Research Paper on Noise Pollution: Reducing its Negative Impacts

Introduction

A sound is a form of energy that requires media such as solid liquid or gas to pass from one point to another point (Buxton et al. 2017). When it becomes unnecessary, it is considered to be a pollutant. In such a case it can interfere with normal activities such as learning in various learning institutions, health centers where patients are expected to be under minimal noise to reduce psychological trauma. Due to these negative impacts, there has been a need to reduce noise pollution by all means.

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It is therefore important for anyone interested in studying noise pollution and its impacts to acknowledge that the basic source of noise is; noise due to passing trains, production industries, social activities such as entertainment and sports and public works which include the construction of apartments, dams, and roads (Fiedler & Zannin 2015). It is also important to note that industrialization and urbanization are the main root cause of noise pollution. It is due to congestion of people at the points and also inventions of powerful machinery which produces a lot of noise as they are under operation (Buxton et al. 2017).

Because noise pollution intensifies health problems which are closely associated with physiology and psychology, for instance, high blood pressure and stress, doctors have thought it wise to find out means of reducing if not eradicating noise pollution from within the immediate environment. This helps in reducing the health dangers attached to noise.

Summary of Journals

Human beings are very keen with their environment in that if there is any slight change in an environment, it is detected and analyzed in details to establish its cause and the possible negative and positive impacts associated with it in the future. Scholars have remained perturbed for so long why deaths considered unnecessary are rampant the hospitals even though doctors are qualified and are executing their duties professionally.

The research has been done on many occasions to identify the negative effects of noise pollution on the health of human beings, their welfare and their comfort (Buxton et al. 2017). The conclusion that was derived at was indicating that more exposure to noise pollution is accompanied by the reduced life quality such as headache, fatigue, and dizziness or even the loss of hearing. Also, the annoyance of noise gives birth to some emotional attitudes which are negative such as unhappiness, anxiety, anger, depression, and disappointments.

Another pressing concern has been in the education sector why learners in institutions situated adjacent to the industries are poorly performing, compared to their peers who are situated far away from the noise influences as a result of industrialization. The recent research indicates that learners in urban centers where there is too much noise perform poorly because they tend to have an inadequate sleep during night hours (Halperin 2014). Thus, causing poor brain development resulting in poor academic performance.For those who are already in school, the impact is that too much noise they are exposed to interfere with their content retention. The newly learned concept is lost before it is transferred to the long term memory where it can be easily recalled and applied in solving problems in real life. Statistics available also indicates that deaths in hospitals are common in urban centers because patients are stressed and are therefore unable to bear their health status.

Statement of the Problem

There is poor academic performance in urban-based schools compared to school which is rural based. The reason behind this has been established as the noise pollution which interferes with the learner's attention and retention of the concept. Recent research has established the measures but has not fully addressed it so that the society can be sure of having reliable scholars' findings which can give a lasting solution to the problem.

Hypothesis

H1. There is a high possibility that poor performance is heavily contributed to by heavy use of machinery in industries and transport industries which also enacts unnecessary noise to the environment.

H2. The increasing number of deaths and mental illness witnessed in hospitals operated in urban centers are as a result of noise from nearby industries and public works such as roads and railway constructions.

H3. Health and excellent academic performance can only be achieved if and only if noise pollution is eradicated or minimized.

Goals of the Study

The main goals of the study of noise pollution are as follows:

1. To investigate the consequences of the road traffic noise on academic performance both in urban and rural based schools.
2. To establish the trends of road traffics in the areas under study.
3. To establish the existing rate of the noise level in study areas by keeping statistics from those areas.
4. To establish and suggest rehabilitation measures which can help in restoring the normal states of the affected individuals.

Methodology

To conduct research which is likely to solve the problem at hand, there is a need to conduct data analysis in different learning institutions both in rural and urban. Therefore the collected data is analyzed considering all the cited factors which might have caused the difference in terms of academic performance. Thus the method of data collection used is the interviews and questionnaires.

Variables

In the study, there are fixed, dependent and the independent variables as well as the control groups. The fixed variables in the case are schools and industries. It is because once a school is established, it will continue to operate despite the environmental constraints and the same also applies to industries.

