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The theme for this issue is Future as all the problems impact the world as a whole, including animals and humans, who keep the world going. The issue of noise pollution could potentially affect the survival of animals mostly and negatively impact on humans

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6) How can Humans reduce the impact of noise pollution on animals and each other? (solutions)

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6) How can Humans reduce the impact of noise pollution on animals and each other? (solutions)

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- We should use more electric cars  and encourage more electric means of transport like overground trains (not fast)

- Encourage more use of public transport instead of unnecessary driving trips to a short distance

- The Government should implement laws to not build houses next to construction/industrial areas, motorways and airports as it is proven that people living in cities and in busy areas of noise pollution is a contributing factor in 40% higher risk of depression and 20% more anxiety, leading to effects of schizophrenia and loneliness

- Potentially rehousing certain animals to a more suitable habitat for their health - for example humans have cut down around 26 million trees per year. This takes away some animals natural habitat and prevents them from living properly. If we built more trees in quieter areas animals such as birds and bats can move there. Although this is not an easy solution and may cause more problems if not handled correctly.

- For ocean noise pollution we can sign petitions and implement speed restrictions for ships as it reduces noise as well as gas emissions

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Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health

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There can be no health without mental health. Good mental health is essential not just for our personal wellbeing, but also to achieve resilient, sustainable cities. Globally, 1 in 4 people will experience mental health problems: mental health disorders account for 7.4% of the burden of disease, and are now the leading cause of long-term disability worldwide.

The physical and social environments of urban life can contribute both positively and negatively to mental health and wellbeing. Cities are associated with higher rates of most mental health problems compared to rural areas: an almost 40% higher risk of depression, over 20% more anxiety, and double the risk of schizophrenia, in addition to more loneliness, isolation and stress. ( click here for more detail).

1. Pre-existing risk factors: Many people move to the city in search of better services, economic and social opportunities, and distance from past negative experiences. Some of the reasons that some people may seek these things happen to be risk factors for mental health problems: for example, poverty, unemployment, homelessness, physical and mental health problems, previous trauma, personal crises, family break up, addiction, and immigration. This social drift engenders a population who are particularly predisposed to mental disorders.

2. Social factors: People with pre-existing risk factors, particularly poverty, minority status, or existing mental health problems often encounter negative disparities in the city. For example, this can involve physical and psychological segregation into neighbourhoods that may be characterised by poverty and social challenges, engendering feelings of injustice and hopelessness, and experiences of prejudice and discrimination that may affect mental health. Low social cohesion and crime victimisation have been found to increase the risk of psychosis in childhood.

3. Environmental factors: The urban setting can affect people in two key ways: increasing stimuli, and stripping away of protective factors.

Overload: People who live in the city experience an increased stimulus level: density, crowding, noise, smells, sights, disarray, pollution and intensity of other inputs. Every part of the urban environment is deliberately designed to assert meanings and messages. These stimuli trigger action and thought on a latent level of awareness, and become more potent as an inability to 'cope' sets in. This can have the effect of overload: increasing the body's baseline levels of arousal, stress, and preparedness, but also driving people to seek relief: quiet, private spaces; over time this urge may evolve into social isolation associated with depression and anxiety, and also forms the basis of the ecological hypothesis of schizophrenia.

Erosion of protective factors: People who live in the city may find that they have less access to the factors that are protective for good mental health than those in rural areas. For example, they may have diminished access to nature, fewer opportunities to integrate exercise as part of their daily routines, and reduced leisure time as increased time is spent at work and commuting around the city. People may find themselves feeling unsafe, having less privacy, and even less sleep, due to factors like crowding, light, noise and stress. Rural to urban migration often sees people leaving behind their strong social networks of friends and family, and it takes time to develop similarly supportive social capital in the city. This may particularly be the case as urban dwellers may be reluctant to engage in social interactions, to avoid overstimulation, due to safety concerns, or because of the reduced likelihood of future relationships with each individual they encounter. As these protective factors erode, people become more vulnerable to developing mental health problems.

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There can be no health without mental health. Good mental health is essential not just for our personal wellbeing, but also to achieve resilient, sustainable cities. Globally, 1 in 4 people will...

