MENACE OF NOISE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 924, 18 March 1930, Page 10

MENACE OF NOISE

LOSS OF EFFICIENCY AND ENERGY

MODERN MEDICAL OPINION It is probable that most city dwellers find noise an intermittent nuisance, but overseas medical publications have now declared that It is a definite menace to the public health, resulting in loss of efficiency and energy, says a paper contributed by the New Zealand Department of Health. Manufacturing, commerce, recreation and other pursuits and their necessary adjuncts, such as transportation, building operations and warning signals, manifest their energy in a common factor —noise.

In the past, the industrial activity of a city was determined by the size of the smoke cloud that hung over it in the sky. The more smoke, tjie more business. But we have learned that the smoke cloud means more sickness and ill health as well as more business, and many agencies are now striving to find a way to prevent it. The time is now approaching when noise will be taboo as well as the smoke cloud, the infected water and food supply, and other dangers to health and comfort. Noise in general is an admission of carelessness or indifference to the proper installation or operation of equipment. The steel-tyred wagons, the ironlshod horse, the cobblestoned streets, the surface cars, the warning blasts from auto horns, the open cutouts and haphazard installation of machinery with no provision for sound deadening, streets in bad repair, rundown auto trucks and many others are all sources of unnecessary noise. Some individual concerns endeavour to fortify themselves against this nuisance by soundproofing their buildings. This affords relief for a few, but in the interest of all the Itsople the preventive measure must be the correction at the source of the difficulty.

. Scientific research has shown that it requires more energy to perform duties in noisy locations than it does to perform similar duties in quiet locations. These tests were made on normal subjects.

. Noise not sufficient to wake a sleeping person will cause muscles to become tense and to stay tense for as long a period as 30 minutes before they relax. Sleep under these conditions is not refreshing and no doubt accounts for many people waking fatigued after sleeping their allotted period.

Persons who live In noisy districts develop a certain resistance to noise. Nevertheless, they are living under an unnecessary strain. Such persons moving to quieter areas are subject to an adverse reaction for a period of time, during which they find it difficult to sleep or work without noise stimulus, as that is exactly what it is " arl artificial stimulus which produces increased activity of the body tissues and organs in an endeavour to protect themselves from this artificial condition. When this stimulus reaches its limit, a breaking down of the nervous system occurs—similar, indeed, to the reaction suffered by the shell-shocked victims of the World War.

It has been estimated that SO per cent, of the noise in all districts except industrial is caused by traffic An investigation tends to show that it is the interrupting and loud noises that irritate and perturb. The problem is serious, as noise breeds noise. Loud traffic noises require loud warning signals. This increases the din and in turn calls for louder warning signals. Note, for Instance, the sirens in use by the fire departments at the present time. A few years ago a warning gong was ail that was neces sary and it could be heard for blocks. The increasing traffic noise year by year has caused several hospitals in America with hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in buildings and grounds to consider seriously moving to quieter areas.

The problem of street noises does not primarily concern the individual engaged in the noise-producing occupation. It concerns primarily the ordinary citizen who, to maintain his health and efficiency, needs a proper setting fox* rest and recuperation,from the day's work; it concei-ns the invalid and convalescent whose chances of recovery from illness may depend as - much as anything else on the presence of facilities fox- uninterrupted sleep: It concei-ns the neurasthenic, the sufferer from functional diseases whose condition, if not actually caused by such noises, is aggravated by them, and it concerns the brain worker engaged in intricate calculations, or in an occupation demanding continuous concentrated thought. The fact that large numbers of people, whether nervous or not, undoubtedly suffei* intensely from noise is sufficient for all reasonable persoiis to support measures to diminish this nuisance. So much of the harm is done by individual thoughtlessness—the noisy theatre party, the loose tailboard, the unnecessary klaxon, for example—that it seems reasonable to hope that real reform could be brought about by personal consideration for others.