Hit by Noise Pollution

Published in

Our Planet. Our Life.

5 min readFeb 14, 2023

My Experience with Noise

Recently, I have written a few posts on walking and the benefits of this simple activity. I live in India, and when I wrote these last posts, I realized that walking is an unpleasant activity in India.

Let me go back into ancient history to illustrate the unpleasantness with a personal example. I lived in Shanghai many years ago. When we visited Delhi during my children’s winter break, I eschewed the car and walk between my parent’s home and that of my in-laws. I gave up after one walk.

Even though the distance took me less than thirty minutes, and the weather was pleasant, the experience was awful. I was jumping between slushy puddles, evading murderous drivers, trying not to inhale vehicular fumes, and wishing the dust would not flow into my eyes and mouth.

I promised I would not repeat the horrible experience. Several years later, I took up photography again when I found myself out of my corporate career. I have added writing and coaching to my list of offerings, but this is beside the point.

Paharganj

When I bought my Fitbit and activated it on the 1st of December 2002, I increased my walking. I walk a lot (but dread the oncoming summer). Last week, I visited a place called Paharganj in New Delhi. I parked my car at Connaught Place, walked to Paharganj, and back to Connaught Place via New Delhi Station.

When India became independent in 1947, we had pavements. We have encroached upon the pavements, and pedestrians share the road with drivers, drivers going the wrong way, cattle, and other animals. We have become nimble walkers as we try to avoid bodily harm.

Then, I stood at a crossing, watching young schoolchildren go home. The young children left school and went home in crowded rickshaws or dangled precariously on their parent’s scooters.

While watching the children leave, the noise from the traffic invaded my brain. Until then, I had tried to ignore the noise, but I declared defeat.

I don’t know how many of you have attended a death metal concert. Not me, but I have listened to some death metal music. Imagine being at a death metal concert with a group of substandard musicians and singers. The cacophony of traffic can injure a person and they do not study the effect the way we research dust or other forms of pollution.

Noise Pollution

What is noise pollution? To express it in the simplest terms, “noise pollution is the spread of unwanted noise in an environment.” Most people omit harmonious sounds in this category, but I consider this a mistake. Music, when played too loud or too long, will cause noise pollution.

We often associate noise pollution with traffic, construction, aircraft, etc.

Why am I writing about noise pollution? Do business leaders or politicians care about noise and the attendant problems it creates? They do not but must do so.

In the first place, noise pollution impairs hearing. When I walked on the streets, I tried to shut out the noise by focusing on the action in front of me. Several battering rams were simultaneously assaulting me: noise, traffic, pedestrians, the dust, the heat (yes, in February), and people driving the wrong way. Some of you may accuse me of being dramatic, but I can assure people I am nothing of the kind.

The Impact of Noise

When I wrote this article, I posed two questions to ChatGPT and followed them up by searching for a few links to explore the topic.

My questions:

1. What are the effects of noise pollution on human physical health?

2. What are the effects of noise pollution on mental and emotional health?

Chat GPT returned the following answers to the first question. I will not copy-paste the answers but summarise the points.

Physical Health

1. Hearing Loss

2. Cardiovascular problems, blood pressure, and other problems.

3. Sleep Disturbance. We ought to know the health outcomes associated with poor sleep.

4. Stress: stress-related health problems, like headaches and increased risk of mental health issues.

5. Cognitive Impairment: noise pollution interferes with cognitive processes like memory and attention. I struggled to focus on photography when the screeching sound of traffic surrounded me.

6. Mental Health: anxiety, depression, and other problems.

I will now summarise the answers to the second question.

Mental and Emotional Problems associated with noise pollution.

1. Stress.

2. Anxiety and depression.

3. Irritability and anger.

4. Decreased well-being.

5. Cognitive Impairment.

6. Hearing loss.

There is some overlap in the answers I received to both questions, but the lessons should be clear. Some of you may remain unconvinced of the dangers of noise pollution. I am attaching three links for the doubters and the naysayers.

The paucity of data and articles on the subject surprised me. However, you must engage with city planners to address this poorly understood and documented problem if you are a business leader.

Consider this. Most employees (especially in countries like India) take public transport to the office or arrive on two-wheelers. Noise pollution affects these people. A splitting headache caused by dangerous levels of noise will impact their productivity.

Address the Issue

City planners must address this issue. The health of a nation depends on addressing the factors that create an unhealthy population. We speak of factors like diet and exercise that affect health. If I may be cynical, corporations like to address these issues: they are a business opportunity.

No one has found a business opportunity to help reduce noise pollution. If they consider this to be a severe business risk, then maybe someone will address the problem.

Citizens will not wake up by themselves. Most want to get from Point A to Point B and often arrive at their destination disgruntled and vexed. Think of this: how many business deals have turned sour because the person you are negotiating is in a bad mood?

Noise pollution is a health hazard, and it is time we took steps to reduce the dangers of this hazard.