Question

Explain in what ways noise pollution is harmful to humans.

Answer 1

Hint: The capability of humans to hear sound ranges from 0 to 130dB. But only 0 to 80dB sound is preferable for humans and above that is dangerous for human ears and may cause many hearing aid problems as well as health issues.

Complete step by step answer:
Normal humans can hear sound which ranges from 0 to 130 dB. But the sound ranges from 0 to 80dB is preferable for humans. Where, dB is decibels.
Now, the sounds which are above 80dB and less than 90dB are considered harmful threshold. These are the sounds made by drill in factories or musical bands etc. If the sound is above 90 decibels then it is considered dangerous for humans. For example, the sound of an airplane is 130dB, machines in factories have 110dB etcetera.
Now, the horns in traffic are also above 90dB which are harmful for human ears. Higher the sound more is its effects on the human body. When any sound reaches our ears, the eardrums interpret the sound and convert that sound into signals for the brain. So, it can be said that the ear and brain are connected with each other.
If the sound is of higher decibels than 80, eardrums have to apply more stress to convert them into electrical signals due to which stress applies on nerves which are attached to the brain. So, the brain gets affected due to higher decibels of sound.
So, due to noise pollution humans face many health problems such as, hearing loss, hypertension, severe headache and stress.

Note: Range can also be given in terms of frequency such as, 20Hz to 20,000Hz. The noise below 20Hz is called infrared rays and above 20,000Hz are called ultraviolet rays which are harmful for human ears. So, the above problem can also be solved by using range in frequency instead of decibels.