NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1928. THE TOLL OF NOISE

Northern Advocate, 11 October 1928, Page 4

NORTHERN ADVOCATE DAILY

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1928. THE TOLL OF NOISE

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A few days ago wo published a cable message received from Loudon in which it was stated that the question of street noises, for which motor vehicles are mainly responsible, is to bo definitely dealt with by the British Home Office. This action may be traced to the representations made by the British Medical Association, which, at its annual meeting held at Cardiff in July last, decided ■unanimously to demand legislation that would give local authorities greater power to suppress unnecessary noises and to treat as public nuisances those noises capable of prevention or mitigation that occurred between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. The Home Secretary now proposes, in conjunction with the Minister of Transport, to draft regulations with a view particularly to deal with street noises due to motors and motor horns. This is a movement in line with a world-wide realisation that, in the cities, at any rate, the inconsiderate motorist has become an undisguised horror of the night. Even dwellers in the country and the smaller towns hnow this to their sorrow, for there are to be found too many who seem to glory in malting the maximum noise as they motor at high speed during the night hours or indulge in loud and hilarious conversation as they farewell boon companions. The time is long past, for instance, when stops should be taken to,- protect slumborers from the noises which follow the starting of mdtors at the conclusion of dances and public functions in buildings in residential localities.’ It is not generally realised that the toll of noise is stupendous. Considerable light was recently thrown upon this subject by Professor Spooner in a report submitted to the Internationa) Fatigue Committee of the American Society of Industrial Engineers on the progress of the movement for the reduction or prevention of harmful noise. Professor Spooner, who has been inyeatigating noise problems for years past, regards the fatiguing effects of noise in all our activities as the most neglected aspect of the science of fatigue, and has no hesitation in describing the prevention or reduction of noise in commercial and industrial work as wholly feasible. He emphasises that there is a growing revolt in all civilised countries against the tyranny of noise in the streets, in work place, and in the homo. Tramway cars with their mechanical uproar, tube , railways with their distressing din “worn, ramshackle, noisy motor vehicles that should be warned off the streets,” meet with a denunciation that is as scathing as it seems just and logical. Motor horns oi hooters, suggests Professor Spooner, should be standardised as to piteh and a low melodious note should be adopted, while “ driving-on-tho-hoot” should be prohibited. Noisy machinery, it is pointed out, moans abnormal wear and waste of power, and tends to reduce the productive capacity of the workers, and it is wellknown that there is alarming depreciation of property on or near main traffic routes. The most, striking conclusion arrived at by Professor Spooner is contained in the following words, the weight of which will be appreciated by all who have experience of brain work under, noisy conditions. “The most serious aspect of the noise problem, one that has received no attention, is the enormous loss duo to impairment of working capacity and efficiency in city and in industrial life, more particularly as to men of affairs, principals and executives, whose capacity for clear thinking, hard work, and energetic action is, without doubt, perceptibly weakened by the incessant, if unconscious, strain upon their nervous systems caused by the din of typewriters and adding machines, and by the babel of noise penetrating their offices from outside. In the aggregate, the economic loss due to tins kind of wastage

i i must be staggering in amount. Tn- | deed, it could conceivably be a great j deal over £1,000,000 a week, in Great i Britain alone. But the loss due to j ill-health and premature death canj not possibly be estimated. In short, i noise gravely affects the health, ! efficiency and wealth of the comjmmiity.” II is gratifying to know ; that the British Government is taking isteps to prevent or mitigate one source of unnecessary noise, and it is to be hoped that the authorities in New Zealand will follow suit. There is a popular impression that there exist in flic Dominion regulations for dealing with the noises which can be made — land too often are made —by motorists i and motor cyclists, but thev are effeci ' i five on paper only, for they are shamefully disregarded day and night, especially at night from midnight to dawn. The sooner the regulations are strictly enforced the better.