ENVIS Centre: Uttar Pradesh
Status of Environment and Related Issues

Sources of Noise Pollution:

Major causes / sources of noise pollution are:

(i) Industrial Sources:

Progress in technology (industrialization) has resulted in creating noise pollu­tion. Textile mills, printing presses, engineering establishments and metal works etc. contribute heavily towards noise pollution. In industrial cities like Kolkata, Ludhiana, Kanpur etc., often the industrial zones are not separated from the residential zones of the city especially in the case of small scale industries.

These operate from workshops located on the ground floors of the residential areas and cause annoyance, discomfort and irri­tation to the residents exposed to the noise that is inevitably produced. The situation is much better in modern planned cities like Chandigarh where the industrial area is kept away from the residential areas and both are sepa­rated from each other by a sufficiently wide green belt.

(ii) Transport Vehicles:

Automobile revolution in urban centers has proved to be a big source of noise pollution. Increasing traffic has given rise to traffic jams in congested areas where the repeated hooting of horns by impatient drivers pierce the ears of all road users.

Noise from airplanes constitutes an increasing serious problem in big cities like Delhi & Mumbai. Airport situated in the vicinity of population centres and the air planes pass over residential areas. Heavy trucks, buses trains, jet-planes, motor-cycles, scooters, mopeds, jeeps—the list of vehicles is endless but the outcome is same — noise pollution.

(iii) Household:

The household is an industry in itself and is a source of many indoor noises such as the banging of doors, noise of playing children, crying of infants, moving of furniture, loud conversation of the inhabitants etc. Besides these are the entertainment equipment in the house, namely the radio, record-players and television sets. Domestic gadgets like the mixer-grinders, pressure cookers, desert coolers, air- conditioners, exhaust fans, vacuum cleaners, sewing and washing machines are all indoor sources of noise pollution.

(iv) Public Address System:

In India people need only the slightest of an excuse for using loud speakers. The reason may be a religious function, birth, death, marriage, elections, dem­onstration, or just commercial advertising. Public system, therefore, contrib­utes in its own way towards noise pollution.

(v) Agricultural Machines:

Tractors, thrashers, harvesters, tube wells, powered tillers etc. have all made agriculture highly mechanical but at the same time highly noisy. Noise level 90 dB to 98 dB due to running of farm machines have been recorded in the state of Punjab.

(vi) Defense Equipment:

A lot of noise pollution is added to the atmosphere by artillery, tanks, launching of rockets, explosions, exercising of military airplanes and shooting practices. Screams of jet engines and sonic booms have a deafening impact on the ears and in extreme cases have been known to shatter the window panes and old dilapidated buildings.

(vii) Miscellaneous Sources:

The automobile repair shops, construction-works, blasting, bulldozing, stone crushing etc. are other sources of noise pollution.