NOISE POLLUTION

Nature of Sound
Like heat, light and electricity, sound is also a form of energy.
Man is so much familiar with the perception of sounds all around
him, that very often he forgets about the importantance of sound
and the various types of functions played by it in his life, unless
he comes across a deaf person and sees the handicaps faced by
him. For example, sound permits him great enjoyable
experiences in listening to music and spoken communication
with family and friends. The ringing of the telephone, a knock on
the door or a wailing siren alerts him by just listening to their
sounds. .
 The chattering valves of a motor vehicle, the sound of a
squeaking wheel or heart murmur permits a experienced man
to make quality evaluations and diagnosis.
 Thus, subjectively the term sound is used for any disturbance
of air, ground or water that produces in us a sensation of
hearing, while physically sound is a mechanical vibration or
disturbance of a gaseous, liquid or solid elastic medium,
through which energy is transferred away from the source by
progressive sound waves with a speed characteristic of the
medium carrying it. The energy of the sound wave is partly
ordinary mechanical kinetic energy of the vibrational motion
of the medium-and is partly potential energy of the medium
strained by compression or rarefaction.
 The propagation of the acoustic waves is through the handing over the
motion / disturbance from particle to particle. To explain it more explicitly,
let us consider that a particle is displaced from its equilibrium position, it
strikes its neighbour and causes it to move a similar small distance while
rebounding itself. This neighbouring particle now strikes the next and so
on, propagating the disturbance through the medium by successive
oscillations of neighbouring elastic particles. None of these particles are
transferred along with the wave or disturbance; it is only the energy of the
disturbance that is being transmitted. Such radiated waves are known as
plane progressive waves. They are being so called because they propagate
away from the source in one direction only, with the wave fronts always
remaining parallel to each other.
 The particles of the medium can vibrate either in the
direction of propagation of the wave motion i.e. longitudinal
or at right angles to the direction of propagation of the wave
motion i.e. transverse. In fluids (gases and liquids) the
vibration is only longitudinal while in solids both longitudinal
and transverse vibrations are possible. The time taken by the
vibrating particle to complete one vibration is called the time
period, the number of vibrations made in one second is its
frequency, the distance traveled by the wave during one
time period is known as its wavelength and the time taken
for the motion to be transferred between the successive
particles gives a measure of the velocity of propagation of
the disturbance. The frequency of vibration must be within a
certain range i.e. 20 - 20,000 Hz for the sound to be audible.
 Vibrations in the frequency range 0.1 to 20 Hz are known as
infra sounds, while vibrations in the frequency range above 20
kHz are known as ultrasounds. The highest frequency of
mechanical vibrations found in atoms, is in the range 10k
million Hz. These are known as hypersonics. Infra sounds,
ultrasounds, and hypersonics are inaudible to the human ear.
Besides, there is another term, supersonics, related to the
velocity of sound wave propagation. Bodies travelling with
speed more than the speed of sound waves in air, are known to
travel with supersonic speed.
 The velocity of propagation of the disturbance depends on the
medium elasticity according to the following equation:
 v = k (E/p)1/2
 where E is the modulus of elasticity of the medium, p is the
density of the medium and k is a constant. For air, under
normal conditions, this velocity is approximately 344 m/s at
20oC. It is higher in liquids and very high in solids. The speed
of sound in the medium being fixed, the wavelength can be
defined in terms of the time interval between successive
compressions (condensations) or rarefactions, which are set in
by the frequency of the wave. Therefore,
 λ = vT = v/f
 where, λ, is the wavelength, T is the time between successive
compressions or rarefactions, v is the speed of sound in the
medium and f is the frequency of the disturbance.
 The magnitude of the sound wave can. be determined in a
number of different ways but it is usually more convenient to
measure acoustic pressure rather than other parameters like
particle displacement or velocity which are extremely difficult
to measure in practice. These latter parameters are normally
required only when measurements are to be made very close
to the source in its near field.
 Hearing is a subjective response of human beings and animals
to sound. Within certain limits of frequency and pressure,
sound creates a sensation within the auditory equipment of
human beings and most animals. At very low frequencies or at
very high pressure levels, additional sensations ranging from
pressure in the chest cavity to actual pain in the ears are
experienced. In most animals and human beings, ear is the
receiver ( Fig. 1.11).The ear drum receives the vibrations,
small bones arranged as levers in the middle ear amplify these
vibrtions and transmit them through a fluid to nerve endings
or fibers within the inner ear. These nerves transmit them as
impulses to the brain which in a fraction of a second analyses
and translates the impulses into concepts which evoke mental
or physical responses.
 Thus sounds become, through experience and
training, familiar symbols of concepts or situations.
They give us information, by virtue of which we are
able to adjust, orient, and behave as per our
surroundings / environments. From a strictly
mechanical standpoint, the ear responds in a
relatively predictable manner to physical changes in
sound parameters. It is able to detect small changes
in frequency and intensity. It can also be considered
to act as a set of over-lapping constant percentage
bandwidth band pass filters.
 The concept of constant percentage bandwidth may be seen
in Fig. 1.12.
 The character of sound sensation (subjective response)
depends upon three things: I) Pitch or frequency, ii) Loudness
(a parameter that depends on the amplitude, pressure or
intensity of the sound weaves), and iii) Quality or timbre (a
parameter that is determined by the waveform, presence of
overtones and the spectral distribution of energy.
 There are two fairly well defined boundaries of aural
sensation: i) the threshold of hearing, and ii) the threshold of
feeling. These are shown in the response diagram of Fig. 1.13.
 It may be seen that the sound pressure at the threshold of hearing varies
with frequency. Starting at 20 Hz, threshold pressure is relatively high, at
around 1,000 Hz it is low but more or less flat, at around 4,000 Hz it falls
to a minimum and increases thereafter to a large value becoming
maximum at the frequency of 20,000 Hz. It may thus be seen that at the
threshold of hearing, the ear is extremely insensitive to very low and very
high frequencies. It may also be seen that the differential sound pressure
required to cause pain at middle frequencies far exceeds that at very low
and very high frequencies and that at the extremities of the audible range,
namely at 20 Hz and 20 kHz, the thresholds of hearing and feeling are
coincident. The area included between the upper and lower threshold
curves is usually regarded as the auditory sensation area.
 Significant ranges of frequency of human hearing are given in
Fig. 1.14. It may be seen from this diagram that speech
intelligibility range lies within 100 Hz to 6,000 Hz with the
most important range falling between 300 - 3,000 Hz, while
