Date: 29/01/2022 Shift: 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM Q. No: 52

Although pollution of land, sea, and air has been well documented, the latest and the least recognised version is the swelling tide of noise which is engulfing urban as well as rural areas. This has long-term implications on the ecology, health and productivity of a fast developing country like India.
Unlike other pollutants, noise lacks visibility, seldom registering on the consciousness, except as a trifling irritant to be dismissed at will and therefore less likely to be perceived as a threat. Available data indicates that noise does pose a threat to health and is known to have caused a number of complications. Declining productivity among workers in certain industries has been directly correlated with noise levels, particularly those under constant exposure to the menace.
The first-ever survey of the impact of noise on health, conducted by All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), has established that noise not only impairs the physical and psychological functioning of the human organism but also causes nausea, vomiting, pain, hypertension and a lot of other complications, including cardio-vascular complaints.
A study by Post Graduate School of Basic Medical Sciences, Chennai, confirms such conclusions. In 50 per cent of industries, it was found that workmen exposed to higher intensities of noise in occupational capacities were often irritated, short-tempered, and impatient and more likely to resort to agitation and disrupt production. This was true of units in heavy industrial pockets in and around the four metropolitan centres.
Recreational noise, another ugly facet, is becoming more widespread in cities and towns. Loudspeakers are turned at full volume during marriages, festivals, jagrans, musical programmes, particularly at night, without the least consideration for others. Even at 50 dB, sound can awaken a person from a deep slumber. As experiments have shown, loudspeakers with output from 60 to 80 dB cause the pupils of a slumbering person to dilate, with increasing intake of oxygen, resulting in palpitation. The effect is more pronounced in narrow lanes. TV sets are played at full volume at prime time, invariably disturbing neighbours. Noise making seems to have become the latest status symbol, be it an election campaign or slogan shouting or advertising ownership of a TV set.