5 minutes

Reflections on the effects of noise on health

Dr..

Kamal Abdul Malik

May 20 2022

Those of us who live in big cities will find noise pollution more than just a nuisance.

It's a health hazard, planes piercing the stillness of the night, a calm that retreats tactically before the encroaching sounds of air conditioners, then raises the white flag and surrenders like a prisoner of war to loud music, construction equipment, street traffic, dogs barking, and sirens.

In the history of human groups, the noise and loud sounds were associated with seasonal celebrations, and rites of passage, such as birth, marriage and death. In the jungles of Africa, drums beat strongly during the funeral of the dead, because people believed that they expelled evil spirits that came to harm them in moments of brokenness and grief for the dead.

In the advanced Western societies (and some of our Arab societies) 21 bullets are fired at the military funeral for the funeral of dignitaries.

Is there a relationship, do you think, between drum beats and cannon shots in this case?

Is there a common motive among humans in their innate responses to death?

I was born in the Egyptian countryside in a small town called “Bella”, and I grew up and received my education in the city of Alexandria, then I moved to the city of Montreal in Canada, where I obtained a doctorate, and in recent years I moved to teach in the UAE, and now I am doing research at Harvard University in a medium-sized city It is called Cambridge.

The difference between rural life and urban life lay in the sources and proportion of noise.

From my childhood in the Egyptian countryside, I only remember the sounds of nature, especially the sound of the curlew and the chirping of birds (as well as the beautiful voice of Abla Nazik - may God have mercy on her - my teacher is in her first year of primary school), and in Alexandria I was shocked by the high rate of noise of cars, trains, and sometimes planes.

Of course, this does not mean that all cities are characterized by loud noises, and suffer from the same level of noise pollution. Cairo, Delhi and New York have a very high rate compared to the sleepy city of Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and its quietest cities.

Noise can be measured in physical ways, expressed in decibel units, for example, the average person's speech is estimated from 50 to 60 decibels, and the noise caused by a car horn, for example, is equal to 100 decibels.

The movement of objects and the rustling of clothes may reach 20 decibels.

However, noises of intensity greater than 30 cause psychological disturbances, and noises of between 60 and 90 cause psychological and nervous problems, and hearing defects.

As for noises that are more than 120, they have a direct effect on the cells of the nerve block inside the ear.

For half a century, US agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency have considered noise pollution an "increasing risk to the health and well-being of the nation's population."

The European Environment Agency has stated that noise is second only to air pollution, with environmental exposures being the most harmful to public health, however, in sectors from government regulation to healthcare practices, the threats posed by noise remain "often underappreciated". According to the International Committee on the Biological Effects of Noise.

Researchers and clinicians, especially here at Harvard, are trying to change this.

They show that noise pollution not only leads to hearing loss, tinnitus and hypersensitivity to sound, but can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, sleep disturbances, stress, mental health and cognitive problems, including These include poor memory and attention deficit, learning delays in childhood, and low birth weight.

Scientists are investigating other possible links, including dementia.

It is estimated that chronic exposure to noise contributes to 48,000 new cases of heart disease in Europe each year and disrupts the sleep of 6.5 million people.

However, determining the contribution of noise pollution to health problems in our communities remains a challenge, we need to continue measuring the proportion of noise pollution and continuous monitoring, and the adoption of personal noise mitigation strategies and stress reduction techniques.

* Visiting scholar at Harvard University 

To read the previous articles of the writer please click on its name.