Sources Of Noise And To Determine The Level Of Noise Pollution

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Acoustics (Greek Akousin, “to hear”). Term sometimes used for the science of sound in general. It is more commonly used for the special branch of that science architectural acoustics that deals with the construction of enclosed area so as to enhance the hearing of speech or music.

For the treatment of acoustics as a branch of the pure science of physics, the acoustics of buildings was an undeveloped aspect of the study of noise until comparatively recent times. The Roman architect Marcus pollio, who lived during the first century BC made some pertinent observations on the subject and some astitute guesses concerning reverberation and interference. The scientific aspects of this subject, however, were first brought treated by the American physicist. Joseph Henry in 1856 and more fully developed by the American physicist Wallace Sabine in 1900.

Here, noise is the sensation produced by a certain range of rapid fluctuations of air pressure affecting the air mechanism. Vibrations from a source of noise excite a similar movement into the molecules of air, which result in a series of rules of increased pressure moving outwards from the original spruce. These vibrations can be transmitted not only through air, but also through elastic medium including the materials that make up the building fabrics.

Actually, for many decades, there have been much negligence of noise insulation in buildings; therefore the benefits accompanied with it could not be achieved. It is certain that man spend most of his time in the buildings and partly for outdoor activities. Lack of noise insulation in building is a nuisance to the occupants because noise can easily transmit from one room to the other or from part of the building to the other part.

One of the most researched subject a signal processing and acoustics is active noise control. This system uses sensors, micro phones and digital signal processing boards to create the antinoise of a sound. The system can create the anti-noise by manipulating the error signal with the adaptive fitters of the digital signal processor, thereby compensating in any change in the plant of the system model.

The perception of noises in day-to-day life is of major importance for human well-being. Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport, and propagation systems.[Senate Public Works Committee, 92nd Congress], Poor urban planning may give rise to noise disintegration or pollution, side-by-side industrial and residential buildings can result in noise pollution in the residential areas. Some of the main sources of noise in residential areas include loud music, transportation (traffic, rail, airplanes, etc.), lawn care maintenance, construction, electrical generators, wind turbines, explosions, and people. [Hogan CM, Latshaw GL, 2017] Communication through speech, sounds from playing children, music, and natural sounds in parklands, parks and gardens are all examples of sounds essential for satisfaction in everyday life. Atmospheric pollution is not the only type of contamination that is harming living beings on the planet. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2019), it is one of the most dangerous environmental threats to health. Drivers honking the horn, groups of workers drilling the road surface, aircraft flying over us in the sky are sources of noise. Cities have become the epicenter of a type of pollution, acoustics, which, although its invisibility and the fact that Corona-Virus crisis reduced it until almost yearn it, is severely damaging to human beings. And according to the European Environment Agency (EEA), noise is responsible for 16,600 premature deaths and more than 72,000 hospitalizations every year in Europe alone. Not only does it hurt humans, it is bad for animals, too. According to the National Park Service (NPS) in the United States, noise pollution has an enormous environmental impact and does serious damage to wildlife. Experts say noise pollution can interfere with breeding cycles and rearing and is even hastening the extinction of some species.

Documented problems associated with noise in urban environments go back as far as ancient Rome. Goines L, Hagler L (2007).  Today, the average noise level of 98 decibels (dB) exceeds the World Health Organization [WHO] value of 50 dB allowed for residential areas.Menkiti NU, Agunwamba JC (2015).  Research suggests that noise pollution in the Nigeria is the highest in low-income and racial minority neighborhoods, and noise pollution associated with household electricity generators is an emerging environmental degradation in many developing nations. 

High noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects in humans and an increased incidence of coronary artery disease. In animals, noise can increase the risk of death by altering predator or prey detection and avoidance, interfere with reproduction and navigation, and contribute to permanent hearing loss. A substantial amount of the noise that humans produce occurs in the ocean. Up until recently, most research on noise impacts has been focused on marine mammals, and to a lesser degree, fish.Codarin A, Wysocki LE, Ladich F, Picciulin M, [2009]. In the past few years, scientists have shifted to conducting studies on invertebrates and their responses to anthropogenic sounds in the marine environment. This research is essential, especially considering that invertebrates make up 75% of marine species, and thus compose a large percentage of ocean food webs. Of the studies that have been conducted, a sizable variety in families of invertebrates has been represented in the research. A variation in the complexity of their sensory systems exists, which allows scientists to study a range of characteristics and develop a better understanding of anthropogenic noise impacts on living organisms.

What is noise? Not all sound is considered as noise pollution. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2019) defines noise above 65 decibels (dB) as noise pollution. To be precise, noise becomes harmful when it exceeds 75 decibels (dB) and is painful above 120 dB. As a consequence, it is recommended noise levels be kept below 65 dB during the day and indicates that restful sleep is impossible with nighttime ambient noise levels in excess of 30 dB. From the above identification of what noise is all about it is important to define sound.  Sound, a normal feature of our life, is the means of communication and entertainment in most animals, including human beings. It is also a very effective alarm system. Some of the major source of noise includes

• Industrial Source

• Transportation Vehicles

• Household

• Public Address Systems

• Agricultural Machines

• Defense Equipment.

but to mention a few. In summary noise pollution is ahazardous to human life, its effect can reduce the efficiency, productivity, and can make one restless. Therefore it is necessary to investigate  source of noise pollution and the ways of remedying the situation.     

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Noise is generally harmful and a serious health hazard. It has far-reaching consequences and has many physical, physiological as well as psychological effects on human beings.  The physical manifestation of noise pollution is the effect on hearing ability. Repeated exposure to noise may result in temporary or permanent shifting of the hearing threshold of a person depending upon the level and duration of exposure. The immediate and acute effect of noise pollution is impairment of hearing (i.e. total deafness.)  Human ears have sensory cells for hearing. If these cells are subjected to repeated sounds of high intensity before they have an opportunity to recover fully, they can become permanently damaged leading to impairment of hearing. Besides the sensory cells, the delicate tympanic membrane or the ear drum can also be permanently damaged by a sudden loud noise such as an explosion. 