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83% of people are aware of road traffic noise pollution and 8.33% are aware of aeroplane traffic
8.33% are aware of construction noise
From the results, no one is aware of train, ocean and industrial noise pollution.

50% of people are affected by noise pollution mentally (anxiety, sleep loss, distraction)
50% not affected by either mental or physical

Majority of results state that they understand animals abilities to communicate are impaired by not being able to mate, find each other and only one person mentioned difficulty of finding food and bats' echolocation.

Majority of results believe we can resolve this issue through electric cars for a quieter approach and encourage more people to take public transport instead of driving. Lessen the building of houses near industrial areas and motorways. One person mentioned rehousing wildlife to a more suitable habitat.

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How noise pollution affects wildlife and humans

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Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates.

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4) Effects on Humans and scientific evidence

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4) Effects on Humans and scientific evidence

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- Noise pollution can cause severe physical damage to the eardrum and the cells of the inner ear canal, resulting in temporary or permanent hearing loss.

- Noise exposure can cause excessive hearing loss, raise blood pressure, anxiety, fatigue and communication difficulties. Living in areas of high noise pollution can affect people's ability to sleep well and can cause stress.

What frequencies cause hearing loss?

- Exposure levels of 105 dBA or over (A-weighted decibels) which is what most people are exposed to on a regular basis.

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3) How does noise pollution affect other animals such as Bats, Owls and Dolphins?

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3) How does noise pollution affect other animals such as Bats, Owls and Dolphins?

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- They rely on the sounds of the potential prey, therefore the noise pollution makes it harder for them to hear their prey and prevents them from finding quicker ways of sourcing food, this could lead to the decline in these types of species and threatening their survival.

-Dolphins and Whales are being stranded which means there are consequences such as vascular damage on the brain, lungs and other organs. Some of these consequences can end up in death. Loud noise such as ships and naval sonar devices can prevent them from using their echolocation for hunting prey, finding a partner to mate with and sensing danger much like the other animal examples.

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- Traffic from vehicles on motorways

- Ocean noise

- Trains on railway tracks

- Aeroplane traffic

- Industrial facilities/factories

-Outdoor building
constructions

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Table of Contents

noise pollution, unwanted or excessive sound that can have deleterious effects on human health, wildlife, and environmental quality. Noise pollution is commonly generated inside many industrial facilities and some other workplaces, but it also comes from highway, railway, and airplane traffic and from outdoor construction activities.

Measuring and perceiving loudness

Sound waves are vibrations of air molecules carried from a noise source to the ear. Sound is typically described in terms of the loudness ( amplitude) and the pitch ( frequency) of the wave. Loudness (also called sound pressure level, or SPL) is measured in logarithmic units called decibels (dB). The normal human ear can detect sounds that range between 0 dB (hearing threshold) and about 140 dB, with sounds between 120dB and 140 dB causing pain (pain threshold). The ambient SPL in a library is about 35 dB, while that inside a moving bus or subway train is roughly 85 dB; building construction activities can generate SPLs as high as 105 dB at the source. SPLs decrease with distance from the source.

The rate at which sound energy is transmitted, called sound intensity, is proportional to the square of the SPL. Because of the logarithmic nature of the decibel scale, an increase of 10 dB represents a 10-fold increase in sound intensity, an increase of 20 dB represents a 100-fold increase in intensity, a 30-dB increase represents a 1,000-fold increase in intensity, and so on. When sound intensity is doubled, on the other hand, the SPL increases by only 3 dB. For example, if a construction drill causes a noise level of about 90 dB, then two identical drills operating side by side will cause a noise level of 93 dB. On the other hand, when two sounds that differ by more than 15 dB in SPL are combined, the weaker sound is masked (or drowned out) by the louder sound. For example, if an 80-dB drill is operating next to a 95-dB dozer at a construction site, the combined SPL of those two sources will be measured as 95 dB; the less intense sound from the compressor will not be noticeable.

Frequency of a sound wave is expressed in cycles per second (cps), but hertz (Hz) is more commonly used (1 cps = 1 Hz). The human eardrum is a very sensitive organ with a large dynamic range, being able to detect sounds at frequencies as low as 20 Hz (a very low pitch) up to about 20,000 Hz (a very high pitch). The pitch of a human voice in normal conversation occurs at frequencies between 250 Hz and 2,000 Hz.

