Noise Pollution: Overview

Introduction

Noise pollution refers to any unwanted or displeasing noise that is created by human activity or machinery; it is also called "environmental noise." Noise pollution ranges from the merely distracting or irritating, like a neighbor's enthusiastic band practice, to the stressful or even potentially physically harmful, like the 130-decibel sound produced by a jackhammer. Severe unchecked noise pollution can have very damaging effects, such as displacing animals from their habitats or causing hearing loss and other health effects in humans.

Major sources of noise pollution in the United States include transportation noise (airport/airplane sounds, traffic noise, trains, etc.) and noise from construction and industry. Most industries or activities that produce noise pollution on a large scale are subject to either federal or state regulation, and they are held to noise-emission standards. However, the organizations responsible for promoting the economic growth of a particular area are often the same ones in charge of regulating noise pollution, so there are sometimes complaints of bias.

Other types of noise pollution, such as yard work with power tools and loud parties, are classified as "nuisances." Since the effects of nuisance noise pollution are subjective, debate often arises between people who consider these activities expressions of personal freedom and those who consider them sources of stress and annoyance.

Although a variety of laws and regulations exist at different levels of government to deal with the problem, some feel that these limits on noise pollution are either too soft or not strictly enforced. Concern about protecting workers from occupational hearing loss has also grown in recent decades.

Understanding the Discussion

Externality: The term given to any unintended side effect that the action of a person or industry has on others. Externalities can be positive or negative; noise pollution is considered a negative externality.

Decibel: The unit of measure used to calculate different levels of sound pressure. Typical indoor noise levels measure about 45 decibels, a typical conversation about 60 decibels, and a rock concert about 120 decibels. Any sound above 85 decibels has the potential to cause hearing loss, depending on the duration of exposure to the sound.

Nuisance: Legally, a nuisance is anything that causes hurt, interference, or damage. Nuisances are governed by municipal, or city, law; they are not regulated by federal legislation.

Noise-emission standards: Limits on the decibel level and duration of the sounds that can be produced by a given industry or activity.

Occupational hearing loss: Damage to a person's sense of hearing due to prolonged exposure to excessive noise levels while at work; for example, at a factory where loud machinery is used, or at an airport.

History

The first documented noise regulation law dates back to 44 BCE, when Roman Emperor Julius Caesar banned wheeled vehicles from moving within the city limits during the hours between sunset and sunrise. In the United States, early attempts to curb noise pollution occurred only on a case-by-case basis. When frustrated residents of a particular area raised complaints about a particular highway or airport, or enough citizens got together to bring a nuisance lawsuit against a particular company, a specific law might be passed or court order issued to deal with the problem.

In the second half of the 1960s, the federal government agreed that excessive noise should be legally classified as a pollutant (something that damages the environment), and several important pieces of legislation were passed that began to define the problem and outline possible solutions. The 1970 Noise Pollution and Abatement Act called for official studies to research the effects of noise pollution on public health and safety, and the 1972 Noise Control Act required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set up an office devoted to addressing the issue and producing regulatory guidelines to deal with noise emissions.

Toward this end, the EPA created the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC), a body that had a short but significant lifespan. In the nearly ten years that ONAC was in existence, it was responsible for many important achievements. For example, it conducted extensive studies on noise pollution, produced standards documents that required the development of quieter industrial machinery and household appliances, pushed for new noise control regulations, introduced new product labels that gave consumers information about the noise characteristics of retail items, facilitated several civil lawsuits against noise polluters, and raised awareness of noise pollution issues. In addition, the EPA and ONAC caused more states and cities to factor environmental noise into building and zoning laws, and to pass statutes regulating street noise. Finally, ONAC produced a groundbreaking publication documenting the safe and dangerous levels of environmental noise; it is still the basis of most noise control laws in the US.

However, in 1982 the US government decided to phase out federal funding for ONAC, effectively cutting the office out of existence. Since then, the responsibility and authority for addressing most types of noise pollution has been left largely to state and local governments.

For some, this situation is not a problem. They feel that the current condition of legislation and enforcement is acceptable, that existing laws controlling noise in the workplace and in public are sufficient, and that more aggressive attempts to reduce noise pollution would be unnecessary. They also worry that it would be too burdensome to require industries and businesses to radically change their means of production (buying new quieter machines, for instance) in order to reduce noise pollution, and argue that it is cheaper and just as effective to protect employees with preventive safety gear.

For others, noise pollution is a pervasive and growing problem that is poorly regulated. They complain, for instance, about the fact that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is in charge of studying and regulating aircraft noise, is the same organization responsible for safeguarding the continued health and development of the airline industry. Individual citizens and employees of large corporations need tougher noise control laws to protect them, according to groups like "Noise Off: The Citizens Coalition Against Noise Pollution."

With regard to smaller-scale, transient noise pollution such as loud music and car muffler noise, some feel that these issues should be solved by individual negotiations; they defend the right to produce such noise as personal freedom. Others, however, would like stricter legislation and better enforcement of existing laws against disturbing the peace.

Noise Pollution Today

Contemporary debate over noise pollution tends to focus on specific issues such as airport noise. For example, in 2005 a group of homeowners in Minneapolis brought a class-action lawsuit against the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Commission, which had promised to install better sound-insulation equipment at their facility but failed to do so. Similar lawsuits have been brought across the country, including Massachusetts to Ohio. Their long-term effect on the noise pollution issue remains to be seen.

In October 2012 the Houston City Council in Texas updated the city’s noise ordinances. The revised law includes a provision that allows police officers to issue a violation if bass notes coming from a property cause vibrations to be felt at another property. Houston nightclub owners claimed the law unfairly targeted their businesses, as arrests of club staff over noise complaints became a regular occurrence. Residents, however, continued to complain, with some neighborhood groups questioning why police were not being more forceful in their application of the ordinance. The struggle between residents and business owners over the validity and enforcement of the Houston law speaks to the subjective nature of noise pollution laws.

One major environmental concern that has arisen in the twenty-first century has to do with the question of noise pollution produced at sea by large commercial ships and by the sonar equipment of military vessels. This type of noise pollution has had devastating effects on marine life. It has been shown to cause tissue damage or death among certain species of fish and marine mammals such as whales, disrupt the normal life behaviors of many animals, and to displace others from their habitats. A focal point of this issue was the Puget Sound in the Pacific Northwest, an important habitat for orcas; several initiatives studied and attempted to reduce vessel noise in the area in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Environmentalists have raised concerns about the impact of noise pollution on land as well. A 2017 report from the National Park Service (NPS) indicated that over 60 percent of protected lands in the US experienced double the natural level of noise due to human-caused sounds. Although the NPS sought to tackle the issue of noise pollution through its Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, it had limited ability to create and enforce regulations. Most regulatory efforts remained at the local rather than federal level.

Despite calls for more and better noise control laws, the United States is actually considered a pioneer in noise pollution legislation. The issue is certainly one that crosses international lines, and in many countries noise pollution has become an increasingly prominent issue in public debate. In densely populated India, for instance, where sound pressure levels in cities like Delhi regularly reach 90 decibels or more during the day, new noise regulations were added to the country's environmental protection act in 2000. The problem was also recognized in Europe, where an estimated 48,000 cases of heart disease and 12,000 premature deaths each year were linked to noise pollution, according to the European Environment Agency in 2020.

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