Sound Pollution and its controls

Prepared by
Dr. Indrajit Bhattacharyya
Assistant Professor of Chemistry
Applied Science & Humanities, GNIT
 Waves
a kind of disturbance through which energy is transported from one
place to another, through vibration of the medium without
transportation of matter

A periodic disturbance or a deformation of the medium it takes place in

Example: Sound waves that are pressure variations that deform the air
or other medium through which they travel

Classifications: Elastic or mechanical waves

electromagnetic waves
Transverse waves
Longitudinal waves
Elastic or mechanical waves: requires material media for propagation
Example: Sound waves in air

Electromagnetic waves: requires no material media for propagation

Example: Light

Transverse waves: each particle in medium executes vibrations about its

mean position (perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation )
Example: light waves

Longitudinal waves: each particle in medium executes vibrations about

its mean position (horizontal to the direction of wave propagation )
example: sound wave
 Wave parameters
Frequency (ν): number of waves passing through a point in 1 sec or
number of oscillations per second
Unit: Hertz (Hz), 1 Hz = cycles / second

Time period (T): time taken by one wave

to pass through a point, i.e. T = I/ ν
Unit: seconds

Amplitude (a): maximum displacement of media particle on either side

of its mean position
Unit: S.I unit is meter(m)

Wavelength (λ): distance covered by the wave in one time period or

between two successive troughs or crests
Unit: S. I unit is meter
 Wave parameters continued…..
Velocity (V): distance travelled by a wave in 1 second from a given point
V = λ/T = νλ
Unit: S.I unit is ms-1
Velocity depends on density, elasticity,
temperature and pressure of the medium

Sound Pressure: force per unit area or pressure deviation from the local
ambient pressure caused by a sound wave
Measured in Newton per sq. meter (Nm-2)

Intensity: energy that flows normally through unit area of the medium
in unit time
Measured in Js-1m-2 or Wm-2
 Classification of sound
Musical sound: produces a pleasing effect on the ears of the listeners
e.g. sound produced by tuning fork, musical instruments

Consists of a series of harmonic waves following each other at regular

intervals of time, without sudden changes in their amplitude

Characterized by loudness, pitch and quality

Noise: an unwanted, irregular, unpleasant and annoying sound having

no musical quality at all

consists of a series of waves following each other at irregular intervals

of time, with sudden changes in their amplitude

No sharp line can be drawn between noise and sound

 Difference between Sound and Noise

Sound Noise
It is pleasant to hear It is unpleasant to hear
It has a constant pitch It has a constantly varying pitch
It has a regular periodic motion It has no regular periodic motion
It produces meaningful It produces no meaningful
communication communication
Its unit is Hertz (Hz = Its unit is decibel (dB)
cycles/second) dB = 10 log10(Intensity measured/
reference intensity)
 Important parameters of sound waves
Decibel: commonly measured in dB (Decibel), a ratio expressed in terms
of logarithmic scale and is mathematically expressed as:
I (measured int ensity )
decibel (dB) = 10 log10
I 0 (reference int ensity )

Reference intensity (I0) is considered as 1 x 10-12 W/m2 just audible to

man

Intensity is directly proportional to the square of the pressure

I 0 P0
2
and IP 2
The sound pressure level (SPL) in dB is defined as:
P
SPL = 20 log10 ( )dB
P0
P is the measured pressure in Nm-2 and P0 is the reference pressure,
usually equals to 2 x 10-5 Nm-2
Problem 1: Calculate the intensity of 100dB sounds.
Given: Reference intensity = 1 x 10-12 W/m2

Problem 2: How much is a 100 dB sound louder than 80 dB sound?

Problem 3: If two machines produce 50 dB sounds simultaneously, what

will be the total sound level?
Problem 1: Calculate the intensity of 100dB sounds.
Given: Reference intensity = 1 x 10-12 W/m2

We know , sound level (dB) = 10 log10 I/I0

Where, I is the measured intensity and
I0 is the reference intensity = 1 x 10-12 W/m2

According to the problem,

100 = 10 log10 I/(1 x 10-12) or 10 = log10 I/(1 x 10-12)

Or I = 1010 x 10-12 = 10-2

The intensity is found to be 1 x 10-2 W/m2

Problem 2: How much is a 100 dB sound louder than 80 dB sound?

We know , sound level (dB) = 10 log10 I/I0

Where, I is the measured intensity and
I0 is the reference intensity = 1 x 10-12 W/m2

According to the formula above,

100 = 10 log10 I1/ 1 x 10-12 or I1 = 10-2 W/m2

and 80 = 10 log10 I2/ 1 x 10-12 or I2 = 10-4 W/m2

I1/I2 = 10-2/ 10-4 = 102 = 100

Thus 100dB sound is found to be 100 times louder than 80 dB sound

Problem 3: If two machines produce 50 dB sounds simultaneously, what
will be the total sound level?

