Sunday, March 1, 1992

 

The Household Environmentalist

Susan McGrath, Times staff columnist

 

Zzzooooooomm! Beep-beep!

Wah! Noise pollution is for real

 

Sorry, what was that you said?  I couldn’t hear you.  The garbage truck was going by. A plane flew overhead.  My son is listening to the stereo.  The dishwasher is running.  The gardener is mowing the lawn.  The TV is on.  It’s rush hour.  The baby is crying.  My neighbor is using his chain saw.  My daughter is practicing on her congas.  I had to run the garbage disposal for a minute.  The people next door are having a party.  We live pretty close to the freeway.. My husband is vacuuming.

            Would you mind speaking up?

            We don’t really think of noise as pollution.  We think of it as a nuisance.  Something to get used to.

            But noise isn’t something you get used to.  It’s something you stop hearing because you don’t hear as well anymore.

            Experts used to think that gradual hearing loss was an inescapable part of growing old.  Not so.  Now they recognize that hearing loss is caused by noise, every loud noise you ever heard snipping away at the delicate hair cells that carry sound to the auditory nerve.

            About 10 million Americans have suffered permanent hearing loss from loud noises, according to the National Institutes of Health. Nearly 20 million are exposed to levels that can cause damage.  And another 40 million live with noise loud enough to disrupt sleep and work.

            But loss of hearing is only the most obvious ill effect of loud noise.  Noise also has been linked to high blood pressure, increased risk of cardiovascular problems, strokes and nervous disorders.  In studies of workplace exposure, noise has been shown to induce changes in memory, alertness, balance, awareness and ability to read.

 

Noise, defined as any unwelcome sound, is a form of pollution every bit as real as the brown haze hanging over the horizon. But, unlike air pollution, there are certain cultural connotations associated with noise that make it harder to combat.

            Noise is macho.  Look at (listen to!) motorcycles, guns, chain saws and “Top Gun.”  (Or do I mean “Roaring Thunder”?)  Statistics bear this out:  Men in Western cultures suffer earlier and greater hearing loss than women.

            People who complain about noise are wimps.  Old maids. Poor sports.  And noise pollution is seen as a not-very-serious problem.  Kind of a silly issue, really.

            I propose that, if you can hear yourself think, you should give the matter of noise some thought.  The first step is:  Pipe down  Lower the volume on your stereo.  Use a push mower.  Run the dishwasher after the kitchen has been evacuated for the night.

            Protect your hearing.   Buy half a dozen spongy ear plugs at a drug or safety-supply store.  Slip each pair into a ziplock bag and tape a bag to your vacuum cleaner, your lawn mower,  your power saw.   You can’t hear anything when these machines are running anyway, so you might as well protect your hearing.

 

Protect your children’s hearing, too. Talk to them about how precious a sense it is and how isolating it is to live without it.  Get them ear plugs for loud concerts.  If they use headphones, train them to keep the volume low.   If you can hear a sound from someone else’s headphones, the volume is too high.

Talk to your school principal about noise, too. Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc. or SHHH, has a wonderful program aimed at reducing deafening (literally) noise levels in school cafeterias.  For details, write SHHH, 7800 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD  20814.

The second step is:  Wield you power as a consumer.  Are your power tools very loud?  Call or write the manufacturer and register your protest.  Are you buying a new appliance? Do a comparative noise test first., and let the retailer know that quietness is an important criterion for you.

The third step is:  Make noise about noise.  Do you live hear an airport?   Get involved in noise abatement programs.  Do heavy trucks travel you road day and night?  Organize your neighborhood to get traffic regulated.  It is not unreasonable – or unsporting – to insist that reasonable standards of quiet be maintained especially if you approach problems with a constructive attitude.

Don’t leave it to the experts.  In the 1070’s, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Noise Abatement and Control had a staff of 120 and a budget of $10 million.  But the Reagan administration didn’t think much of noise.  Today, the EPA has no noise-abatement budget and one staff person who works on noise issues – part time.

Keeping things quiet is now up to us.

 

 

Susan McGrath’s column runs weekly in the home/Real Estate section of The Times.  Send questions and comments to:

 

The Household Environmentalist

PO Box 70

Seattle, WA  98111

 

Text Box: Which of these sounds are you exposed to? Decibels (dB) Are units of measurement for noise. The higher the decibel level is, the louder the noise. This thermometer can give you an idea of how loud some sounds are. Noise levels (in decibels) indicated on the thermometer are approximate as measured at typical listener’s distance. If you’re exposed to sounds in the upper zone for a long time, they may harm your hearing, sooner or later. Hearing conservation programs are recommended for all employees in workplaces where noise levels 85 dB or greater. But remember, Hearing loss is not solely an occupational hazard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Text Box: Who can help? The audiologist may give you a complete hearing evaluation to measure your hearing abilities. If you have a hearing impairment, the audiologist will tell you how bad it is, what type it is, and what can be done to help you get along despite a hearing impairment. If you need it, the audiologist may provide you with an appropriate hearing aid or refer you to a hearing aid dealer. The dealer can sell you the hearing aid recommended by the audiologist. How does our Hearing Work? The OUTER EAR acts like a funnel to direct sound waves from the air to the tympanic membrane (eardrum). Sound causes the tympanic membrane to vibrate. These vibrations cause the three bones in the MIDDLE EAR (malleus, incus, and stapes) to move mechanically. The middle ear sends these mechanical vibrations to the INNER EAR where they are picked up by tiny hair cells and sent as electrical impulses along the auditory nerve to the brain. Noise-induced hearing impairment affects the hair cells in the inner ear. While medicine or surgery can often cure problems in the outer and middle ear, nothing can be done for damage done to the inner ear. Impairment to the nerves in the inner ear is called sensori-neural hearing impairment.