musical perception is in the range 50 Hz to 16,000 Hz. The
male voice energy output tends to peak at about 350 Hz, while
the female voice tends to peak at about 700 Hz. From an
analysis of the frequency spectrum of many types of
equipments / machines, it has been seen that diesel engines
produce substantiative energy in the range 30 Hz - 10,000 Hz,
while sounds generated by some of the mechanical
equipments may encompass the entire frequency range of
human hearing (e.g. jet air crafts have significant output
throughout the whole audible frequency range).
 We receive signals binaurally with each one of the
ears receiving the signal at a slightly different level
and phase (earlier or later in time). May be each ear
sends a slightly different signal to the brain. The
brain apparently analyses the signals, integrates them
and extracts information from them. Thus we can
locate the source with a fair degree of accuracy, learn
something about the type of space in which the sound
is generated and characterize the source even in the
presence of a constant sound background.
 Normally, the sound pressure rather than the intensity of a sound field is
the parameter used for sound measurements. The units of measurement are
thus dynes per square centimeter (bar) in the absolute system or Newtons
per square meter (Pascals) in the S.I. system. The zero level of sound
pressure (quietest sound) is not a true physical zero, but is an average
measure of ‘threshold of hearing’ at 1,000Hz for human beings. The
physical pressure associated with this level is incredibly small (0.0002
dynes/cm2 or 20µ Pascals). This pressure change is just enough to cause
the membrane in the human ear to deflect to a distance less than the
diameter of a single atom. Sound pressures about one million times as
great as the threshold of hearing can be tolerated by the ear. At this level,
considerable discomfort is caused and above this sound pressure level i.e.
above 100 Pascals, actual pain is felt. This wide range of pressure hearing
by the human ear represents a ratio of one trillion to one in energy since
intensity varies as the square of the pressure.
 Evidently, the direct application of linear scales to the
measurement of sound pressure would lead to the use of
enormous and unwieldy numbers. A logical procedure would
be to divide this range of values into a uniform scale and
assign numbers to these steps. However, such uniform steps
would have little relationship to human responses, since
changes in human response are according to the ratio of the
intensity of the stimuli producing the response; therefore,
measurement parameters (objective responses) are almost
always compared with some base or reference level.
 Now in case we were to use common units of pressure for the
sound pressure scale, we would be dealing with enormous
numbers, which might be difficult to manipulate. Therefore,
the unit ‘Bel’ used in electrical measurements representing a
lograthmic ratio of base ten was chosen to compress this
enormous range. Since this scale was very large, a smaller
scale ‘decibel’ i.e. one tenth of a Bel, was selected as the
sound measurement scale. Another rationale for the choice of
decibel unit to represent sound pressure level was that the ear
responds in a roughly logarithmic manner to changes in
stimulus intensity. Power levels and intensity levels in decibel
units can be thus represented as equal to:
 10 log10 (quantity measured / reference quantity)
 According to the above formulation, Intensity Level can be expressed as
the ratio of the measured intensity to some reference level i.e.
 Intensity Level (dB) = 10 log10 {(Intensity measured) / (Reference
level)}
 Here, the reference intensity level is taken as 10-12 W/m2. Since intensity
varies as the square of the pressure, intensity level can also be expressed
as:
 Intensity Level (dB) = 10 log10 {(pressure measured)2 / (Reference
pressure)2 }
 = 20 log10 {(Pressure measured) / (Reference pressure)}
 The reference pressure level as stated earlier is taken as 0.0002 dynes/cm2
or 20 micro Pascals. Since this transformed intensity level corresponds to
sound pressure level, therefore, in place of intensity level, we can now
write Sound Pressure Level which can be defined as :
 Sound Pressure Level (dB) = 201og10 {(Measured pressure) /
(Reference pressure)}
 In terms of the above defined decibel scale, subjective effects
of changes (not the exact change on the logarithmic scale) in
simple every day terms, i.e. their correspondence to apparent
loudness is approximately as follows:
 Changes in Sound Level (dBA) Changes in Apparent
Loudness
3dBA Just Perceptible
5dBA Clearly Noticeable
10dBA Twice as Loud
20dBA Much Louder (4 times)
 The above correspondence means that for a noise measured in
decibels on the A-network on the sound level meter, a
difference of 10dBA represents approximately a doubling or
halving of the subjective loudness and a difference of 3 dBA
is just noticeable.
 The representation of the power level, intensity level and
relative energy/ intensity level in terms of the decibel scale
can be easily made and is shown in Table 1.1. In this table the
comparable loudness levels of common sounds are also given.
It may be seen that a relative energy ratio of 1014 can be just
represented conveniently on a decibel scale of 140 units which
covers sounds from threshold of hearing to the roar of a jet air
craft, just above the threshold of pain.
 It may be pointed out here that normal arithmetic additions and
subtractions of sound levels are not possible on the decibel scale since the
scale is logarithmic in nature. Two sounds each producing a sound pressure
level of 80 dB when measured in the absence of the other, will not produce
a sound level of 160 dB when both . are emitting at the same time. Rather,
the new sound pressure level (SPL) will be just 3 dB higher than either of
the two levels. It can be seen easily from the following:
 SPL = 10 log10(2p12// Po2)
 = 10 log10(2p12// Po2) + 10 log102
 = 10 log10(2p12// Po2) + 3
 10 log102
 i.e. New SPL = SPL of one unit + 3dB
 In the above exercise, P1 is the sound pressure generated by one of the
sources and Po is the reference sound pressure level, and it is seen that
doubling . the number of sources raises the sound pressure level by 3 dB,
making the number of sources four times raises the level by 6dB and so on.
 For the addition of sound pressures of many sources of different levels,
however, the above exercise is carried out slightly differently. As a first
step, the measured values are reduced to actual pressures using the
standard SPL expression in terms of sound pressures, they are then
combined to find the effective mean square value of which a logarithm is
taken. Multiplication of this number by 10 determines the resulting final
value of the sound pressure level. This process of summation of sound
pressure levels can be alternately performed by using the following simple
equation:
 SPL = 10 log10(10Lp1/10 + 10Lp2/10 + 10Lp3/10 + …………. )
 where Lpl, Lp2, Lp3 etc. are the various sound levels to be
added. It can be easily seen that a significant increase in level
ca n be produced on combining the various sound pressure
levels only when any two sources generate similar levels of
sound pressure. In case the difference between any two levels
exceeds 10 dB, the contribution of the less noisy source is just
negligible as per this summation rule, an observation that is
also true practically.
DEFINITION OF NOISE POLLUTION:
 Noise by definition is unwanted sound, what is pleasant to some cars it
may be extremely unpleasant to other, depending on a number of
physiological factors the sweetest music, if it disturbs person who is trying
to concentrate or sleep is a noise to him. Just as the sound of pneumatic
reverting hammer is noise to nearly everyone.