We know , sound level (dB) = 10 log10 I/I0

Where, I is the measured intensity and
I0 is the reference intensity = 1 x 10-12 W/m2

For the first machine, 50 = 10log10 I1/I0 or I1 = 105 x I0

For the second machine, 50 = 10log10 I2/I0 or I2 = 105 x I0

The total intensity (I3) of sound becomes

I3 = I1 + I2 = I0 (105 + 105) = I0 (2 x 105)

Hence the sound level I3 = 10log10 I0(2 x 105)/I0 = 10 log10 (2 x 105)

= 53.013 dB
So the total sound level is found to be 53.013 dB
 Measurements of Noise Levels
Sound Level Meter: measures noise level in decibel

L10 (18 hours) Index: usually used to measure road traffic noise in UK.
Considers peak noise level, fluctuation of noise due to nature of vehicle
and traffic density.

Equivalent Perceived Noise Level (Lepn): measures noise level of aircraft.

Measurement takes care of both the peak frequency of the aircraft and
duration of flyovers

Equivalent Noise Level (Leq): time of measurement is specific and

measured for a short duration usually when the noise level is most
prominent. Measures noise level in the industrial, traffic as well as
residential areas.
 Classification of noise
Anthropogenic noise can be classified into:

Transport noise:
-Road Traffic Noise
- Rail Traffic Noise
- Aircraft Noise

Occupational Noise: produced by industrial machines and processes like

blasting operations, shipbuilding, factories and mills producing different
kinds of products

Neighborhood Noise: mainly produced by loud speakers at public

functions, in musical nights in late evenings
 Effects of noise pollution

Physiological Effects: Acute effects, Chronic effects

Effect on Mental Health

Effect on work efficiency

Affects industrial accidents

Effects on communication

Effects on personal comfort

Effects on Birds
When daily noise exposure is composed of two or more periods of noise
exposure of different levels, the combined effect needs to be considered
rather than individual effect of each.
C1 C2 Cn
+ + ............
T1 T2 Tn

When the sum of the following fractions > 1, the mixed exposure is
considered to exceed threshold limit value, i.e. the situation is unhealthy
or causes noise pollution

When the sum of the following fractions < 1, the mixed exposure is
considered not to exceed threshold limit value, i.e. the situation is
healthy or causes no noise pollution

Cn indicates the total duration of exposure at a specific noise level and Tn

indicates the total duration of exposure permitted at that level
Example 1: In a work area, the noise levels are read as 100 dBA for 3
hours a day, 85 dBA for 2 hours a day and 80 dBA for remaining 3 hours
a day. The permissible exposures for 100 dBA, 85 dBA and 80 dBA
sounds are found to be 1 hour, 8 hours and 16 hours in a day,
respectively.

C1 C2 Cn
+ + ............
T1 T2 Tn

Cn indicates the total duration of exposure at a specific noise level and Tn

indicates the total duration of exposure permitted at that level
Example 3: Noise in an area measures 90 dBA for 2 hours, 80 dBA for 3
hours and 75 dBA for 1 hour. The permissible exposures for 90 dBA, 80
dBA and 75 dBA sounds are found to be 4 hour, 16 hours and any hours
in a day, respectively.
Example 1: In a work area, the noise levels are read as 100 dBA for 3
hours a day, 85 dBA for 2 hours a day and 80 dBA for remaining 3 hours
a day. The permissible exposures for 100 dBA, 85 dBA and 80 dBA
sounds are found to be 1 hour, 8 hours and 16 hours in a day,
respectively.

Noise levels (dBA) 100 85 80

Measured hours 3 2 3
Permissible hours 1 8 16

C1 C2 C 3 2 3 1 3 55 7
+ + ............ n = + + = 3+ + = =3
T1 T2 Tn 1 8 16 4 16 16 16

This exceeds the permissible limit of 1

Hence this is an unhealthy situation, results in Noise pollution

Example 3: Noise in an area measures 90 dBA for 2 hours, 80 dBA for 3
hours and 75 dBA for 1 hour. The permissible exposures for 90 dBA, 80
dBA and 75 dBA sounds are found to be 4 hour, 16 hours and any hours
in a day, respectively.

Noise levels (dBA) 100 95 90 75

Measured hours 1/2 1 3 3
Permissible hours 1 2 4 infinity

C1 C2 C 1/ 2 1 3 3 3
+ + ............ n = + + + =1
T1 T2 Tn 1 2 4  4

This exceeds the permissible limit of 1

Hence this is an unhealthy situation, Noise pollution is predicted

Example 3: Noise in an area is measured as 95 dBA for 1 hour, 90 dBA
for 3 hours, 100 dBA for 30 minutes and 75 dBA for 3 hours. The
permissible noise exposure duration of 100 dBA is 1 hour, 95 dBA is 2
hours, 90 dBA is 4 hours and 75 dBA is any time. Find out whether the
permissible limit has exceeded or not and also state if the condition is
good for the health of a worker or not.

Noise levels 100 95 90 75

(dBA)
Measured hours 1/2 1 3 3
Permissible hours 1 2 4 α
C1 C2 C 1 1 3 3
+ + ............ n = + + + 0 = 1
T1 T2 Tn 2 2 4 4

This exceeds the permissible limit of 1

Hence this is an unhealthy situation, results in Noise pollution