Noise pollution, caused by unpleasant sounds from any source, can have negative effects on human and animal health and behavior. It is prevalent worldwide and can be caused by transportation, machinery, and even people. Noise pollution can lead to aggression, stress, sleep loss, hearing loss, and other health issues in both humans and animals. It can also disrupt animal habitats and lead to extinction.
While noise pollution isn’t pollution in the traditional sense, it can have similar negative effects on people and the world. It is created by unpleasant noises from any source: human, animal or machine. These noises fill specific areas with sound and cause many health and behavioral effects. This form of pollution does not produce the same type of physical substance as industrial or environmental pollution, but it is just as prevalent around the world and can be just as harmful in ways.
Noise pollution, while some may view it as any irritating or annoying noise, generally describes any sound that disrupts human or animal life and behavior. This type of pollution is common to many different types of large machinery. Transportation is often associated with this pollution and often produces it through jet engines, railway noise, automobiles and car alarms.
Other forms of noise pollution created by machines may be less noticeable or less expensive, but just as annoying. These include office equipment, factory machinery, construction work and entertainment systems. These sources can disturb a quiet neighborhood, a busy metropolis, a large office building or a small residential building. Even a dog barking outside or noisy people inside are responsible for noise pollution in many circumstances.
The effects of noise pollution, as well as the causes, are also of primary importance throughout the world. Damage to mental health, noise can produce annoyance and irritation, and this can quickly lead to aggression. This noise cycle can soon lead to violence, high blood pressure, stress, sleep loss, hearing loss, and other unnoticed effects. High blood pressure produced by noise pollution stress can lead to cardiovascular effects, bad mood and even harmful reactions such as heart attacks in the most extreme cases.
Both animals and humans are affected by noise. Industrial centers positioned near animal habitats can drastically alter animal life. The noise associated with these areas, even if they are out of sight of the animals, can cause the same kind of stress it causes in humans. Loud, artificial noises can startle animals, disturb the balance between predator and prey, and affect calls and mating signals. Hearing loss that is harmful in humans can cause animals to lose their natural awareness of their surroundings. This can lead to increased deaths and decreased mating, and has been thought to drive some creatures to extinction.
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