Noise – Music to our ears or pollution?

Noise is all around us. Everywhere we go we can hear some kind of noise. Sound is measured in decibels. A decibel is a unit of relative loudness for sound, the decibel scale runs from zero for the least perceptible sound to 130 for sound that causes pain. The symbol for decibels is dB.

There are a lot of pleasures in sound. Especially the music we hear. This means that the music industry make a lot of money as well as disco’s. There are a lot of dangers related to noise. For example if u listen to loud music it can damage your ears. That is why when you but a disc man or any music appliance it warn the client of this.

Loud noises created by man can disturb the life style of animals. It can drive animals away from their natural hunting ground and to less favourable land.

At places such as football stadium of race tracks or concerts, the noise level is extremely high and can cause short term effects as well as long term effects. The people who are working in the race tracks, football stadiums and concerts are not concerned about the well being of the spectator because as long as the workers get paid they are happy.

Sound sometimes can’t be avoided because humans have no control over nature and nature can also produce sound.

Mobile phones create a lot of pollution specially because there are so many mobile phones around. Eight out of ten people have mobiles and some people get fed up because mobile phones are always ringing. Mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia, Motorola. Siemens, Sony and Erickson are happy that so many people are buying their products and don’t really pay much attention to the noise pollution.

Aircrafts produce very high levels of sound. Inside an aircraft the sound is quite loud. On the outside the sound is very loud. Apartments and houses near airports are at great risk. Aircrafts pass constantly. In Lisbon airport the aircraft pass extremely close to the apartments and this must be very bad for the people who live in the apartments. People still live in these locations because the price of houses and apartments are much lower because of the airports. The has been talk in Portugal about a certain time where there can be no flights arriving or taking off this means that aircraft companies are loosing money.

Dogs which constantly bark all day are also a form of noise pollution. Neighbours get irritated and cant sleep because of the barking have a right to complain.

In apartments you are not allowed to make noise after 10 pm. If you do then the

your neighbours can complain or even call the police. The police can give you a quite a large fine for “disturbing the peace”. Disco’s and bars in certain areas need to close down at 12 am. There are always police clearing off the location at 12 pm.

Some people make a lot of money because of sound. The music industry is huge. And it attracts teenagers and music lovers. Teenagers don’t realize the dangers of loud music. I think music manufacturers such as Sony should increase the warning on the music products so that it give more security to the buyer.