The word noise is derived from the Latin term nausea. It has
been defined as unwanted sound, a potential hazard to health and
communication dumped into the environment with regard to the adverse
effect it may have on unwilling ears.
Noise is defined as unwanted sound. Sound, which
pleases the listeners, is music and that which causes pain and annoyance is
noise. At times, what is music for some can be noise for others
 Sources of Noise
 Every industry, trade, occupation, transportation,
operation and process using equipments, apparatus,
materials, means, and modes, that produce pressure
variation in the frequency range audible to ear,
constitute a noise source. These noise sources may be
point, line or plane generating spherical, cylindrical
or plane waves respectively.
Machine/Industrial Process Noise Level(dba)

Steel plate riveting 130

Oxygen torch 126
Pneumatic metal chipper 122
Boiler maker shop 120
Textile room 112
Circular saw 110
Pile driver at 15 m 105
Farm tractor/ Powered lawn 103

mower
Newspaper press 101
Coal face drill 100
Bench lathe 95
Milling machine 90
Bed press 86
 Railway trains are another source of noise generation. Type of engine
whether steam locomotive, diesel or electric, wagons and rails whether
jointed or welded, various functions and processes and the speed of the
train govern the variations present in the noise spectrum due to railway
trains. Shunting operations generate additional impact noise at stations and
marshalling yards. Normally running medium speed trains generate low
frequency noise. Trains passing over bridges and other structures develop
special resonating noise patterns. High speed trains generate exorbitantly
high intensity noise, around 100 dBA at a distance of 10 m. At speeds
around 200 km / h, the proportion of high frequency noise increases and
noise pattern due to the train becomes that of an over flying jet aircraft and
at still higher speeds, noise becomes Revere and intolerable creating
problems all around.
 Such problems are being raced in countries like Japan where very high-
speed train operates. Solutions to these problems have been found by
designing special type of coaches. It has been found that the aerodynamic
noise from smoothly contoured rail cars for vehicle forward motion does
not contribute appreciably to way side noise at speeds less than about 240
km / h but can be an important factor at higher speeds. Rail noise at any
site is perceived as and when a train passes. It is intermittent in nature.
Exposure due to rail noise is maximum to the people who live by the side
of railway tracks.
 Peters (1974) has given the following relationship which enables to relate
the maximum passby sound level, Lmax’ measured with a sound level meter
set to fast response with the energy averaged Leq, over an extended period:
 Leq = Lmax + 10 log 10 {R(1.5 D + d) / v} - 30,
 where R represents the number of trains passing per
hour, D is the distance of the receiver from the track
centerline, d is the average train length in meters and
v is the train speed in km/h. Using the above
equation, it can be shown that for a design limit of 70
dBA at a location 60 m from the track, with train
speed of 96 km/h, and average train length of 91 m,
an Ldn of 55 dBA would be obtained with an average
of 16 trains per hour during the day time (07.00 A.M.
to 10.00 P.M.) and 1.5 trains per hour at night.
 Welded rails make less noise compared to the jointed rails.
Sound level for a variety of passenger cars, travelling on
continuous welded rails or on jointed rail, for various speeds
can be found out 90 % of the time within ± 6 dB by using the
following relationship developed by Lotz (1977):
 For welded rails:
L pA = 74 + 30log10 (v / vo) (dBA)
 For jointed rails:
L pA = 81 + 30log10 (v / vo) dBA
where v is the rail car speed in km/h and vo is the reference
speed of 60 km/ h. According to this relationship, doubling of
speed will increase the A - weighted sound level by 9 dBA ..
 Excitation of wheel - rail noise on a tangent track is attributed
to rail and wheel surface roughness. Rail cars travelling on
smooth wheels and continuous welded rails emit a steady
wide band noise due to rolling. When wheels develop flat
spots or when rail cars run on discontinuities in the rail
surface like at rail joints, wheel-rail noise is dominated by a
succession of broad band impact sounds of rise time around
0.01 second and of duration 0.05 second within 10 dB of the
maximum. This noise due to rail joints is being practically
avoided every where in the world through the use of welded
rails.
 For rail cars travelling on curves with radii less than about 100
m, the dominant noise is a sequeal or screech consisting of
one or more pure tones unless preventive measures are taken.
Curving noise includes both normal rolling noise, which also
occurs at tangent track, and noise unique to curving, resulting
from lateral slip of the wheel tread across the rail head.
Normal rolling noise is not significant at short radius curves,
especially in the presence of wheel squeal due to low train
speed, and at high speed curves rolling noise may be treated in
much the same manner as for tangent track.
 Electrically powered passenger trains are less noisy than
diesel powered trains. For electrically powered passenger rail
cars, the major source of noise other than that resulting from
wheel-rail interaction, is that from propulsion equipment
which includes the traction motor, reduction gears and the
traction motor air cooling system.
 Elevated structures (rail-transit elevated guide ways and rail
road bridges) increase the A-weighted sound levels by as
much as 20 dBA compared to the noise levels for the trains
running on level tracks. This increase in noise level is due to
the secondary radiations emitted from the vibrating
components of the elevated structure. This noise can be
reduced by vibration isolation and control of wheel rail noise.
 Underground railways or trains passing through tunnels make more noise.
Wheel-rail noise is the dominant interior noise. Even on at-grade ballast-
andtie track, inadequate floor sound insulation can result in unnecessarily
high interior noise levels. The A-weighted sound level alongside moving
trains in an untreated tunnel can be found out as:
 L pA = 102 + 30log10 (v / vo) ± 6 dBA
 Joint rails and/or ballastless constructions yield levels near the top of the
range computed by the above relationship while smooth welded rails in
ballasted track beds yield levels near the bottom. The noise level under the
moving train in a tunnel is 5 to 10 dBA higher than the level along sides of
the train. Use of tie and ballast track offers reduction of 5 to 15 dBA in
sound level while absorptive ceiling offers a reduction of 5 to 10 dBA.
 Locomotive noise exceeds rail car noise. The noise level due
to a diesel or electric locomotive at a distance of 30 m along
side is between 87 and 96 dBA. Exhaust noise is the dominant
source. Horns and whistles on locomotives produce sound
levels of about 105 dBA at about 30 m ahead of the
locomotive. This level is reduced by 5 to 10 dBA when
measured on the sides of the track. Use of disc braked rolling
stock helps to reduce noise on the track.
 Most noise problems are associated with the
determination of the amount and character of noise
emitted by one or more noise sources or with the
prediction of the performance of the noise source(s)
under specified conditions or with the evaluation and
prediction of different effects of noise on human
beings. All these problems involve noise
measurements in terms of some physical quantity
usually sound pressure level at a certain point or the
sound power level of the soyrce(s) and the frequency
spectrum of the noise emitted or received along with
their variations in time.
 Therefore, in this chapter, we describe the methods and tools
of measuring the intensity and frequency of the various
sounds as heard by the human ear as also we discuss the
techniques to investigate and evaluate the extent of health risk
due to noise around us.
 Methodology of Noise Level Measurements
 The simplest method of noise measurement consists of
assessing linear sound pressure level (SPL) at any time,
disregarding variations with time, over a broad frequency
band covering the whole of the audible frequency range. This
can be easily achieved using a combination of a microphone,
amplifier and an indicating instrument.
 This type of measurement does not take into account
the behaviour of the human ear, and will be thus non-
subjective. We have already seen that subjective
loudness of sound as heard by the ear is complex.
Human ear is not equally sensitive at all frequencies;
it is most sensitive in the 2 - 5 kHz range and least
sensitive at extremely high and low frequencies.
Further, this behaviour is most pronounced at low
sound pressure levels.
 The subjective response of the ear can be easily introduced in
the system by weighting the signal spectrum in a way, which
corresponds to the human ear response. This is achieved
through an electronic circuit whose sensitivity varies with
frequency in the same way as that of the human ear. This has
in fact been done through three different internationally
standardized characteristics (IEC: 651-1979), termed ‘A’, ‘B’
and ‘C’ weighting networks. The ‘A’ network approximates
the equal loudness curve at low SPL (40 Phon), the ‘B’
network corresponds to medium SPLs (70 Phon) and the ‘C’
network, which is more or less a linear behaviour, to high
levels (l00 Phon). The values of these weightings as described
in the international standard (ISO: 266-1975) are given in a
tabular form (Table 3.1) for information.
 Sound pressure levels when weighted like this are expressed as dBA, dBB
and dBC etc. to distinguish them from one to the other. However, these
days ‘A’ weighting network is' most widely used in all environmental mea-
surements since A-weighted sound level is useful for assessment of human
response, as also for rank ordering of noises with respect to loudness level
as long as these noises are of similar character while ‘B’ and ‘C’ weighting
networks do not give good correlation; the reason being that equal
loudness contours from where these networks were chosen, were based on
experiments with pure tones while most common sounds are complex
signals rather than pure tones. Sound pressure level measured on A-
weighted network can be expressed as follows:
 LA = 10 log10 (pA/po)2.
 Noise Dose Meter
 The noise dose is a variant of the Leq measurement for which
the measurement time is fixed at eight hours. It is expressed as
a percentage of the allowable daily exposure. Noise dose
meter is thus a specialized integrating sound level meter by
which the noise exposure dose of A-weighted sound energy
received by employees during their normal working day can
be directly determined as a proportion of the allowed daily
noise dose for the purpose of occupational hearing
conservation. The noise dose depends not only on the levels of
the noise but also on the length of times that the employee is
exposed to it. The accumulated dose can be checked on it at
any time without affecting the measurement process.
 The instrument is small, compact and light weight and can be
worn without hampering work. The microphone may be used
either in its normal position mounted directly on the main
body of the instrument or located remotely from it nearer the
wearer’s head.
 The noise dose meter records the wearer's actual exposure
where ever he may be and the period for which he may be
there. The instrument is based on the ISO standard which
requires that permissible exposure to continuous noise shall
not exceed an 8 hour time weighted average of 90 dBA, with a
halving of the exposure time for each 3 dB rise in noise level.
According to this regulation of occupational noise, exposure
to continuous noise at two or more levels shall not exceed a
fraction of permissible daily noise dose (D) of unity.
 The instrument is thus so designed that it keeps on integrating the
durations of the various noise levels as a fraction of the permitted total
time of exposure at those respective levels. At a time when the total
fraction reaches one, it gives a long alarming signal. The instrument while
in use needs to be checked and calibrated frequently.
 Noise dose D, is computed by using the relationship:
 D = C1 / T1 + C2 / T2 + ------------------------- + Cn / Tn ,