Precise measurement and scientific description of sound levels differ from most subjective human perceptions and opinions about sound. Subjective human responses to noise depend on both pitch and loudness. People with normal hearing generally perceive high-frequency sounds to be louder than low-frequency sounds of the same amplitude. For this reason, electronic sound-level meters used to measure noise levels take into account the variations of perceived loudness with pitch. Frequency filters in the meters serve to match meter readings with the sensitivity of the human ear and the relative loudness of various sounds. The so-called A-weighted filter, for example, is commonly used for measuring ambient community noise. SPL measurements made with this filter are expressed as A-weighted decibels, or dBA. Most people perceive and describe a 6- to 10-dBA increase in an SPL reading to be a doubling of "loudness." Another system, the C-weighted (dBC) scale, is sometimes used for impact noise levels, such as gunfire, and tends to be more accurate than dBA for the perceived loudness of sounds with low frequency components.

Noise levels generally vary with time, so noise measurement data are reported as time-averaged values to express overall noise levels. There are several ways to do this. For example, the results of a set of repeated sound-level measurements may be reported as L ₉₀ = 75 dBA, meaning that the levels were equal to or higher than 75 dBA for 90 percent of the time. Another unit, called equivalent sound levels (L eq), can be used to express an average SPL over any period of interest, such as an eight-hour workday. (L eq is a logarithmic average rather than an arithmetic average, so loud events prevail in the overall result.) A unit called day-night sound level (DNL or L dn) accounts for the fact that people are more sensitive to noise during the night, so a 10-dBA penalty is added to SPL values that are measured between 10 pm and 7 am. DNL measurements are very useful for describing overall community exposure to aircraft noise, for example.

Effects on humans and wildlife

Noise is more than a mere nuisance. At certain levels and durations of exposure, it can cause physical damage to the eardrum and the sensitive hair cells of the inner ear and result in temporary or permanent hearing loss, known as noise-induced hearing loss. Hearing loss does not usually occur at SPLs below 80 dBA (eight-hour exposure levels are best kept below 85 dBA), but most people repeatedly exposed to more than 105 dBA will have permanent hearing loss to some extent. In addition to causing hearing loss, excessive noise exposure can raise blood pressure and pulse rates, cause irritability, anxiety, and mental fatigue, and interfere with sleep, recreation, and personal communication. Children living in areas with high levels of noise pollution may suffer from stress and other problems, such as impairments in memory and attention span. Noise pollution control is therefore important in the workplace and in the community.

Noise pollution also impacts wildlife. A wide range of animals, including insects, frogs, birds, and bats, rely on sound for a variety of reasons. Noise pollution can interfere with an animal's ability to attract a mate, communicate, navigate, find food, or avoid predators and thus can even be an existential threat to vulnerable organisms. The problem of noise pollution is especially serious for marine animals, particularly those that rely on echolocation, such as certain whales and dolphins, and much of the world's oceans are polluted with chaotic sounds from ships, seismic tests, and oil drills. Some of the loudest and most detrimental sounds in the sea are from naval sonar devices, whose noise can travel hundreds of miles through the water and is associated with mass strandings of whales and dolphins.

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Noise pollution | Definition, Examples, Effects, Control, & Facts

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noise pollution, unwanted or excessive sound that can have deleterious effects on human health, wildlife, and environmental quality. Noise pollution is commonly generated inside many industrial facilities and some other workplaces, but it also comes from highway, railway, and airplane traffic and from outdoor construction activities.

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2) How do songbird's communicate and why is it important?

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2) How do songbird's communicate and why is it important?

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Their communication is made through song, call notes and actions to scare off predators or warn other birds if they are in danger, attract a mate and to help their ability to find food. They use various sounds to portray different means of communication. This is important as it helps them work as a team to survive. Not being able to find food can affect the food chain in wildlife.

However, due to the coronavirus lockdown, they have been able to communicate more clearly and have actually changed their song as it has been a quieter environment for them.

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Birds also communicate with their behavior. In many bird species, the male will dance, strut or put on some other performance to attract a female. Some birds, such as killdeer, fake an injury to lure predators away from their nests.