The physiological manifestations of noise pollution are several as mentioned below: 

(a) Headache by dilating blood vessels of the brain, Increase in the rate of heart-beat. Narrowing of arteries, Fluctuations in the arterial blood pressure by increasing the level of cholesterol in the blood, Decrease in heart output, Pain in the heart, Digestive spasms through anxiety and dilation of the pupil of the eye, thereby causing eye-strain, Impairment of night vision, Decrease in the rate of colour perception, Lowering of concentration and affect on memory, Muscular strain and nervous breakdown. 

The psychological manifestations of noise pollution are: Depression and fatigue which considerably reduces the efficiency of a person, Insomnia as a result of lack of undisturbed and refreshing sleep, Straining of senses and annoyance as a result of slow but persistent noise from motorcycles, alarm clocks, call bells, telephone rings etc,  Affecting of psychomotor performance of a person by a sudden loud sound and Emotional disturbance.

Considering the danger of noise pollution to human beings,  much attention were paid to treatment of acoustics as a branch of the pure science of physics, but the acoustics of buildings was an undeveloped aspect of the study of noise pollution until comparatively recent times, the researcher resolved to seek to know the source, and remedy to noise pollution for betterment of our society.   

1.3. Area of Concentration.

The area of concentration of this research work is noise mapping.  A Noise Map is a map of an area which is coloured according to the noise levels in the area. Sometimes, the noise levels may be shown by contour lines which show the boundaries between different noise levels in an area. 

The noise levels over an area of study will be varying all the time. For example, noise levels may rise as a vehicle approaches, and reduce again after it has passed. This would cause a short-term variations in noise level. In the slightly longer term, noise levels may be higher in peak periods when the roads are busy, and lower in off-peak periods. Then again, there is a greater volume of activity from more people and traffic in the day-time than in the evening or at night withinthe study area.  This means that it is not possible to say with confidence what the noise level will be at any particular point at any instant in time, but where the noise sources are well-defined, such as road, buying and selling points, population of individuals within the area of research etc, which is the condition of source of noise pollution within the study area.

1.4 Aim of Study

The aim of this study is to investigate the sources of noise and to determine the level of noise pollution affects within the area of study and how to minimize noise Noise pollution within the area of study.

Specifically, the objectives of this research are:

1. To Evaluation the source of noise pollution within Rumuokoro in Obio-AkporLocalGovernmentArea,RiversState.

2. to determine the time of the day when noise becomes a pollution in Rumuokoro in Obio-AkporLocalGovernmentArea,RiversState,

3. To examine the level of noise pollution in noise map in Rumuokoro inObio-AkporLocalGovernmentArea,RiversState.

4. To determine the effects of noise pollution to residents in Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area,  Rivers State.

1.5 Research Question 

With the great importance of the research, the following questions where put up to enable the researcher to ascertain the objective of the study.

1. What is the source of noise pollution within Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State.

2. In what time of the day could noise becomes a pollution within Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State,

3. What could be used to determine the level of noise pollution in noise mapping within Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State.

4. What is the consequences of effects of noise pollution to residents within Rumuokoro in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State.

1.6 Significance of Study

Community members need to understand that exposure to noise contributes to both short and long term health consequences. Hence the implementation of the recommendations of this study might help in the reduction of noise pollution through public education on noise control and safety practices. In generating public awareness campaigns and will understand the implications of environmental noise on health of individuals operating within the terminus, as such this might motivate them to participate in noise control initiatives. Consequently, this might help decrease the prevalence of the noise-related health risks in the population.

Furthermore, there is a need to develop interventions towards noise control as such baseline estimates on noise levels obtained from this study can be used in developing intervention measures. City planners and managers will be aware on sources of noise pollution hence come up with more control measures. The study will add knowledge on environmental noise and its health effects which might assist key stakeholders such as; central government, National Environmental Management Authority, Rivers state government in establishing more practical legislative measures and programs to control noise pollution. 

The study will also benefit future researchers, scholars, and academicians wishing to study environmental noise in related issues.

1.7 Scope of Study

The study was carried out within Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, Rivers State, Nigeria. The study tailored on the effect of noise pollution in our society, the source and the remedy, using radio and television house  as a case study.  

1.8 The limitation of the Study

in the study, the control of noise pollution and sound insulation in buildings, the researcher encountered some difficulties in the course of carrying out this research work, notable among them include:

The non-cooperation nature of many respondents, thinking that the researcher has something else to do with the information given other than for academic purpose.

Owing to time frame given for this study, it was not easy for the researcher to bring the work to the best standard.

Financial constraints also contributed immensely to limit the extent to which data are collected.

1.9 Definition of Term

NOISE:This is said to be an unwanted or undesired sound. Noise in physics is an acoustic, electric, or electronic signal consisting of a random mixture of wavelength.

NOISE MAPPING:A Noise Map is a map of an area which is coloured according to the noise levels in the area.

SOUND: Sound is a form, of energy emitted by a vibrating body and on reaching the ear, it causes the sensation of hearing through nerves.

DECIBEL: This is the measurement unit of sound, represented by DB

ACOUSTICS: Acoustics (Greek akouein, “to hear”), term sometimes used for the science of sound in general. It is commonly used for the special branch of that science, architectural acoustics, that deals with the construction of enclosed areas so as to enhance the hearing of speech or music.

EAR: This is the organ of hearing and balance. Only vertebrates or animals with backbones have ears