 where Cn is the actual duration of exposure in hours at a given steady state
noise level and Tn is the noise exposure limit in hours for the level present
during the time Cn.
 The expressions used for integration in the dose-meter for daily and
weekly noise exposures, LEPd and LEPw’ respectively of a worker wearing
the dose meter are given as follows:
 LEPd = LAeq,Te + 10 log10 Te / To
 LEPw = 10 log10 [ 1/5 ∑m k=1 10 0.1 (LEPd)k ]
where
 LAeq. Te = 10 log10 [ 1/Te ) ∫o Te [ pA (t) / po ]2. Dt ]
 Te = Daily duration of a worker's exposure to noise
 To = 8 hours = 28800 seconds
 Po = 20 micro Pascals
 PA = A- weighted instantaneous SPL in Pascals to
which a person is exposed in
 Air at atmospheric pressure, irespective of the factor whether
he might or might not move from one place to another while
at work.
 (LEPd)k = Values of LEPd for all the 1 to m working days during
the week.
 Audiometer
 It is a tool for measurements of hearing level. It measures
individual’s hearing threshold as a function of frequency (pure
tone). There are three broad categories of pure tone
audiometers: Research, Diagnostic and Monitoring (IEC: 177
- 1965; IEC: 178 - 1967; IEC: 645 -1979). Research
audiometers are used by medical specialists to conduct basic
research into the hearing mechanism and to develop new
techniques for curing speech and hearing defects. Diagnostic
audiometers are used by professional audiologists to diagnose
hearing losses and to determine the type of corrective action
necessary.
 Monitoring audiometers are used to detect the possible
hearing loss or defect in a person. This type of audiometer is
of major concern in a hearing conservative programme.
 Figure 3.6 shows how a permanent shift in the threshold of
hearing will be a severe handicap since it reduces the normal
range of speech. The Upper part of the figure shows the
normal range of speech shown together with the threshold of
hearing. It is easily seen that a shift in the threshold of hearing
e.g. due to masking caused by background noise or hearing
impairment, will cause a part of the normal range of speech to
be cut off, reducing the understanding or spoken information.
 The lower part of the figure shows the principle of the
audiogram. A reduction in hearing is here shown as a
downwards shift in the hearing level, where 0 dB hearing
level corresponds to the hearing of young people with normal
hearing. If the normal range of speech is sketched in the
coordinate system used for recording the audiogram as done
here, it is clearly seen that a part of this range is being cut off
by a large shift in threshold level.
 Monitoring audiometers can be manual or automatic. In the
manual audiometers hearing threshold is determined manually
by the operator by adjusting the output level. The subject
under test is given a pair of earphones and a handswitch.
 When the operator initiates the test, an increasing sound level
of the first frequency can be very soon heard in the left ear,
and as soon as the subject hears the signal, he presses the
handswitch and the intensity of the sound will decrease as
long as the switch is pressed, By alternatively pressing and
releasing the switch the subject is able to maintain the sound
level very close to the threshold of hearing, The process is
repeated for both the ears at a number of frequencies, namely
125, 250, 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000, & 8000 Hz and
then the audiometer makes a plot of the frequency response of
the hearing thresholds at all the frequencies for both the ears.
 One of the advantages of the manual method is that the
threshold level for each frequency is obtained as the mean
value of the saw-tooth curve emerging on the audiogram from
several mesuements at each frequency. However, the manual
operation also brings in a state of uncertainty since it depends
on the operator. To overcome this potential source of error and
to make the system to work fast ( the manual system takes 10
to 15 minutes per individual test), the automatic audiometer
has been developed. In this system, the employee (patient) can
test himself following the preliminary instructions. An
audiogram is produced automatically as a part of the test. It
performs necessary measurements in about half the time.
 The audiometric examination room is an important aspect of the
employee’s hearing measurements. It is a very quiet room, which is
acoustically treated to bring the noise level in the room below the threshold
of hearing. Before use, the audiometer is calibrated. To calibrate the
audiometer fitted with standard earphones, measurement of the acoustical
output is made using the specified type of artificial ear or coupler (IEC:
303 - 1970; IEC: 318 - 1970) which is then compared with the
recommended reference level for those ear phones. In the case of an
audiometer fitted with an unknown type of earphone, it is necessary first to
determine the corresponding reference level for this earphone. This would
normally be done by comparing the earphone output subjectively with an
earphone of one of the standard types using a suitable equal loudness
balance or threshold balance. Details of the reference equivalent threshold
SPL for the various types of standard earphones are available in ISO:389 –
1975.
 Introduction
 Health is defined as not merely the absence of
disease but the total physical and psychological well
being of a person. Since noise develops annoyance,
irritation and fatigue in man as also it causes
disturbance in his work, rest, sleep and
communication, damages his hearing and evokes
other psychological, physiological and possibly
pathological reactions, therefore, noise can be aptly
called a health hazard, like air and water pollution.
 Noise produces the same general types of effects on animals
as it does on humans. The most observable effect of noise on
wild animals seems to be behavioural (Bhatt et al, 2000).
Noise of sufficient intensity or of adversive character can
disrupt normal patterns of animal existence. Exploratory
behaviour can be curtailed, avoidance behaviour can limit
access to food and shelter, and breeding habits can be
disrupted. Hearing loss and the masking of auditory signals
can further complicate animal’s efforts to recognize the young,
detect and locate prey, and evade predators. Competition for
food and space in an ecological niche results in complex
interrelationships and hence, a complex balance. In this
chapter, we shall discuss the various health effects of noise.
 Annoyance
 It is a feeling of displeasure or bothersomeness evoked by
noise. The annoyance inducing capacity of noise depends
upon the subjective parameters of personality, situation,
activity, intensity, spectral characteristics, intermittence
(irregularity) and time of exposure (Cederlof et al, 1963;
Bradley and Jonah, 1979 a,b,c; Hall et al, 1981; Raw and
Griffiths, 1990; Bjorkman, 1991; Izumi and Yano, 1991; Vos,
1992,1997; Bradley, 1993). Annoyance increases with the
intensity of sound, a noise of high frequency is more
disturbing than one of low frequency and irregular sounds are
more irritating than regular ones.
 However, since annoyance reactions are also sensitive to
many non-acoustic factors of social, psychological or
economic nature and so there are considerable differences in
individual reactions to the same noise.
 Traffic is the primary cause of annoyance in urban areas.
Industries may also be responsible for noisiness, primarily
acute within the industry premises, however, on the street it is
the noise of the trucks, trains, street cars and other vehicles
operating in the area which are responsible for annoyance.
The background noise in a quiet area is also due to traffic
noise.
 Attempts to lay down quantitative criteria linking noise exposure and
annoyance have been made. The early attempt was to link annoyance with
loudness level. The loudness level of the annoying sound was measured.
by comparing it with the loudness level of an equally loud sound at 1000
Hz through equal loudness contours or Phon curves ( ISO: R 226 - 1961)
defined earlier in Chapter I (Fig. 1.15). On this scale a 50 dB tone at 1000
Hz has the same loudness level on the Phon scale also, while the same
sound is equivalent to a 73 dB tone at 50 Hz or a 42 dB tone at 4000 Hz. It
can be clearly seen that the loudness level of a pure tone at a given sound
pressure level falls off at low frequencies and at very high frequencies and
are a maximum at around 4000 Hz, and additionally, at very high sound
pressure levels, tones of all frequencies tend to have similar loudness.
 Thus, loudness level values in Phons do not immediately convey the
magnitude of the loudness sensation. To avoid such a situation, a
Sone scale was developed, whose purpose was to provide a
numerical designation of the loudness of sound or noise on a linear
scale proportional to the subjective magnitude as estimated by
normal observers through comparison with an equally loud sound.
A family of curves, similar to the equal loudness contours, were
drawn based upon the relative effect of SPL in various frequency
bands and where these curves crossed the 1000 Hz ordinate, it
determined the Loudness Index of the sound in Sones. Defined in
this manner, loudness, N, measured in Sones of any sound is given
in terms of Phons by the following relationship (ISO: 131 - 1979 E)
:
 N = 2 0.1(LN – 40)
 where LN is the loudness expressed in Phons. On the basis of
this relation between N and LN, a sound of 1 Sone is the
loudness of a sound of loudness level of 40 Phons, 30 Phons
is equivalent to 0.5 Sones, 50 Phons is equivalent to 2 Sones,
60 Phons are equivalent to 4 Sones arid so on. All these values
of various sounds in Phons and Sones are given in Table 4.1.
 It was soon found that the utility of this scale was also
questionable since loudness did not necessarily describe
noisiness or annoyance, particularly when the subjective
response was compared with the sound coming from an
aircraft.
 To compare the noisiness of propeller driven and jet aircrafts,
a method involving perceived noise level measured in PNdB
(Noys) was developed (Rice, 1975; Robinson, 1977).
Perceived noise level of a given sound is numerically equal to
the SPL of a reference sound that is judged by listeners to
have the same perceived noisiness as the given sound, the
reference sound being a band of random noise, one third or
one octave in width centered on 1000 Hz. The unit of
perceived noisiness is Noy analogous to Sone algebraically
but differs from it subjectively; while Noy refers to noisiness
of a band of random noise over one-third or one octave wide
frequency range centered on 1000 Hz, Sone refers to a pure
tone of 1000 Hz.
 The relationship between the numerical value of the perceived
noisiness of a sound within a given frequency band ( one-third
octave presumably) measured in Noys to the sound level of
the pure tone is, as shown in Fig. 4.1 (ISO: 3891 -1978 E).To
calculate the total noisiness N, in Noys over the whole
frequency range, the following relation is adopted:
 N = nmax + 0.15 ( ∑ n – n max )

 where n max ( is the greatest value of noisiness in Noys in the

frequency range under consideration and ∑ n is the sum of the
noisiness values in all the bands.
 EFFECT OF NOISE POLLUTION

 Noise is one of the main pollution of the environment causing

various hazardous
 consequences for human life. Noise not only impairs
sensibility to auditory stimuli by masking effects, it has other
consequence too.
 Studies have proved that a loud noise during peak hours
creates tiredness, irritation and impairs brain activities, so as
to reduce thinking and working abilities.
 Its general effects on human being is that it covers disturbance
in sleep which lead to other side effects.
 Physiological Effects

 This form of environmental degradation has implication for health as

serious as air or water pollution. Noise can change mans physiological
state by speeding
 up pulse and respiratory rates. It can impair hearing either permanently
 or temporarily millions of industrial workers are threatened with hearing
damage.
 • Medical evidence suggests – that noise can cause heart attacks.
 • Noise can cause chronic effects as hypertension or ulcers.
 • Noise can cause deafness.

