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Asia Noise News

Noise, Nuisance or Danger

As an introduction to this question some basic facts about noise.

Basic noise facts

Noise is typically defined as ‘unwanted sound’. The unit for sound is the Decibel which is a value calculated with logarithms from the pressure to get a scale from 0 to 120 dB where 0 dB is the hearing threshold for a young person with healthy hearing and 120 dB is the pain threshold.

We can state that noise is a type of energy created by vibrations. When an object vibrates it causes moment in air particles. The particles will bump into each other and will generate sound waves, they are ongoing until they run out of energy.

High and low tones are perceived by our hearing due to fast and slow vibrations.

Sound needs a medium to travel and the speed of sound is around 340 meter per second. Examples of typical noise levels:

Due to the nature of the calculation of Decibels we cannot just add them together.

Examples:

3 dB + 3 dB = 6 dB

But…..

10 dB + 10 dB is not 20 dB but 13 dB

The Decibel (sound pressure level) for sound in air is relative to 20 micro pascals (μPa) = 2×10−5 Pa, the quietest sound a human can hear.

The human hearing system

The human hearing system is capable of hearing sounds between 20 Hz and 20000 Hz. Below 20 Hz is called infra sound and above 20000 Hz is called ultrasounds. Both infra- and ultrasound is not audible for us. Elephants however can hear frequencies as low as 14 Hz and bats can hear frequencies up to 80000 Hz.

A special noise weighting for the human perception has been introduced in the 1930’s and called the A-weighted Decibel, dB(A). This was introduced to align the noise levels with the sensitivity and physical shape of the human hearing system.

Basic human hearing system

When sound waves enter the ear, they travel up the ear canal and hit the ear drum, the ear drum will vibrate and the three smallest bones in the human body will transfer these vibrations to the fluid in our inner ear’s sensory organ the cochlea. The sensory hair cells will vibrate which will send nerve impulses to the brain, the brain will translate these impulses for us and we perceive sound!

Dangers of noise

Noise from certain music can be a very pleasurable sound for one person and a horrific noise for another. From this fact we can see that noise is not only an absolute value but also strongly depending on the receiver’s mindset.

However, there are some clear absolute values concerning the danger levels of noise.

  • Generally accepted as safe is spending 8 hours per day in an environment not exceeding 80 dB(A)
  • NOT safe would be to spend 1 hour in a disco with levels at 100 dB(A) which are easily exceed nowadays

Apart from the obvious hearing loss there are many other issues that can arise from exposure to (too) high noise levels such as:

  • Hypertension
  • Heart disease
  • Annoyance – stress
  • Immune system – psychosomatic

The positive side to remember is that Noise Induced hearing loss is 100% preventable!!

Worldwide solutions

Governments (especially in Europe) know the actual cost of high noise exposure and they concluded that protecting their citizens from high noise exposure (during working hours, recreation as well as during sleep) is far more effective than dealing with the costs of citizens enduring high noise related illnesses, demotivation, sleep disturbance etc.

They are investing in quiet schools (optimal learning environment), quiet hospitals (patients recover a lot faster in quiet wards), implement city planning to create quite zones.

Of course, they also have strong noise regulations that are being enforced.

Acoustical societies worldwide help to create awareness and leverage noise legislations with governments.

Noise in Asia

I have been living in Asia for the last 15 years and of course I noticed it’s noisy. Noise regulations (if exist at all) are very lenient and mostly not enforced. I’m very happy to see that Acoustical Societies are coming up in Asian countries and can convince governments to invest in setting up proper noise regulations and enforcing them. I’m very happy to be able to contribute to a quieter world by creating more awareness for the dangers of noise!

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Asia Noise News

Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Risk of hearing loss increasing: experts

Increasing exposure to damaging sound levels in recreational areas and the unsafe use of personal audio devices are putting Cambodians, especially teenagers and young adults, at a high risk of hearing loss, health experts said yesterday.

