environmental health promotion

Discussion # 7

1. Survey 10 people of varying ages and backgrounds, asking them to identify the sources of noise that are most annoying to them. Can you draw any general conclusions from the responses you elicited? Post your findings. PLEASE CITE THE ANSWER

2. Respond to two of your classmates. There is not a specific length for your responses, but you need more than an “I agree” or “me too” statement.

Response to Cedrick:

After speaking with multiple people at work, a few neighbors and friends, most people reported the most annoying sounds to be nails running down a chalkboard and cars revving their engines as they drive through neighborhood areas. The older people I spoke with were more annoyed by their significant other’s snoring during the night. Young adults I spoke with stated mobile phone ring tones constantly going off to alert someone of a text message notification was disturbing, in which I also agreed with. Responses I received varied with each age group. The age range interviewed with the youngest person being 22 and the oldest person being 80. The majority of participants were between 29 to 45.

Response to supattra:

I surveyed 10 people ages 13-70, males and females, to identify the sources of noise that are most annoying to them; scraping chalkboard, Styrofoam sweeping, landscapers equipment, pallets slamming on floor of warehouse, gasoline engines, high pitched sound in the ear, wife’s voice, husband’s voice, garbage trucks, slamming doors, water dripping, high pitched dog barks, construction, alarms, radio static, people chewing with open mouth, monitor noises and ambulance/firetruck sirens. I can generally conclude that there are sources of noise that annoy people from all around the environment from other people, furniture, appliances, cars, animals, and that noise pollution is more pronounced than we think either in the home, outdoors or the workplace. I also find it interesting that the people surveyed didn’t just mention sound, which is not an offensive noise and that it is different from noise, which is unwanted, disturbing, and can even be harmful to our health. Noise pollution can negatively impact our health physically and mentally. In the neonatal ICU where I work, we are all very conscious of noise levels from monitor alarms, our voices, visitors, and any other equipment being used. We know that high noise levels be it acute or prolonged can cause stress to our sick infants and delay their healing time or lead to hearing damage and loss for the very premature infants. Health effects of harmful noises can also be seen in adults and children with increased stress, sleep disturbance, fatigue, poor concentration, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, ringing in the ear and hearing loss (Burgess, 2015). It is all of our responsibility to help reduce noise pollution in our homes and neighborhoods by not blasting music or television especially at night, not running our cars if the exhaust is loud, not honking our horns excessively or unnecessarily, wear ear protection while doing yard work with loud equipment, sealing our windows properly, closing windows and doors, and be mindful of the time when having a big gathering especially if it is outdoors.             

Burgess, M. (2015, July 10). Quiet please! Fighting noise pollution. Australian Academy of Science. https://www.science.org.au/curious/people-medicine/noise-pollution