Most people re aware that their health may be threatened by the contamination of the air they breathe or the water they drink or swim in. Some know that dangerous substances may pollute food they eat. but few realize that we all are adversely affected by pollutant so common it tends to be over looked - noise.
Noise generally defined as any unwanted sound. It is the most widespread from of pollution in many countries. Who has been driven to distraction by the wail of sirens, the din of construction noise, cares, trucks, and buses? The old joke about city dwellers being so used to noise that they were kept awake by the silence of a vacation retreat in the country is an expression of just how much noise most of us have accepted as inevitable.
The joke has a new twist now, because rural and suburban areas are plagued by their own varieties of noise, Farms have increasingly more mechanized, and agricultural machinery contributes its ear splitting toll. The once inviolate stillness of snow blanketed wilderness is now ruptured by the buzz of snowmobiles, suburbans homes are filled with new gadgets, such as power lawn movers, garbage disposals, electric tools - all potent noise makers.
Worst of all is the situation of some workers, who in addition to all this domestic noise must suffer high noise levels on the job. Boilermakers, and jack hammer operators are obvious examples, but cab drivers, bookkeeping machine operators, and mother's of young children are subject to special , if less conspicuous, hazards. For noise is not just annoying, it is potentially dangerous both physically and mentally.