In a statement issued on Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that at least 1.1 billion teenagers and young adults globally are susceptible to hearing loss due to growing exposure to recreational noise.

Nearly 50 per cent of teenagers and young adults aged 12-35 years are prone to hazardous levels of sound from improper personal audio device use while 40 per cent are vulnerable to potentially harmful levels of sound at entertainment venues, according to a recent WHO analysis of data from middle- and high-income countries.

Although low-income countries weren’t included in the study due to a lack of data, Dr Shelly Chadha, WHO’s prevention of deafness and hearing loss technical officer in the Geneva headquarters, said that the threat is “very real” within the general Cambodian population.

“Cambodia is seeing the same trends with regards to recreational noise so the risks are present there too,” Chadha said.

In the National Institute of Statistics’ most recent Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey, 4,155 Cambodians had hearing disabilities.

NGO Deaf Development Programme (DDP) director Charlie Dittmeier, however, said the current number is much higher, with 51,000 profoundly deaf and half a million hard-of-hearing people in the Kingdom.

“Cambodia is a very noisy culture, which is evident through the wall of speakers present at most weddings, funerals and advertisements in the streets,” said Dittmeier. “Due to these factors and people playing their music really loud, the problem is only getting worse.”

Under the 2014 Disability Rights Initiative Cambodia, the government is planning to initiate some programs targeting hearing loss prevention and increasing hearing impaired people’s access to health and rehabilitation services.

The government also plans to take over the deaf school operated by NGO Krousar Thmey in 2020 and is working with DDP to develop a hybrid Khmer-American sign language, Dittmeier added.

But to further combat the problem and lessen risks, Chadha recommended that the government focus on prevention.

“Prevention, after all, is easier and cheaper than cures.”

Source: http://www.phnompenhpost.com

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Asia Noise News

Malaysia police stop Sunday service over complaints of “Noise”

PETALING JAYA – Policemen stopped a Sunday service at a church which mostly catered to Indonesians in Kajang after they received complaints from the public about the “noise”.

However, the service was allowed to continue after the policemen told the pastor Nelson Sembiling that they would return with the letters of complaints.

Sembiling, who is from Indonesia, said two policemen came 10 minutes after he started delivering his sermon.

“They said they had received complaints about the noise. I asked them if I could finish delivering my sermon first.

“They said I had to stop the service immediately or they would call their superiors. I told them to go ahead,” he added.

The officers then told him that he was allowed to continue with his service, but they would come back with the letters of complaints.

“This is the first time I have been stopped while delivering a sermon,” Sembiling said in an interview yesterday.

He said he then alerted National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) executive secretary Alfred Tais.

Sembiling said he had no plans to lodge a police report.

He said the church had been located at a different place in Kajang for the past four years until it moved to its present location near the Kajang bus station in September.

The church is attended by Indonesian Christians living and working in the area.

MCA religious harmony bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker said the church could take legal action if there was any element of trespass or breach of authority by the police.

“We have to know if the action was justified,” he said.

Ti said Malaysians accepted the practices of different faiths as long as they did not deviate from social norms.

Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming, whose constituency covers the current location of the church, said the matter should have been handled by the local authorities, not the police.

Kajang OCPD Asst Comm Abdul Rashid Abdul Wahab said police did not disrupt the service.

“We acted based on a noise complaint and sent two policemen to find out more about the situation. The officers spoke to the person in charge there and were told it was a religious service,” he said, adding that the policemen then left.

 

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Asia Noise News

The Need for Noise-Control

The Need for Noise-Control

Health and safety is often thought of in terms of rogue sharp edges, hazardous walkways, stairway bannisters, or ensure the nuts and bolts of the company are all safe and sound and where they need to be. However, there is one aspect of health and safety that is seldom thought about, and which can’t be seen but is in many ways just as high-risk as any aspect of the workplace, perhaps even more so when spread over many years or decades, and that is: noise control.

