Dear Editor,
From time to time, many of us have suffered from the assault of loud noise belched forth from the maws of 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 and paid to do so by our tax dollars. Many sufferers have given up and are forced to suffer the deadly noise.
Many seem to think that loud noise is just a trivial nuisance that has no harmful effects and that the effects can be easily washed away like light dust from the skin. Nothing could be further from the truth. Loud noise in any form has a severe damaging 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 at 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 notorious 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. The indisputable fact is that loud noise of any sort is damaging to the ears and prolonged forced exposure of unwilling listeners to it is an unwarranted assault like any other physical assault and similarly deserving of a fine and/or jail time.
Years ago, in Rose Hall Town, there was a man we used to call ‘Uncle Byra.’ I thought it was just a nickname. Later I learned that Uncle Byra was hard of hearing and ‘byra’ is Hindi for ‘deaf.’ I believe that many of our minibus drivers and conductors, as well as many others who listen to cacaphony, are becoming Uncle and Auntie Byras. Many minibus operators seem to be suffering from varying degrees of permanent hearing ment, brought about no doubt by the damage they have inflicted on their ears by years of listening to high-decibel music. Even when there is no music playing at all, minibus operators do not hear passengers’ request to stop or sometimes stop at the wrong point, prompting the inconvenienced passengers to remark, “Like you deaf or what?” This may be why some of them have to play the music so loud: they have lost so much of their hearing that they cannot hear at a normal level; they have to crank up the decibels. It may also explain why many of them have to shout when speaking: hearing impaired people tend to talk the loudest. I have been told that Americans say Guyanese scream when they speak!
Places of entertainment and places of worship that subject their audiences and congregations to heavy music, while providing joy to their listeners, may also be causing permanent hearing loss to them. I do know that the Psalms says, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord” and “Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.” But this was written in the days when electronically amplified music and ear-splitting PA systems were uninvented. The unaided human voice and unaided musical instruments were the order of that day
Whether they praise the Lord or praise the devil, people should do so at moderate volumes that will not disturb others who have no desire to hear their praises. Individuals can become ‘byra’ if they want, but they have no right to inflict that assault on others. Throughout any noisy event the volume must always be at levels that never escalate to becoming a noise assault on residential areas. Music should be played at levels that do not disturb others. I care not one whit whether they are playing “Nearer my God to Thee” or “She gone fuh cane again” they must not play it at disturbing, deafening and damaging decibels.
Last weekend, residents living near Area H in Rose Hall Town had to endure two days and three nights of deafening nerve-wracking, roof-rattling cacaphony from the Town Day celebrations that were held under the authority of the Town Council, the legally authorized body that runs the town, and guarded by the police, who stood by watching and listening as the noise nuisance law was being broken. How permission can be given to inflict deafening and damaging noise upon residents is mind-boggling! It’s like the police giving permission to people to commit physical assault on others – a clear case of institutionalized lawlessness.
To monitor noisy events, the police should use sound level meters (decibel meters). This will help to trap and charge noise polluters. Sound level meters are as easy to use as speed 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 GT minibus with kaboom-box blaring was measured at 121 dB. The sound level at the junction of Camp and Regent Streets on a busy Saturday morning 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 – 140 dB and the threshold of pain is 120 dB.
If the noise does not hurt your ears and if you need to raise the volume to hear, it could only mean one thing: you are becoming ‘byra.’ Just don’t force me to become ‘byra’ with you.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Xiu Quan-Balgobind-Hackett
