In the legislation of the ancient Greek settlement of Sybaris (600 B.C.), we read, “Since noise has an unfavorable effect on the nerves, no craft involving hammering may be practiced within the city walls. Moreover, it is forbidden to keep roosters, since they disturb sleep.” Certainly, at that time, the intensity of the noise was totally out of proportion to the noise to which modern man is exposed every day.
Noise is harmful to health
Today, complaints about constant exposure to noise come mainly from large and medium-sized cities. Surveys have shown that about one-fifth of the population suffers from noise, and four-fifths feel disturbed by noise at work. Towards the end of the last century, when the progress of technology created the first real sources of noise in the form of factories and means of transport, the great German physician and microbiologist Robert Koch expressed the view that “one day man will have to fight noise as relentlessly as he fights cholera and the plague“. Today, complaints about constant exposure to noise come primarily from large and medium-sized cities. Surveys have shown that about one fifth of the population suffers from noise, and four fifths feel disturbed by noise at work. It is interesting to note that road traffic noise is by far the most common source of noise, while railroad and airplane noise, radio noise, children’s noise, etc., follow far behind. Moreover, small children and old people, and even more so sick people, are particularly sensitive to noise. The increasing noise in the environment may also be one of the reasons for the currently increasing consumption of sleeping pills; because sleep, as an essential means for restoring work and performance, as well as for maintaining human health, is not guaranteed for everyone under the influence of noise. Due to the agglomeration of residential and work places into large cities and large industrial areas, noise, which is generated in the environment by a large number of noise sources and in high intensity, has become a problem of our time. If we analyze the subjective complaints of the population about noise in more detail, interesting findings emerge. Naturally, the stronger a noise is, the more frequent are the complaints. Low and high frequencies are more annoying than noises in the middle frequency range. Constant, increasing and decreasing noise is more unpleasant than continuous noise. A regular rhythm of noise peaks is not as annoying as an irregular rhythm. Noise coming from different directions is more unpleasant than continuous noise coming from the same direction. Avoidable noise is particularly annoying. Whether one finds the noise more or less unpleasant depends on the particular occupation. It is well known that noise is particularly disturbing during mental work. To some people, noise that they themselves cause does not seem annoying at all, in contrast to their environment. Apparently, one can get used to the noise if necessary, but noise has an objective effect on the organism. It can affect, endanger and, in the worst case, harm health.
Diseases and complaints
It is common knowledge that, for example, in the so-called noise factories, intense noise can cause damage to the hearing organ, that is, to the ear, unless – as we do today – appropriate precautionary measures are taken by doctors. However, we must assume that noise affects the entire organism and not just the ear. This is the case with environmental noise and depends on the volume, pitch and other factors. If a few years ago the average volume on big city streets was 60 to 80 decibels, today it reaches much higher values. In narrow streets, noise pollution is particularly large, because significant sound reflections occur. At the higher narrow frequency components, the noise insulation between the dwelling and the street is less strong than for broadband noise with a low-frequency component. For this reason, motor scooters, for example, which produce sounds from 500 to 1000 hertz, are known to be particularly unpleasant noise sources. However, most traffic noise is broadband noise. In all cities and towns, noise levels increase roughly proportionally with increasing traffic density. Environmental noise penetrates into homes, schools and hospitals, creating unfavorable conditions for recreation, mental work and successful treatment of the sick.Since it is not extremely strong noise, there is no damage to the ear or directly to the central nervous system. But the physical effect remains, that is, the annoyance, which, although it does not affect health, can reduce instantaneous performance, apart from the adverse consequences already mentioned for the necessary rest, such as sleep.
Symptoms and complaints
The effect on the vegetative nervous system also remains with higher noise intensity. Symptoms of fatigue, headaches, sleep disturbances, high blood pressure and other reactions are characteristic of this. It is interesting that these vegetative reactions like blood pressure changes occur independently of whether the person concerned is aware of the noise or not. If the individual sound stimuli become so strong or are repeated so often that no recovery is possible between the stimuli, a chronic regulatory disturbance of the vegetative nervous system, i.e. a manifest damage, can occur. The environmental noise of our time therefore also holds the possibility of endangering human health. In order to answer the question whether noises are harmful to health or not, one does not start from the subjective feeling of the person concerned or from the feeling of oversensitive persons. If, on the basis of general medical experience, there is a justified concern that harm will occur, the possibility of harm is to be assumed. The medical findings on the objective harmful effects of noise on the human organism are also taken into account in the limit values that have been laid down for Germany in the noise limits. These regulations, which vary from state to state, contain the permissible limits for the sound level or volume in buildings or their surroundings. In order to preserve and promote the health of the population and to protect it from the harmful effects of noise from the environment, planning, technical and administrative measures for noise abatement and noise reduction in the environment are necessary. In particular, it is necessary to comply with the above-mentioned noise control standard in practice and to enforce it. The main thing, however, is to combat the noise source itself, and this is primarily a technical problem. Traffic noise will continue to increase significantly with the foreseeable increase in traffic density. On the other hand, however, the development of our cities prohibits moving buildings many meters away from the road. Noise abatement must therefore be a
technical measures must be implemented primarily at the source of the noise. The most effective and economical way to combat noise is to prevent it from occurring. However, such measures can only be successful if urban planners, architects,
physicians, traffic planners, technicians, engineers, and designers work together, and the fight against noise becomes a matter for the entire population.
