Noise pollution

1996/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingurumena

Spain is the loudest country in Europe. However, some municipal authorities claim it is normal when they see statistical data, as they do not represent a Norwegian singing and applauding on the street. In Spanish legislation there is no specific legislation on noise and it should be noted that not all Spanish populated cities have the corresponding ordinance. Traffic noise is formed by exhaust pipes, motors, sirens, claxons, brooms when rubbing asphalt and according to data is the most persistent and harmful

We are in summer and not far from where we live many of us will have some bar-terrace, pub-terrace or discoteca-terrace, equipped with displacements of motorcycles and / or noisy cars and with sound interviews until the few hours of the morning. There are four levels of noise emission with decibel limits close to the minimum emission threshold: two of them belong to the youth environment and both are voluntary performances: discos (120 dB) and pop-rock concerts (110 dB). The other two are the pneumatic hammer (115 dB) and the chainsaw (105 dB). In the free time of young people many noisy sources are concentrated: cars with increasingly powerful musical equipment, large displacement bikes, walkman, football followers, etc.

It is not surprising, therefore, that among the conclusions drawn in a recent symposium on diagnosis and prosthetic treatment of deafness it is noted that, in recent times, the average age of people affected by deafness has decreased from 60 to 30 to 45 years.

Pathologies caused by excessive noise include anxiety, distress, stress, digestive disturbances, decreased fertility, hypertension, visual imbalances, as well as accelerating cancer processes when decibels are higher than 110.

In cities as large as Madrid or Barcelona, 90% of the population is exposed to noise levels higher than the limits set by the World Health Organization, where traffic is the real disease. The number of cars and their mobility, for example, has increased considerably in the last decade, but the streets of half a city have not grown. To mitigate the unpleasant effects of traffic noise, the highlight has been the installation of insulating screens in some sections of the main ring roads.

In any case, it must be said that noise not only occurs outside our homes, but also inside. Noise emitted by washing machines and dishwashers, telephones, computers, refrigerators, televisions, etc. approaches or exceeds the decibel limits set by WHO. In summer, in addition to the previous ones, we often have around us a fan or air conditioning appliances that make hearing life more difficult.