 Some empirical research conducted on pregnant female mice reveals that
air craft taking off which bring 120 to 160 dB caused miscarriages in them,
if the findings
 on mice are made applicable on human being.
 The effects of this categories includes, annoyance, tensions in muscles,
nervous
 Behavioral Effects
 It has been reported that performance of school going children is
poor in comprehension, when schools are in the busy / traffic
prone area.
 Noise can cause irritation, which results in learning disabilities.

 Personological Effects
 If the injurious effects of noise tend to persist for longer duration
they may cause
 maladaptive reactions in the individuals, disturbing his total
personality make – up.
 Insomnia, fatigue, hypertension, blood pressure and deafness are
the symptoms shown by the people living in the noise polluted
area.
 Noise Pollution Effects on Wildlife
 It has been reported that noise pollution has serious adverse effects on
wildlife too.
 • There is decline in migratory birds to a habitat if it becomes noisy.
 • Deer’s and lions affected from the traffic noise as observed in some Zoo.
 physiological and environmental consequences of noise could be serious
to the survival of wild life.

 Effects Of Noise On Non-Living Things

 The high intensity of noise such as vibrations emanating from heavy
machinery cause shattering of window glasses, loosing the plaster of house
walls, cracks in walls, cracks in household crockery and breaking down the
hangingin the house.
 Introduction
 Up to the first two decades of the 20th century, noise
was just regarded as an incidental product of human
action which could occasionally be a nuisance. In the
next two decades, crude instruments and techniques
for noise measurements were developed. The second
world war resulted in enormous growth in
motorization, industrialization and aviation with the
obvious increase in noise pollution.
 The need for stringent noise control regulations
became obvious and as a result, many of the
European countries and United States of America
initiated research projects concerned with the effect
of noise on human beings. These countries also
initiated introducing specific regulations to protect
people from the hazards of excessive noise.
 In the first attempt towards noise control, noise rating
(NR) curves and noise rating criterion (NRC or only
NC) were developed. The noise rating curves
resemble equal loudness contours. They were
developed to judge the extent of noise at a place.
 These curves (Fig. 6.1) are concave upwards which rise at the
low frequency end, more specifically at the lowest frequencies.
These curves are attributable to the work of Beranek et al (1953),
who introduced them in a paper concerned with the noise of the
ventilation systems. A slightly modified version was later
published by Schultz (1968). The concept of these noise rating
curves is that the acceptable noise level in an occupied space
such as a flat, house, shop, factory, auditorium, office and library
etc. depends on the activities to be carried out in that space,
which these curves enable to be assessed. They weigh each part
of the frequency spectrum, take into account the sensitivity of
the ear for different frequencies, and assess annoyance factor,
speech interference level and loudness level etc.
 Each noise rating curve is a code for specifying the permissible sound
pressure in nine octave bands. It is intended that in no one single frequency
octave band, the specified level should be exceeded.
 The noise level must be measured in unoccupied rooms in all the nine
octave frequency bands from 31.5 to 8000 Hz. Ventillation system, if any,
should be operating and outside noise sources such as traffic etc. should be
normal when measurements are being made. This octave band noise
spectrum is over laid on the family of noise rating curves and the highest
noise rating curve which the spectrum of the noise touches, is assigned the
noise rating (NR) number. Interpolation is usually needed to evaluate the
noise spectrum and in most cases a single frequency level determines the
rating. The prescribed limits for acceptable noise levels in an occupied
space are defined in Table 6.1 (due to Bottom and Croome,1969).
 Noise rating curves received considerable acceptance in areas like office
design, principally in the United States. A particular use of these curves is
that they show immediately which frequencies are responsible for any
particular noise, leading to the steps to be taken to reduce noise. Schultz
(1972), however, found out that if an environment is carefully designed to
just fit a particular NR curve, it may be rather unsatisfactory, since the low
frequencies may sound like rumbling noise and high frequencies like
hissing sound.
 Developments of evaluation techniques like NR curves and many other
similar systems led to the development of national standards in many
countries of the world, Le., maximum permissible noise levels (standards /
limits) were laid down for environmental and occupational noise exposure
to give relief to the people working or living in those environments.
 Legal Position in India
 In India, there is no specific law exclusively dealing with the problem of
noise compared to some other countries of the world which have enacted
specific laws to control noise pollution. The existing legal provisions for
controlling noise in the country are as follows:
 i) Indian Penal Code: Noise pollution can be dealt under section 268,
290 and 291 of the Indian Penal Code as a public nuisance. Under section
268 of this code, ‘ A person is guilty of a public nuisance, who does any
act, or is guilty of an illegal omission which causes any common injury,
danger, or annoyance to the public or the people in general who dwell or
occupy property in the vicinity or which must necessarily cause injury,
obstruction, danger or annoyance to persons who may have occasion to use
any public right. A common nuisance is not excused on the ground that it
causes some convenience or advantage'. Sections 290 and 291 of the
Indian Penal Code deal with the punishment for public nuisance.
 ii) Criminal Procedure Code: Under section 133 of the Criminal
Procedure Code, the magistrate has the power to make conditional order
requiring the person causing nuisance to remove such nuisance.
 iii) The Factories Act, 1948: The Factories Act does not contain any
specific provision for noise pollution control. However, under the third
schedule section 89 and 90 of the Act,' noise induced hearing loss,’ is
mentioned as a notifiable disease. Under section 89 of the Act, any medical
practitioner who detects any notifiable disease, including noise induced
hearing loss in a worker, has to report the case to the chief inspector of
factories, along with all other relevant information. Failure to do so is a
punishable offence. Under the model rules, limits for noise (volume) in
respect of the time of exposure have been prescribed.
 iv) Motor Vehicle Act, 1988 and Rules Framed Thereunder:
Sections 119 and 120 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules,
1989 deal with the reduction of noise. Section 119 deals with
horns. Every motor vehicle shall be fitted with an electric horn
or other device approved by the Bureau of Indian Standards
and the registering authority for use by the driver of the
vehicle, capable of giving audible and sufficient warning of
the approach or position of the vehicle. Section 120 deals with
the silencers. Every motor vehicle shall be fitted with a device
(hereinafter referred to as silencer) which by means of an
expansion chamber or otherwise reduces as far as practicable,
the noise that would otherwise be made by the escape of
exhaust gases from the engine.
 v) Law of Torts: Under law of torts, a civil suit can be filed claiming
damages for the nuisance. Nuisance as a tort means an unlawful
interference with a person's use or enjoyment of land or some right over, or
in connection with it.
 vi) The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981: Under this
act, noise was included in the definition of air pollutant. Thus the
provisions of the Air Act became applicable in respect of noise pollution .
 vii) The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986: Although there is no specific
provision in the Act to deal with noise pollution, it provides powers to the
Government of India to take measures to deal with various types of
pollution including noise pollution. Invoking the powers under the Act,
Central Pollution Control Board constituted in 1989 a committee on noise
pollution control. This committee recommended noise standards for
ambient noise, automobiles, domestic appliances and construction
equipments, a part of these standards were later notified as part of the
Environment (Protection) Ru1es,1986 (MOEF, 1989, 1990; Singal,1990,
1991, 1992)
 Environmental Standards
 In United Kingdom, till to-date specific ambient noise limits
or standards have not been enforced, although it is one of the
premier countries to have done lot of work in this area. To
decide local complaints of annoyance and acceptability of new
industrial development areas, British Standard BS 4142
(1967) and Greater London Council guidelines on noise and
vibration (Vulkan,1977) are usually used. According to this,
complaints on noise nuisance can be registered with the local
authorities in case the measured noise level exceeds the well-
established or nationally approved background noise level by
10 dBA or more.
 A criterion level of 50 dBA corrected for different types of
areas (5dBA for residential and +20 dBA for a predominantly
industrial area with few dwellings) is used to decide these
local complaints. Local planning authorities may lay down
conditions requiring the factory to be insulated against noise