Noise pollution is considered an independent variable. The reason is that once an industry is in a place and is legally operating, it will continue to operate however much noise it produces. Thus having an assurance that noise pollution will as well be available always. The academic performance, death rates, and insanity in health facilities are considered to be the dependent variables. It is prudent that the more noise produced, the poorer the academic performance and also more deaths associated with a physiological process in human beings are recorded.

In consideration of the ethical concern, the data should be collected using questionnaires which are well structured not including sensitive questions that touch on once personal life or privacy. The interview should also be conducted in a manner that shows respect to humanity and data obtained is handled with a high level of confidentiality.

Data Collection Instruments

The data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires with both open-ended and closed questions. The questioners are easy to administer and economical; that is why it is preferred. Apart from that, interviews were also used to collect some data.

Results

Road traffic is considered to be the predominant cause of noise pollution in urban areas. Therefore the data shows that low performance in schools based in urban has been recorded compared to those schools based in rural.

The pie chart is indicating the performance comparison in urban and rural based schools whereby 60% is indicating the performance in rural schools while 40% is indicating the performance in urban schools (Gilavand, & Jamshidnezhad 2016).

The bar graph below indicates the impact of noise pollution on the performance of urban-based schools versus rural based schools for four years.

Data Interpretation

As indicated in the pie chart, it is obvious that the performance in urban-based schools was slightly lower than those of the rural-based schools. The same applies to the bar graph recorded for four years. A clear indication that the urban-based schools are greatly affected by the noise pollution from different sources such as road traffics and from industries.Using the ANOVA, there is a valid significance that noise pollution caused by road traffics affects the level of performance between urban schools and rural schools.

Findings

The intensity of noise pollution on the performance varies depending on whether the learning institution is based in an urban setting or rural setting. It also depends on the period over which industrial activities are at a peak. It is established that no matter how short the period over which the industry is operating or the traffic exists, the noise emanating from them has got an adverse effect on the academics performance, especially in urban-based schools.

Because people move from rural areas to urban areas to seek for jobs and employment in the same industries, their social activities also contribute to the noise pollution which worsens the problem as the year in year out (Dzhambov, & Dimitrova 2014). Not only the industries that contribute to noise pollution but also traffic. When the urban residents move to their respective places of work and come back to their residential, they use public and private means of transport which equally contributes to noise pollution. The noise escalates the poor performance academically in learning institutions established in urban areas.

Similar research on the impact of noise pollution on academic performance was conducted considering a school situated by the road. Though the entry behavior was excellent, academic performance started to deteriorate the moment learners were getting exposed to environmental pollution such as noise around the school. It is therefore clear that academics and noise are great enemies and should never work together. Learning institutions should, therefore, be located far away from noisy places to avoid such problems (Fiedler & Zannin 2015).

Conclusions

The geographical location of every learning institution is a crucial aspect of the impact of noise pollution on the performance. The movement of traffic within the urban areas is the major source of an increased level of noise pollution thus causing poor performance in the learning institutions situated near those areas. Also, the noise which is experienced in towns is very high which surpasses the guidelines which are recommended, meaning that all the residents in urban areas are exposed to the negative impacts of noise pollution.

Therefore, to avoid the problem of noise pollution on the performance of learners, there should be the right location of the learning institutions which is far from the industries and roads. The car parks should also be taken away from the school surrounding so that the noise they produce while transporting learners to the school can be minimized. In addition to that, the school's administration needs to identify its role as the organization which is environmentally responsible which is also committed to creating awareness concerning environmental pollutions to the learners.

The finding recorded to prove the validity of the hypothesis as it is observed that in schools located in remote areas where noise pollution is minimal, the performance is good as compared to those schools which are exposed to more noise in urban areas.

References

Buxton, R. T., McKenna, M. F., Mennitt, D., Fristrup, K., Crooks, K., Angeloni, L., & Wittemyer, G. (2017). Noise pollution is pervasive in US protected areas. Science, 356(6337), 531-533.

Dzhambov, A. M., & Dimitrova, D. D. (2014). Urban green spaces' effectiveness as a psychological buffer for the negative health impact of noise pollution...