City noise breeds
(N.Z. Press GENEVA, June 14. Acoustics experts have said that everyone living in a city might be stone deaf by the year 2000 if noise continued to rise at present rates. The International Standardisation Organisation, meeting in Geneva, saw "noise pollution” as a serious health hazard. Urban noise, it. said, has been rising at the rate of one decibel a year. It questioned the use of “noise-making machines” in New York City, where the fire department was forced to install founder sirens to penetrate the din on the streets. Many New Yorkers like the sound of waterfalls in particular, it said, and used machines reproducing this sound to drown out street noise. The organisation has established international standard noise-level guides. Any level of noise 20 points above an established criterion will provide legal backing . for action. A criterion of 20 has been agreed for rural areas, 35 for a department store or restaurant, 55 for a typing pool and up to 75 for a workshop.
The maximum permissible noise level should be 85 because at 90, noise becomes dangerous to health and at 100 can deafen a person for life.
By comparison, a riveting gun reaches a level of 130 and a jet aircraft, 150.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32633, 15 June 1971, Page 16
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208City noise breeds Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32633, 15 June 1971, Page 16
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