The dangers of exposure to high levels of noise are well-founded, but the causes are often thought to be every day and individual things such as attending concerts, listening to MP3 players on a high volume, or not protecting your eyes when riding a loud motorcycle or working with tools; activities that are down to the individual. However, this isn’t always the case, with many workplaces producing dangerous levels of noise that can have a serious effect on a company’s performance and the health of its employees.

Dangers

Loss of Hearing

The most common side effect of exposure to loud noise is loss of hearing, especially if subjected to the noise for many years. The worrying aspect of losing one’s hearing is that it can never be retrieved, once it’s gone, it’s gone. Though technological advancements improve people’s hearing, these are troublesome and can be expensive. It is an employer’s duty to protect the health of his or her employees, and this includes ensuring their ears are protected from long-term damage.

Anger

A workplace exposed to high levels of noise is unlikely to be a happy workplace. This is because humans have a low tolerance for loud noises, and the exposure to such can place a psychological stress on the employee that can cause unhappiness and aggression between colleagues. If your employees are showing signs of aggression without any identifiable cause, it’s worth considering whether the audio and visual style of your workplace is to blame. If so, all that is needed is a simple alteration to have your employees happy and healthy once more.

Alarm Bells

One of the more immediately threatening aspects of having a noisy workplace is that it could prevent employees from hearing alarms, fire or otherwise, or prevent them from hearing the shouts of warning from others. While it might seem difficult to minimize noise in an industrial workplace, there are steps you can take to reduce noise levels. And, as these workplaces are usually the ones that have the most dangerous equipment, ensuring your employees can hear one another is of paramount importance, especially since the consequences could be so tragic.

Concentration

Equally, in workplaces that have hazardous materials or dangerous equipment it is important that the worker is able to fully concentrate on the task they have been assigned, and recognize that loud noise can have a significant effect on a person’s ability to concentrate. While the threat might seem distant, it’s important that employees, especially, as said, those who handle troublesome materials or equipment, are able to think clearly without being interrupted by noise.

Tackling the Issue

You don’t have to accept a noisy workplace. If it’s not essential that there be noise (e.g. there is no heavy duty machinery), then do your best to weed out the causes of loud noise. This can be as simple as asking everyone to be considerate when working, or by unplugging any noisy devices when not in use. If there are particular areas that are noisy, limit the time employees spend in these spaces.

Of course, some workplaces are noisy and that can’t be helped. However, you can still do your best to reduce the noise level. You can do this by installing noise mufflers, maintaining your equipment (old equipment tend to be noisier), or by moving the noisiest equipment away from the majority of workers. You can also make it a company practice to buy sound-reduced machinery in the future. In the meantime, you can provide employees with routine ear check-ups to ensure they’re not being affected and provide them with ear muffs or other noise reducing items while they work. The new problems of hearing are only just starting to be fully understood by the scientific community, so do your part and help your employees while they’re being investigated.

this is a freelance article from Gemma Warrick

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Asia Noise News

noise barriers for LTA in Singapore

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Thursday (Jan 15) announced it had awarded a contract to install 3.5 km of noise barriers at nine locations to CKT Thomas.

This is the second contract under Phase 1 awarded by LTA, and the noise barriers will be implemented in Clementi, Eunos and Lakeside after designs and site investigations are completed in the third quarter of 2015, the LTA press release stated.

The works, which will cost about S$17 million, are targeted to be completed in mid-2017. The noise barriers are expected to reduce railway noise levels by five to 10 decibels so residents living near elevated MRT tracks can look forward to an improved living environment, it added.

The LTA had in December 2013 awarded the first contract under Phase 1 to Precise Development to install 10km of noise barriers at 16 locations, following successful pilot projects at Bishan and Jurong East. These works are currently in progress at Admiralty, Marsiling as well as Sembawang, and will next be carried out at Ang Mo Kio, Pioneer and Yew Tee.

All works are on schedule to be completed in 2016, it added.

Phase 2 of the installation programme of about 9km of barriers is projected to begin in 2016, and further details of this will be announced later this year, LTA said.noise barrier Singapore LTA

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