while granting permission under the Planning Act (D.K.,197l).
Noise nuisance on the street is controlled through the Control
of Pollution Act (U.K.,1974). According to this Act, it is an
offence to operate a loud speaker in the streets between 09.00
PM and 08.00 AM for ice cream vans and the like at any time
for the purpose of advertisement, except that taxi drivers can
use them for entertainment of, or for communication with the
passengers.
 Impulse Noise (Fire Works) Exposure Standards
 Lot of efforts / studies have been carried out in the direction of setting a
standard for noise due to fireworks. Before we undertake to discuss the
latest position on the subject, let us first try to get to know a little bit about
these various studies.
 Rice and Cole (1965) and Coles et al (1968) were among the first few to
report measurements of cracker noise. They defined A- .and B-hold
positions of impulse signal to determine peak noise signal and impulse
power level of noise signatures from crackers and toy fire arms. A criterion
of 160 dB peak SPL was suggested a safe limit measured at a distance of 1
m. This level was being considered safe in Holland and Denmark as
quoted by Gjaevenes (1965). However, Dutch Consumer Law for
fireworks (Putzfeld, 1985) states that fireworks sold to the public should
not produce during reaction a sound level above 150 dB(lin peak) at a
distance of 1 m. EEC as per its directives (1986,1989) has further reduced
this limit to 140 dB(lin peak).
 US National Research Council on Hearing, Bio-acoustics and Bio-
mechanics (CHABA, 1968) adopted damage risk criterion of peak sound
pressure level of 160 dB for impulsive sounds due to fire arms (also
adopted by Cole et al, 1968 shown in Fig.6.3). This exposure criterion was
stated to produce an average noise induced temporary threshold shift
(measured 2 minutes after the cessation of the exposure) of not more than
10 dB at 1000Hz, 15 dB at 2000 Hz and 20 dB at 3000 Hz and above in 95
% of the exposed ears for a daily exposure of 100 impulses.
 For perpendicular incidence of impulse noise, the allowable level must be
decreased by 5 dB. This criterion permitted 100 exposures per day to a
peak pressure level of 162 dB with a total duration of 10 msec., rising to an
upper limit of 174 dB for one exposure per day of not more than 25 µsec
(Ward,1968).
 Later developments, however, tended to suggest that
the complexity of the CHABA criterion may well be
replaced by the extension of the Leq concept already
accepted for continuous noise (Rice and Martin, 193;
Gieke et al, 1982). According to this concept
stipulated in OSHA standard (US Department of
Labour, 1974), impulsive not exceed 140 dB SPL.
 Definition of the Problem
 No doubt industries brought in wealth and comfort to
the industrial nations, but they were also
accompanied with pollution of the environments.
Day after day it became difficult to get clean water
for drinking and clean air to breathe. The
deterioration of the environments did not just stop at
that, the thundering sounds from the industrial
machines, transport vehicles, aircrafts and even the
musical systems had started arousing sickness in the
people exposed to these sounds.
 Increased awareness in the 1960’s of the quality of life and social
wellbeing of the humans against the growing pollution all around
due to more and more industrial developments, led most of the
developed countries to formalize review procedures to assess
consequences of new actions, projects, products and procedures
on the environments prior to their initiation. Under this review
process, both short and long term effects of new actions and
projects on man's physical and social surroundings, on nature
and on wild life were considered. Social costs, benefits and
crunches on the irreversible resources to achieve desired
objectives were analyzed and documented. The procedure so
developed to analyze the effect of any industrial project on
environments before it is launched, is today being termed as
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Environmental
Impact Statement.
 EIA involves many technical aspects of physical and social
environhments. It is a detailed statement by a responsible official on
the environmental impact of the proposed action or project, any
adverse environmental effects which cannot be avoided, alternatives
to the proposed action, relationship between the local short term use
of man's environment and maintenance and enhancement of long
term productivity, and any irreversible and irretrievable
commitment of resources that would be involved in the proposed
action on implementation.EIA thus measures the elements that are
encapsulated within a product, process or project i.e. it attempts to
examine projects, processes and products within the context, and
relates them to their overall existing or future operational
environment.
 The output from an ErA is a detailed assessment statement
that will present an objective basis upon which a decision can
be made. Also it is an approach that indicates the possibility of
developing a two-way interaction between the design and the
implementation of policy and the design and operation of an
individual project (Roberts,1988). EIA statement has the
inherent advantage of providing explicit guidance and basis
for a rational cost benefit analysis to the decision makers as
also for those who are responsible for the design, manufacture
and evaluation of specific products. At the same time, it
allows product assessment to co-exist with the operational
environment within which products are utilized.
 It would be possible for an EIA to suggest whether the proposed action or
project is acceptable at the suggested site, may be acceptable at another
site, is unacceptable at any site what so ever, or needs to be modified to be
acceptable at the proposed or any other alternate site. All this can be
debated in public, and the comments so made or received, become a part of
the report for further necessary action.
 The purpose of an EIA is thus to develop and implement procedures and
methods for the comprehensive assessment of the environmental
consequences of major projects, to help decision makers to make better
decisions. Of course, EIA is not in itself a decision. By implication, EIA is
seen to be concerned with assessing the impacts of a specific proposed
action or product upon the environment, as also it considers a range of
alternate actions or products that might be adopted, should the initial
impact of such actions or products proves to be undesirable or
unacceptable.
 Thus the purpose of the Environment Impact Statement is to assess the
amount of adverse impact, and to minimize or avoid alternate solutions.
The guidelines laid down in an EIA are of great use if they are followed
during the planning of an action, and not after the occurrence of the event
or action.
 Environmental impact assessment procedures and systems are of many
types and they utilize variety of criteria applied at different thresholds.
However, most forms of EIA can be expected to conform to four basic
principles:
 They identify the nature of the proposed and induced activities that are
likely to be
 generated by a project or the introduction of a process or a product;
 They identify the relevant elements of the environment that will be
affected;
 They evaluate the initial and subsequent impacts; and
 They are concerned with the management of the beneficial and adverse
impacts that are generated.
 The procedures for assessing the effects on the environment of
new actions, projects, products, procedures prior to their
initiation were initiated in the late sixties. In the United States
of America, environment impact assessment was introduced in
1969 after the enactment of the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969 (US, 1969). According to this Act, all
federal agencies in the USA were required to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement in advance of all major
projects. Subsequently, the guidelines and procedures (Anon,
1977) were laid down by the Committee on Hearing,
Bioacoustics, and Biomechanics (CHABA) appointed by
Environmental Protection Agency of USA (EPA, 1973) for the
preparation of environmental impact statements with respect
 Federal Government of West Germany introduced EIA in 1971. It required
that all measures undertaken by federal authorities should be subjected to
an examination of environmental compatibility. By and by, based upon a
considerable level of national experience in the utilization of
environmental impact assessment, other countries of Europe and some
other advanced countries also encouraged the preparation of EIAs. On 27
June 1985 the Council of Environmental Ministers of the European
Communities adopted a directive (EEC, 1985) on the assessment of the
effects of certain public and private projects related to the environment.
This directive, which is generally known as the EEC’s Environmental
Impact Assessment or EIA directive requires the Member States of the
European Community to develop and implement procedures and methods
for comprehensive assessment of the environmental consequences of
major projects.
 Enviornmental Impact Assessment Methodology of noise pollution
due to mining and control strategy.
 Directorate general of mines (DGMS) ,Dhanbad through circular
number D.G.(Tech)18 of 1975, has recommended following standards
for noise level:-

Warning level 85db(A)(for 8hrs daily

exposure)
Danger limit 90db(A)(unprotected ears for 8

hrs daily exposure)

Compulsory wearing of ears 115db(A)(for 8 hrs daily

protection limit exposure)

No work limit 140db(A) or

140db(A) impulse noise for short

 Ministry of Enviornment and forest has recommended following
ambient noise levels.
 Indian Standards for noise level

