Explosion of noise is slowly killing us
Laws have not kept pace with 22 years of industrial change
Laws governing noise pollution have largely not been updated for 22 years although industrialisation has driven noise levels to a pitch that is making humans and animals ill and phobic. Escalating sound pollution is causing widespread intense frustration along with dire warnings from medical professionals of short and long-term damage to health.
The biggest population centres, Colombo, Gampaha, Kandy and Galle, are the worst affected areas and the failure of local authorities to prepare noise zone maps separating residential zones from industrial and commercial zones was a major problem, the Deputy Director of the Central Environmental Authority’s ( CEA) Air Resources Management and Monitoring Unit, Kamal Priyantha, said.
Noise starts early in the day as bakery product sellers tooting amplified musical horns take to the streets, followed by vendors and merchants collecting scrap metal and paper who use speakers to advertise their services. Places of religious worship use loudspeakers throughout the day, and noise continues into the night with musical shows or latenight parties in the neighbourhood.
The health implications are many, leading from loss of hearing to heart problems.
“Just as the lungs are the interface of air pollution, with noise pollution it is the hormonal secretion. High decibel sounds increase tension and this discharges two hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. Adrenaline increases the heart rate and blood pressure, which causes extra beats to occur, and the combination of these factors create a fat deposit,” Dr. Ruvan Ekanayake, a promi- nent consultant cardiologist told the Sunday Times.
“The stress hormone cortisol causes a fluffiness in the inner lining of the artery, which again could create a deposit of cholesterol. Therefore, noise pollution by this mechanism will probably cause atherosclerosis – the build-up of plaque in the arteries – in the long run”, he said.
Tension sends the arteries into spasm, and if the heart arteries go into spasm, less blood will reach that area which could cause a heart attack and sudden death. “However, we don’t have definite evidence presently, only statistical associations,” Dr. Ekayanake said.
In addition to physical effects, there were psychological effects like extreme tension, stress, aggression and even depression.
Dr. Ekanayake said that it was now being postulated whether immune defi- ciencies could result from the psychological effects.
These consequences also affect animals (see tying story).
“The most commonly experienced hearing ailments caused by noise pollution are hearing loss, tinnitus ( which can be temporary or permanent) and vertigo,” consultant ENT surgeon Dr. Seetha Arambepola said.
People interviewed in Colombo said they wake to the blast of loudspeakers broadcasting chants from places of worship and the monotonous sound of jingles played at high volume by mobile bread vans or “choon paan three-wheelers”, and spend the day in anger and frustration, continuously bombarded by loud sounds.
Retiree C.S. Fernando, who lives near Nalanda Collage at Borella and Gothami Balika Vidyalaya, made angry remarks about loud broadcasts beginning at 5am from a place of religious worship nearby.
“I am an elderly person who likes to spend time in peace and tranquillity but the peace is short- lived with the early- morning religious recordings,” the 75- year- old complained. “They are too loud and break my sleep and keep me awake till they switch off their loudspeaker.”
School van driver Sudhira Sanjaya Denagama finds the choon paan vans an annoyance with their amplified tunes starting from 5am.
“Weekends are my days off. Those are the only two days that I sleep until 9am but these mobile bread sellers wake me up,” he said.
Noise pollution is at its peak in Pettah, Colombo with the continuously tooting horns of buses and three wheelers, and the loudspeaker-amped radio broadcasts of station ticket sellers.
A vendor who sells kola kanda herbal drinks at Pettah, Sarath Peiris, said he finds it hard to stay at his stall for even two hours because the continuous blaring of bus horns gives him a headache.
“Even before 7am the buses keep tooting. Some of their horns are illegal and louder than the horns used in trains while others have musical horns which are also illegal,” he said.
Accountant Thilanka Galapaththi said laws against noise pollution were hardly ever implemented.
“Air horns and musical horns are banned, yet buses that stop alongside the Fort railway station continually toot their horns,” he said. “The two police officers that remain at the police post at the Fort station are unable to control them, and even traffic officers also turn a blind eye to enforcing the law,” he said.
Trishaw driver H. A. Nishantha said the sudden blare of bus horns give him such a shock that he almost crashes into other vehicles.
He said he had seen amateur three- wheeler drivers colliding with other vehicles due to buses sounding loud horns.
“I sometimes have to brake hard and barely manage to save my vehicle from knocking into another vehicle as a loud horn is sounded,” the 43- year- old said. “The noise is driving me to the edge.”
Bus drivers claim they are unable to drive without horns as they need to demand space on the road and cut through traffic congestion.
Driver Anthonyge Sadeesha Kaushalya claims he has to use his horn non- stop to drive away buses blocking his path at Fort station.
“If traffic officers or time keepers regulate buses and move the buses after giving them 10 minutes to load passengers we don’t need to toot this much,” he said.
People who live close to garages, factories and construction sites complain that work is carried on late into the night at some construction sites.
The police have drawn criticism for
their inaction to curb noise pollution. There is a dedicated Environmental Protection Division but few people have seen them enforcing noise pollution laws.
Police sources said they assist the CEA in carrying out regulatory checks and claimed police lack adequate equipment to monitor and measure noise and air pollution.
Channa Kalansuriya, Senior Research Scientist at the Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) said there are still no proper laws in Sri Lanka governing community noise and traffic noise.
A gazette imposing limits on vehicle horn noise was issued in 2011 but no such restrictions had been imposed on other vehicle noises such as engines, exhaust devices, silencers and amplifiers, he said.
While a 2007 Supreme Court decision imposed restrictions on the use of loudspeakers, this decision is not being properly enforced, Mr. Kalansuriya said.
“Regulations governing noise pollution have not been updated since 1996. “The existing legislation is outdated. We have not moved forward in 22 years,” he lamented.
Even existing legislation is not being properly enforced, with much of the blame lying with local government authorities, the scientist stated. Gazette Notification No.924/12 of March 23, 1996, granted local authorities powers to prepare “noise zone maps” demarcating their areas into rural residential, urban residential , commercial, industrial and noise-sensitive areas.
“Clear demarcation of residential, industrial and commercial zones allows the local authority to move ahead with future development activities in a proper manner,” Mr. Kalansuriya said.
“Regrettably, not a single local authority has so far done this. As a result, we have industries being set up in residential neighbourhoods, leading to many noise pollution- related issues.”
“We must safeguard the rights of the people while not discouraging small and medium entrepreneurs. This is why commercial, industrial and residential areas should be identified; so that entrepreneurs can set up their industries in designated areas,” he said.