
a) Avoid Honking Your Car Horn Without Reason: Only use your horn, when necessary, like to prevent a crash or alert someone of your presence.
b) Use Electric Vehicles: These vehicles are eco-friendly and quieter. They help decrease sound pollution and carbon emissions.
c) Maintain Your Car Well: The noise from a car without a muffler making its way down the street is never pleasant. Promptly fixing any issues with your car makes sure you’re not the cause of noise pollution in your neighborhood.
d) Put Noise Barriers or Sound walls: They help block high-intensity traffic noise. Initially, they were tested in the 1960s but gained popularity in the 1970s due to environmental laws.
e) Reduce Speed Limits: Faster speeds result in more noise. Therefore, many policies aiming to lower sound pollution (and enhance road safety) involve modifying infrastructures to lower speed limits.
f) Do Roadside Vegetation: They may appear simple but are highly effective in reducing traffic noise.
g) Use High-Tech Bikes: They have automated docks and digitized features, such as photovoltaic cells that charge with solar panels. Also, these bikes are silent.
Also See: Are Hybrid Bikes Electric?
h) Loud Vehicle Detection (LVD): Initially, it identifies anomalies, pinpointing areas in the city with sound levels higher than the average. This data can then be used to make physical changes to those areas, reducing traffic noise.
i) Use Sound Activated Enforcement: It is gaining popularity in large cities due to its proven effectiveness. Often called the muffler camera, a sound camera shows which vehicle is causing noise pollution and imposes consequences.
The sound sensor detects noise, and the smart camera activates only when the noise level for that specific EU-type approval number is surpassed. This helps decrease traffic noise, especially from vehicles with customized exhausts or noisy tires.
5. Ways to Help Your Community Stay Quiet
By following the tips discussed below, you can help your community ward off sound pollution:
a) Lower the Volume of Your Music: Keep the noise within your home. If you tend to play loud instruments, practice during reasonable times, and inform your neighbors beforehand to avoid conflicts.
b) Be Considerate During Quiet Hours at Night: Refrain from vacuuming or doing housework late at night, as your neighbors can hear you moving around.
c) Look Up the Noise Pollution Laws in Your Area: To find the regulations in your area, you can check with your state’s Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs. As a community member, make sure people follow these laws.
Cross-Reference: Noise Code Guide Summary
d) Raise Your Voice Against Allowing Loud Motors Near Your Home: Consult your city council to address nighttime restrictions on noisy motors. In smaller communities, you can discuss with your neighbors.
e) Join a Community Tree-Planting Project: If your area lacks large trees, start planting them along streets and between homes and noisy highways. Places with more trees are quieter because big, leafy trees can absorb noise.
Effects of Noise Pollution
There are many repercussions of sound pollution, some common ones are mentioned below:
- Hypertension: Prolonged exposure to noise pollution can lead to higher blood pressure levels.
- Hearing loss: You can suffer from hearing loss due to continuous exposure to loud noises. These sounds surpass a normal ear’s tolerance and can damage the eardrums.
- Sleeping disorders: Noise can disrupt sleep cycles, leading to irritation and discomfort. Lack of sleep results in fatigue and low energy levels throughout the day.
- Cardiovascular issues: Normal people and those with heart-related problems can experience an increase in stress and cardiovascular diseases due to extreme sound levels.
- Impacts pets and other Animals: Loud noises can also impact pets and other animals. They become more aggressive if left exposed to such noise for a long time.
- Threat to Marine life: Human-made sources can harm marine life by causing a fatal condition known as ‘the Bends.’ This poses a long-term threat to aquatic species like dolphins, whales, fish, and others.
In conclusion, it’s not that hard to ward off unwanted noise. By regulating noise creating activities, using sound absorbers, and promoting awareness at different levels, we can create more a peaceful and quiet environment. For more informative tips and blogs, keep coming back!
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