S. Area Noise limits , Leq. dB(A)

N Day time Night time

1 Silence Zone 50 45
2 Residential area 55 45
3 Commercial aera 65 55
4 Industrial area 75 65
 Maximum allowable duration Sound pressure level, db(A)

per day hours

8 90
6 92
4 95
3 97
2 100
1.5 102
1 105
0.75 107
0.5 110
No Exposure in excess of 115db(A) is permitted.
0.25 115
 The factories act 1948 stipulated the limits for impulsive sound as
given in table:-
Peak sound Permiited nos. of Peak sound Permitted no. impulse per day

pressure level dB impulses per day pressure level dB

140 100 135 315

130 1000 125 3160

120 10000 >140 No Exposure

 A comparision of noise level at different working places of mine is

made for ascertaining the impacts of noise.
 Elements of Environmental Noise for Impact Assessment
 To consider the impact of noise of a project on people and environments,
the following factors need to be determined before any action is suggested
and taken:
 Source emission strength and user attributes must be known;
 Acoustical propagation characteristics of the medium may be measured;
 Population distribution information may be collected; and
 Noise criteria representing suitable cause-effect relationship may be
determined.
 In the above context, a measure of the noise level in decibels at a
standard distance is the most straight forward determination of the source
emission strength and the effect of the acoustical propagation
characteristics of the medium.
 The cause-effect relationship due 'to noise can be gauged through human
response elements of annoyance and irritation, sleep disruption,
interference with spoken communication, and damage to the ears resulting
in temporary or permanent hearing loss which includes both short and long
term effects.
 The impact response measure commences at a low threshold of 55 dBA
LDN and theoretically continues upto a LDN of 75 dBA and above where the
noise becomes unacceptable for public health and welfare impacts, so
much so, that it can cause damage to the ears resulting in temporary or
permanent' hearing loss, A qualitative representation of this anticipated
human response to noise can be seen diagrammatically in Fig. 7.1 due to
Goldstein (1977).
 Using the above criteria, the probability or magnitude of the anticipated
effect can be statistically predicted in terms of noise exposure incurred and
dose response exhibited as linear or curvilinear relationships or
combinations thereof representing a statistical average response for any
given population percentile (Goldstein, 1977). The total impact of all
exposures is determined by knowing the population distribution of people
affected to varying degrees and may be expressed by using an array or
matrix in which the severity of impact at each sound level is represented
against the number of people exposed at that level. However, it has been
found that creating multiple arrays of population impact information is
quite cumbersome and subsequent comparisons between complex data
tabulations generally tend to become somewhat subjective.
 Assessment Procedure
 The Department of Environment in the country shall provide guidance for
local authorities on the methods that might be utilized in assessing major
projects. The manual prepared by the Department of Environment or its
subsidiary units may suggest a working methodology for the preparation of
an EIA. It may propose that from initial discussions with the developer, a
project specification report may be prepared in parallel with site inspection
and review of the existing policies. This will allow for the construction of
an impact matrix that, on following proper consultations, can be utilized to
relate the existing situation in an area to the likely impacts of the project,
their appraisal and subsequently production of an impact statement, which,
in turn, will lead to the preparation of a final report and recommendations,
upon which a decision can be taken.
 Three aspects of this process are of specific interest:
 (1) Specifications of the proposed action, project, process or the
product: The specifications are based upon the details provided by the
proposer of the action, and will contain information as to the method of
construction and the range of activities that are intended to be developed.
Typical questions that may be asked by the planning authority include:
 a) Will the proposed installation significantly alter background noise
levels? In case the proposed project is so quiet as not to change the 'noise
environment at all, the EIS for noise would simply state, with minimum
documentation, that no impact is expected.
 b) If these levels increase, will the introduced noise levels be of a
magnitude to cause complaints from residents during day or nighttime?
Some proposed projects may cause a severe noise impaction their
surroundings, in such Cases no doubt, a full analysis of the noise impact is
required.
 (2) Measurement of impacts: General technical advice notes
should be available to the local planning authorities to specify
the steps to be taken in assessing the impact of noise. For
example, the Department of Transport may suggest that in
assessment of trunk road schemes, consideration should be
given to measurement of impact of noise, visual impact,
ecological impact and other forms of disturbances (Goldstein,
1977). Such explicit information will assist in tile assessment
process, especially in relation to the selection of locations
likely to be sensitive to noise for the proposed development,
the correction of noise level emitted at source and the
comparison of these levels with the criterion or background
level.
 (3) Appraisal of potential impacts: This will be required in order to
specify the scale and duration of noise impacts.
 In the case of a project requiring a mandatory EIA, the developer must
collect and present information about the impact of the project with respect
to noise, vibration, emissions of pollutants and production of residues. In
addition, the developer will be required to indicate the aspects of the
environment that will be significantly affected by the project, including the
human population, fauna, flora, soil, water, climate, built environment;
landscape and interrelationship between these factors. Further, information
will also be required on measures to prevent and reduce any adverse
effects upon the environment. It is implied that all this information shall be
fully utilized to determine specific impacts during both construction and
operational phases, in the appraisal of potential impacts and to identify the
most significant impacts, since at this stage crucial judgments have to be
made for the best possible decision to be taken.
 Preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement
 The preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on noise is
primarily concerned with the documentation and assessment of the
changes in noise situation/environment. It may consist of the following
steps:
 Description of the project or action.
 Analysis of noise environment by asking the questions: 'Does the noise
environment change? Does the exposed population change? Are changes
significant enough for detailed documentation?
 Measurement and documentation of the noise levels / exposed population:
It may include a) definition of the existing noise level / exposed
population; b) projection of future noise level/exposed population; and c)
change in noise level/impact of the project.
 Assessment of the Impact: It may include a) health and
welfare effects; b) potential loss of hearing; and c)
environmental degradation.
 Discussion and analysis of the results inc1udingjustification
for impact or consideration of alternatives: The alternative
schemes may suggest reduction in the degree of noise or
vibration impact. With respect to people exposed to noise,
emphasis may first be placed on reducing the amount of
potential loss of hearing, and afterwards priority may be given
to minimizing public health and welfare
effects.
 The above guidelines are based on the philosophy that, as much as
possible, the technical approach, the descriptors of the noise environment,
the measurement and prediction methods, as well as the evaluation criteria
and techniques for impact assessment should be uniform and as simple as
possible. For this purpose, the approach for most situations should be
quantitative to allow comparison of the noise impact produced by different
projects. There will always be areas of uncertainty in the noise impact
analysis, usually because of the non-availability of needed factual
information. For example, the projected future traffic volume for a
proposed freeway may be uncertain, the noise of a not yet built device may
be only approximately known, the population estimated to be exposed to
various sound levels from the project may be subject to error etc.
 The types of noise and vibration environments to be
considered for EIA are: a) General audible noise; b) Special
types of noises like infrasound (frequency range of 0.1 to 20
Hz), ultrasound (frequency range above 20 kHz), impulsive
sounds such as sonic booms and blasts, and sounds from
random noise sources such as voices, warning signals, barking
dogs etc. since these noises cannot be adequately evaluated by
average sound levels; and c) vibration. Vibration has been
included because of the close relationship of noise to
structural vibration.
 With respect to time, short-term temporary changes (existing for less than
six months) do not require the degree of noise documentation and impact
assessment specified for actions of longer duration. Long-term temporary
changes (longer than six months, but less than ten years) require noise or
vibration documentation comparable to that for permanent changes, but do
not require an extensive analysis of impact on future land uses and
populations. A permanent change in acoustical or vibration environment is
one whose consequences are significant for more than ten years.
Evaluation and assessment of these environments require a projection of
population and land uses affected by the environments over a period of
twenty years (or the life of the project if less).
 General Audible Noise Description
 Before going for full noise documentation, look for the
following basic screening: “So long as the expected yearly
day-night average sound level (YLDN) after the proposed
project is completed, is less than 40 dB and the sound pressure
level is never greater than 105 dB in the frequency band from
1 to 100 kHz, the project is screened out at the start and no
further noise analysis is needed, no matter what the existing
noise level is.”
 From the above stated screening test, it is clear that for most
situations, changes in the general audible noises can be
