Dear Editor,
From time to time, many of us have suffered the scourge of noise pollution from high-decibel sound sources. In many instances, the Police for one reason or another do not enforce the noise pollution laws.
Letters to the press complaining about the problem evoke little, if any, response from those who are authorized to respond. Many sufferers have given up and suffer in…not silence, but noise.
Many seem to think that loud noise is just a mere nuisance that has no harmful effects or that the effects can be easily washed away like dirt from the skin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Loud noise in any form does have severe negative impact on the mental and physical health of people. The more notable effects are temporary hearing loss, ringing in the ears, called tinnitus, hearing impairment and worst, permanent deafness. Other effects include headaches, lowered concentration, and increase in stress by promoting high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. But the most debilitating effect is permanent hearing impairment. This can have severe social implications such as when partially deaf people have to shout thinking they are not speaking loud enough or cannot hear when spoken to, especially over the telephone.
Seeing that the Police are so very zealous in the use of radar guns to trap and charge speeding drivers, it makes perfect sense for the Police to import and use sound level meters (decibel meters) to trap and charge noise polluters. Just as the use of the radar guns motivates the Police to go after speeding drivers and so helps keep down road accidents, so will the use of sound level meters motivate them to go after the noise polluters and prevent the rest of us from going ‘byra’, Hindi for deaf.
Sound level meters are as easy to use as radar guns, have similar purchase and maintenance costs and are just as robust if properly cared for. I know because I have used one. Once I measured the sound level of a music vendor’s boom box at 103 decibels (dB). When he saw what I was doing he switched off his system! I even offered to pay him $500 to get another reading but he flatly refused to turn on his box. A South minibus with music blaring was measured at 121 dB. The sound level at the junction of Camp and Regent Streets on Saturdays was 87 dB. According to audiologists, hearing loss begins to happen during frequent and prolonged exposure to 85 dB or more. A jet engine emits about 110 dB and the threshold of pain is 120 dB. If the noise does not hurt your ears, it could only mean one thing: you are becoming ‘byra’.
I have seen how the mere thought that a policeman with a radar gun might be lurking around the corner can exorcise the speed demon from many drivers. Think of what a policeman with a sound level meter in his hand can do: exorcise the noise demons from the noise polluters. I also recall that the Police plan to use breathalysers to measure alcohol levels in drivers. So, Mr. Commissioner, equip your police stations with sound level meters and give your ranks the tested and true technical means to enforce the laws against noise pollution.
Yours faithfully,
M. Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
