Noise is defined as “unwanted sound” and it is India’s most widespread nuisance. It is not a new problem. In the first century BC, Caesar banned chariots in Rome to cut down the deafening sound of chariot wheels on stone roads. Throughout the ages people have complained that they can’t “hear themselves think” due to loud sounds. In India, some people talk of “moving to different locations” to get away from the noise of the city. Loud sound presents a real danger to people’s hearing and general health. In addition to the damage loud sound can have on our ability to hear, it can produce other physical and psychological stress. Although we may seem to become accustomed to sound, our bodies still respond and our hearing capability gradually diminishes. Exposure to loud sound has been linked to: permanent hearing loss resulting in reduced ability to communicate increased adrenaline, high blood pressure and faster heart rate heart and circulatory disease,overall stress on the body ,problems with fetal development and low birth weight, interference with the ,development of language skills ,interference with conversation and social interaction ,diminished work efficiency ,diminished quantity and quality of sleep ,increase in antisocial behavior, extreme emotions and behavior accidents, due to overall stress and due to obscuring audible alarms.
Despite our knowledge that loud sound is damaging to our health, the sound levels in our environments continue to rise. The Acoustical Society of America indicates that since 1950, the volume of loud sound in daily life has doubled every ten years in the entire world. Unfortunately, the damage that sound can inflict on our ears does not depend on whether we like it or not. A concert can be just as damaging as sound from firearms, or sirens, or noisy engines. Also, growing accustomed to loud sound does not diminish its ability to damage our hearing or to cause other physiologic effects.