adequately described by using the yearly day-night average
sound level (YLDN) outdoors as the primary measure.
 However, when the concern is for the effects of noise over a
short period of time rather than an entire 24 hour day, the
measure used is the average (equivalent) continuous A-
weighted sound level over the specified period of time, say, 15
minutes, one hour or 8 hours or its variation that includes a
nighttime weighting, the day-night average sound level (LDN).
For most practical cases i.e. specific areas surrounding a noisy
site, this type of noise measure can adequately describe the
noise environment with the help of a map or drawing showing
contours of noise level. The environmental impact statement
may thus include a set of contours for the affected area, drawn
in increments of 5 dB, for the existing conditions and a set of
contours for each alternative implementation plan for the
 These contours may be based on actual measurements at the
site under consideration, using predictions on environments at
locations similar to the ones under consideration, or using
predictive methods for estimating the existing or expected
noise levels. In case of actual measured data, noise level may
be measured at a number of locations and over a time period
sufficient to establish a credible base line representing
constant values of yearly day-night average sound level.
 Another parameter to define the noise environment is the
Affected Population by the new noise sources above a
specified Yearly Day-Night noise Level (called the base
YLDN).
 Normally, the base YLDN is 55 dB consistent with the lower threshold for
health and welfare effects prescribed by EPA (1973, 1974) for the most
sensitive portion of the population i.e. residential, with an adequate margin
of safety for interference with speech communication, the ability to use
telephone, radio, and television satisfactorily, general well-being and sleep.
Increments below YLDN of 55 dB may also be included where it is
necessary to insure that the .increments cover a 20 to 25 dB range below
the highest YLDN to which a residential area is exposed due to the project
or action alone. In no event, however, it is necessary to list YLDN below
35 dB. The residential population can be estimated from census data, city
maps, direct counting of households or other relevant population data.
 The non-residential population may be estimated from
statistical data of employees working in industrial,
commercial, or public facility complexes, and student
enrollments and employee statistics in educational institutions.
The total population living between adjunct sound level
contours may be tabulated for each rang, along with the
change in the population for each solution considered.
 An equation of the followinf form based on population density
can be used to estimate the day-night average sound level or
the yearly day-night average sound level in areas where the
existing noise environment is primarily due to local
automotive traffic noise:
 LDN = 10 log 2.56 A + 22 dB
 where A is the population density per square kilometer. The
results obtained through the use of this equation are only
approximate. This equation was validated for American
communities for population densities between 20 persons per
square kilometer to 7800 persons per square kilometer. For
purposes of estimating the existing noise in relation to
permanent changes in areas with population density greater
than 7800 persons per square kilometer, one way is to assume
that the day-night average sound level is still 65 dB, and the
other way is of estimating higher background noise, either
direct measurements may be made or detailed calculations
based on existing noise sources may be carried out giving due
consideration to local street layout and traffic flow conditions.
 An attempt has been made to see the validity of the above relationship for
Indian communities living in the various zones of Delhi city. It has been
found that the population density in most areas of Delhi is more than 7800
persons per square kilometer. This makes u's to presume that background
noise level due to automative traffic in any residential area of Delhi is at
least 65 dBA. in any residential area of Delhi is a part of the background
noise level. However, since measured average background noise level in
most residential areas of Delhi is more than 65 dBA, therefore, it can be
inferred that background noise level due to traffic and other community
activities in residential areas of Delhi is more than 65 dBA for population
densities more than 7800 persons per square kilometer.
 For a variety of spaces and land uses, EPA (1973) has
specified a noise criteria to be used for EIA purposes. It is
given in Table 1. The listed values are the average sound
levels that would provide acceptable acoustical environments
at those sites. If these levels are not exceeded, negligible
impact with respect to health and welfare on the community
can be expected due to environmental noise. Note that these
criteria are all listed in terms of the outdoor noise levels, even
though the noise sensitive activity in question is usually
indoors. This is so because in any practical environmental
impact study, outdoor noise levels can be most readily
predicted or measured.
 Description of Special Types of Sounds / Vibrations
 Description of low level impulse noise can be accounted for as
part of normal general audible noise, i.e., human reaction to
the combined noise can be still reasonably well correlated
with the A-weighted day-night average sound level,
neglecting, however, startle and annoyance due to unexpected
noises. High energy impulse sounds such as those produced
by sonic booms, quarry blasts, or artillery-fire, require
additional measurements (Gierke, 1975, 1977), since these
sounds stimulate perception by people through other than
direct auditory perception such as through excitement of
noticeable vibration of buildings and other structures.
 These induced vibrations caused by airborne sound or transmitted through
ground / structure, may generate additional annoyance beyond that due to
simple udibility of the impulse, because of house rattling and startle, as
well as additional contributions to interference with speech or sleep.
 Generally, high energy impulsive sounds are described in terms of peak
sound pressure level in a wide frequency band. However, for impulse
sounds having peak pressures greater than 105 dB, it is more appropriate to
assess the environmental impact by C-weighted sound pressure level
(CSEL). This is then added logarithmically to the day-night average sound
level produced by all other sources. The resulting composite day-night
average sound level is used to determine the weighting function for the
otherwise identical impact assessment procedure. For impulses with peak
pressure greater than 140 dB, assessment criteria based on actual
physiological or structural damage may be applied in addition to the
annoyance assessment of the total noise environment.
 The C-weighted day-night average, sound level, LCDN’ is
calculated from the C- weighted noise exposure levels during
the time of interest as :
 LCDN = 10 log10(1 / To ) { 15 x 10 LCD/10 + 9 x 10 (LCN + 10) / 10
}
 Here To is for 24 hours, LCD is the average C-weighted sound
level over the daytime period of 15 hours, and LCN is the
average C-weighted sound level over the nighttime period of 9
hours, expressed as follows:
 LCD = 10 log10 ( 1/15 x 3600) { ∑1 N 10 LCEi / 10 },
 LCN = 10 log10 ( 1/9 x 3600) { ∑1 N 10 LCEi / 10 },
 with, Lcei defined as the C-weighted noise exposure level of the ith discrete
event.
 The above stated procedure is applied to high-energy impulses for Lcei ,
greater than 75 dB. In these cases the C-weighted noise exposure level in
the specific 2-sec time period exceeds the C-weighted noise exposure level
in the adjacent 2-sec time period by 10 dB. This way of characterizing
environmental impact of complex noises containing many impulses is
preferable to the description and discussion of individual impulses by
means of their peak pressure - a procedure particularly inappropriate for a
succession of many an overlapping impulses.
 Infrasound is defined as the sound in the frequency range from 0.1 to 20
Hz. Exposures for less than 1 minute at the frequencies and levels, stated
as follows,
 “1.1 to 5 Hz at 120 dB level, and
 5 to 20 Hz at {120 dB-30 log (f / 5)}level
 where ‘f’ is the frequency of the infrasonic waves in Hz,”
 are not harmful in any way, and for exposures longer than 1 minute and
less than 100 minutes, the non-damaging levels are reduced by ‘10 log t’,
where t is the time of exposure in minutes (Johnson, 1975). Exposures
longer than 100 minutes should use the 100-minute limits. Measurements
of infrasound waves may be made using instrumentation that has a flat
response (± 3 dB) for frequencies from 0.1 Hz to 1000 Hz. Ultrasound is
seldom an environmental problem, and unless the level is expected to
exceed 105 dB, it can be ignored in an environmental impact statement.
Noise levels above 105 dB should be reported in the EIS and individually
evaluated based on specific research studies.
 Frequently noise environments are accompanied by structure
borne vibrations that are either ground transmitted or induced
by airborne sound. The overall vibration level that will not
cause an adverse impact for any condition and time period,
correspondence to RMS acceleration values below 3.6 x 10-3
m/s2. For residential areas or other areas where people sleep,
the nighttime peak acceleration should be less than 0.01 m/s2
at any time and the
 continuous RMS acceleration should be below 0.005 m/s2 if
no complaints are to occur (ISO, 1974). The maximum value
of the impulsive shock that is expected to cause virtually no
complaints can be, however, raised depending on the number
of such impulses during the daytime.
 For continuous vibration measurements, RMS acceleration may be
measured along three orthogonal axes, one axis of which is normal to the
surface being measured. For impulsive shock, the measurement may be the
same as for the continuous vibration measurement, expect that the peak
acceleration, not the RMS value, may be used. The duration for impulsive
shock excitation is determined either by the time the acceleration of an
event exceeds 0.01m/sec2, by the time the acceleration is within one-tenth
of the peak value, whichever gives the shorter duration may be used.
 Detailed conditions of acceptability with respect to annoyance and
potential building damage vis-a vis changes in vibrational environments,
have been quantitatively discussed under a separate head related to
environmental impact statement due to noise.