Noise doesn’t kill. And that’s perhaps a reassuring reason for this busy city to pay no heed to the supposed problem.[break] Even doctors maintain that sound pollution we are subjected to in Kathmandu or in any other city of the world does not have any immediate lethal effect.
“Only when you are exposed to very intense sounds such as blasts or bullet firing in close proximities, you may suffer from acoustic trauma or have your eardrums perforated which results to permanent hearing loss,” says ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) specialist Dr Kiran Rai.
However, he warns, “Long term exposure to noise in your living or working areas can cause sensorineural hearing loss. If precautions are not taken in time, one can land up with some severe hearing loss problem as well.”
So the only eventual consequence that looms in the horizon is the gradual onset of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Still, not too threatening, is it?
However, noise is not really a threat to life. It affects the quality of life.
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Environment Expert and Quality Control Manager at Nepal Environmental and Scientific Services (NESS) Sunil Babu Khatry says noise works like a “slow poison”.
“If you’ve noticed, people who are constantly subjected to noise, like traffic police officers and roadside vendors, they get irritated very fast.”
“Such noises amplify the crankiness and tension in a person’s psychology,” Khatry adds.
Besides hearing loss problems, he explains that the psychological irritation leads to physiological reactions like fatigue, headache, sleep loss, low level of concentration and high blood pressure. The cumulative effect could be cardiovascular problems.
“On a personal level, what actually differentiates sound and noise is dependent on one’s perception and mood,” says Khatry. Thus, at times, even loud music may not feel like noise but sometimes even a soft whisper may come to you like a groaning din.
Technically speaking, Khatry informs that average sound pressure levels (ASPL) up to 75 decibel (dB) is not too risky. The risk starts increasing if exposed to noise above 80dB. These are not the universal standards though.
Decibel is a measure of how loud a sound is. Like a temperature scale, the decibel scale goes below zero. An average person hears sounds down to about 0 dB, the level of rustling leaves. A typical conversation would occur at 60 dB -- not loud enough to cause damage. When listening to music on earphones at a standard volume level 5, the sound level is of 100 dB. If one hears music at this level just for 15 minutes a day on regular basis, it is enough to cause permanent damage to the ears.
“When we are exposed to sound above 130 dB, the chances of acoustic trauma or permanent hearing loss are higher,” says Khatry. Besides that, continuous exposure to 80-100 db sound pressure levels (SPL) can also cause hair cell injury, gradual hearing loss and tinnitus (constant ringing sound in the ear).
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In Kathmandu, the major source of noise is the transportation system and its traffic.
According to a 2009 research by Sushila Shrestha of College of Applied Science and NESS, the trend of minimum and maximum noise (source predominantly attributable to vehicular traffic) observed within 24 hours in several locations of Kathmandu are as follows:
“It is notable that the noise level recorded in Putalisadak is higher than Kalanki considering that the latter has more traffic,” says Khatry, “This is because the open space in Kalanki diffuses the noise, whereas Putalisadak has buildings on both sides which reflect the noise, making it louder.”
Studies also show that one of the important factors causing a rise in sound levels in Kathmandu is its geography. Because Kathmandu is a valley, all sounds are entrapped, causing subsequent reverberation, such that there is always more noise created than in the plains.
Thus, without surprise, sound pressure level recorded at Koteshwar is, according to the NESS field survey, 71-78 dB, whereas an SPL above 55 dB is considered unacceptable according to WHO guidelines. Koteshwar is not a rarity in this sense. In Nepal, there still are no effective guidelines to regulate the standards to control sound pollution.
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The Environment Protection Regulations (EPR) and Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1997 state that the level of noise emission has to be as per the government regulated parameters. But, there are still no parameters or standards set till date.
Requesting anonymity, an official at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology said, “All we can say is that the noise level does seem high in the valley and standards must be set. The transport system is the main contributing factor to sound pollution. So our concern should be to organize and control the traffic system here.”
Basanta Panta, Deputy Superintendent of Traffic Police, says, “To check sound pollution, Department of Transport Management has decided to ban pressure and digital horns in community areas. Besides, we’ll be taking serious action against bikes or vehicles that have been modified to produce more sound.”
However, to actually monitor the level of noise and set permissible standards, they are not yet equipped with necessary tools. As for the compensation of government aids and particularly the traffic police, considering that they are the main victims of noise pollution and noise induced hearing loss, Panta says there are no such compensatory schemes in place.
Khatry, however, points out, “Further standards and guidelines could be set and equipment brought, but the main concern would lie in effective monitoring and implementation of those guidelines.”
This is seemingly and precisely the crux of the issue. The area from Shahidgate to Teaching Hospital was actually once declared a no-horn area. But even with the no-horn signs in front of Bir Hospital and many sensitive areas like hospitals and schools, the traffic rules or signs don’t exactly make sense in the absence of any pre-planning and urban management.
“We say that the traffic management in Kathmandu is poor, but the root cause is the poor infrastructure, lack of public law and order and add to that the growing unruly, unsystematic and uncaring attitude,” says Khatry.
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Kathmandu already is a sensitive area, entrapping all sounds within the valley. By now, any hill forests and roadside greenery which were present and assisting in absorbing noise, are disappearing by the day as congestion and demand for open space within the valley rise.
Sad but true, Kathmandu’s road infrastructure is very poor with narrow and often bumpy lanes. Without any traffic signs or signals and with traffic lights that don’t actually work, traffic management is admittedly a very challenging task.
Legal measures such as setting guidelines and standards, engineering measures such as modifying noise sources and even alternative measures like using hearing protectors or building green belts and barriers to thwart the effect of noise are already and will continue to be in place.
However, it all boils down to how aware and responsible the people, the public, or we are. As a species, for survival, it’s necessary that we adapt to changing circumstances, but it’s not necessary to get accustomed to unacceptable changes that hamper the quality of our life and takes away our peace of mind.
When we, the people don’t respect rules, halt our vehicles anywhere we like, blow the horns impatiently at vehicles in front, drive through narrow openings to get ahead without considering possible road blockades, then the horrendous Kathmandu traffic jam is inevitable. But the drama doesn’t stop here.
We continue to blare our horns relentlessly, angry, cursing and fuming, at which point the psychological and physiological reactions in our bodies boil out in frustration as we scream, “Quiet Kathmandu! Quiet!”
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