Environmental Noise Pollution: Noise Mapping, Public Health and Policy addresses the key debates surrounding environmental noise pollution with a particular focus on the European Union. Environmental noise pollution is an emerging public policy and environmental concern and is considered to be one of the most important environmental stressors affecting public health throughout the world. This book examines environmental noise pollution, its health implications, the role of strategic noise mapping for problem assessment, major sources of environmental noise pollution, noise mitigation approaches, and related procedural and policy implications. Drawing on the authors' considerable research expertise in the area, the book is the first coherent work on this major environmental stressor, a new benchmark reference across disciplinary, policy and national boundaries. - Highlights recent developments in the policy arena with particular focus on developments in the EU within the context of the European Noise Directive - Explores the lessons emerging from nations within the EU and other jurisdictions attempting to legislate and mitigate against the harmful effects of noise pollution - Covers the core theoretical concepts and principles surrounding the mechanics of noise pollution as well as the evidence-base linking noise with public health concerns

Uses a question-and-answer format to present information on what noise pollution is, its causes and effects, and possible ways to prevent it.

Leading pollution control educators and practicing professionals describe how various combinations of different cutting-edge process systems can be arranged to solve air, noise, and thermal pollution problems. Each chapter discusses in detail a variety of process combinations, along with technical and economic evaluations, and presents explanations of the principles behind the designs, as well as numerous variant designs useful to practicing engineers. The emphasis throughout is on developing the necessary engineering solutions from fundamental principles of chemistry, physics, and mathematics. The authors also include extensive references, cost data, design methods, guidance on the installation and operation of various air pollution control process equipment and systems, and Best Available Technologies (BAT) for air thermal and noise pollution control.

Noise pollution affects human beings at threelevels: auditory effects, non-auditory effects and physiological effects. Noisepollution control avenues include insulation of noise source, isolation of noisesource, personal isolation, volume reduction, legal protection, ekistics andpolitical will. Many countries have adopted ambient noise pollution standards.This book all important aspects of this subject in detail.

"Noise Pollution and Control Strategy discusses the basics of acoustic propagation, reviews the problem of noise generation over all national and international situations and gives various techniques available for noise measurements and assessment, health effects of noise, the standards adopted by various countries of the world, environmental impact assessment techniques, control measures and status of noise measurement and abatement practices. In the last chapter, an effort has been made to lay an appropriate strategy to control noise. The book concludes with the future vision in the area of noise pollution and an up-to-date list of references and bibliography. The acoustical terminology in a separate appendix would be of great help as a ready reference."--BOOK JACKET.

The surprising science of hearing and the remarkable technologies that can help us hear better Our sense of hearing makes it easy to connect with the world and the people around us. The human system for processing sound is a biological marvel, an intricate assembly of delicate membranes, bones, receptor cells, and neurons. Yet many people take their ears for granted, abusing them with loud restaurants, rock concerts, and Q-tips. And then, eventually, most of us start to go deaf. Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. Faced with the cost and stigma of hearing aids, the natural human tendency is to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that nothing is wrong. In Volume Control, David Owen argues this inaction comes with a huge social cost. He demystifies the science of hearing while encouraging readers to get the treatment they need for hearing loss and protect the hearing they still have. Hearing aids are rapidly improving and becoming more versatile. Inexpensive high-tech substitutes are increasingly available, making it possible for more of us to boost our weakening ears without bankrupting ourselves. Relatively soon, physicians may be able to reverse losses that have always been considered irreversible. Even the insistent buzz of tinnitus may soon yield to relatively simple treatments and techniques. With wit and clarity, Owen explores the incredible possibilities of technologically assisted hearing. And he proves that ears, whether they're working or not, are endlessly interesting.

The past few years have seen the emergence of a growing, widespread desire in this country, and indeed everywhere, that positive actions be taken to restore the quality of our environment, and to protect it from the degrading effects of all forms of pollution-air, noise, solid waste, and water. Since pollution is a direct or" indirect consequence of waste, if there is no waste, there can be no pollution, and the seemingly idealistic demand for" zero discharge" can be construed as a demand for zero waste. However, as long as there is waste, we can only attempt to abate the consequent pollution by converting it to a less noxious form. In those instances in which a particular type of pollution has been recognized, three major questions usually arise: 1, How serious is the pollution? 2, Is the technology to abate it available? and 3, Do the costs of abatement justify the degree of abatement achieved? The principal intention of this series of books is to help the reader to formulate answers to the last two of the above three questions. The traditional approach of applying tried-and-true solutions to specific pollution problems has been a major factor contributing to the success of environmental engineering, and in large measure has accounted for the establishing of a "methodology of pollution control.

In this handbook on a growing public menace, Clifford R. Bragdon applies acoustical engineering and social science to the least understood—yet one of the most serious—environmental hazards of modern society. This book is a precision tool; it gives facts and figures, precise scientific measurements, and accurate data on what noise is, what it does, and how to combat it. The author pinpoints the noise levels—many of them illegal—of automobiles, buses, subways, airplanes, household appliances, and children's toys in numerous charts and tables and relates these data to the measurable social, physical, and psychological damage they do to human beings. He catalogues the "noise-free" claims of manufacturers of these products in an Appendix that speaks for itself. A thorough case study of an area near Philadelphia International Airport and other townships, including five hundred households, the author evaluates existing noise abatement programs on local, state, and federal levels, and finds most of them seriously inadequate. As steps toward the solution to the noise crisis, he proposes a system for rating environmental health, new approaches to community noise management, and a variety of architectural suggestions. The bibliography—probably the most complete and up-to-date source collection on the subject ever assembled—is an invaluable reference work in itself. It lists over five hundred sources, arranged in six major categories: Noise, General; Physical Effects; Psycho-Social Effects; Law; Noise Abatement; and Noise Sources. Noise Pollution is indispensable not only for the concerned citizen but for all those who can, and must, take immediate and effective action in our unquiet crisis: urban planners, architects, hospital administrators, public health officials, transportation executives, lawyers, realtors, sound engineers, manufacturers of transportation equipment and household appliances, and community leaders. It is a vital resource in dealing with the noise crisis that is destroying pleasure, lowering work performance, eroding health, causing physical injury, and even challenging basic human survival.

The Impact of Noise Pollution: A Socio-Technological Introduction explores the areas that contribute to the generation of noise in the environment. Also covered are the different aspects of human life that is being affected by daily exposure to noise. Issues such as the increasing number of people who have impaired hearing are also addressed in the book. The book first gives an introduction to the threats being posed by noise, followed by topics such as the awareness of the people on the detrimental effect of noise; overall effects of noise on the whole body; and effects of noise on the condition of sleep. The sources of noise, such as the surface transportation and motor vehicle, are extensively discussed. Negative psychological effects of noise are also covered. The final chapter of the book is about the reduction of noise produced by motor vehicles. The text is a comprehensive source of information about noise intended for the general reader.