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Biotechnology and Its Significance in Environmental Protection
Published in V. Sivasubramanian, Bioprocess Engineering for a Green Environment, 2018
R. Sivashankar, A.B. Sathya, K. Vasantharaj, R. Nithya, V. Sivasubramanian
High-level noise disturbs the human environment. Because of urbanization, noise in all areas of cities has increased considerably. One of the most pervasive sources of noise in our environment today is that associated with transportation. People who live near highways are subjected to high levels of noise produced by trucks and other vehicles driving on the highways. Prolonged exposure to high noise levels is very harmful to human health. In industry and in mines, the main sources of noise pollution include blasting, heavy earth moving machines, drilling, crusher and coal handling plants, and so on. The critical value for the development of hearing problems is 80 decibels (dB). Chronic exposure to noise may cause noise-induced hearing loss, and high noise levels can contribute to cardiovascular effects. Moreover, noise can be a causal factor in workplace accidents.
Community Noise
Published in Malcolm J. Crocker, Frederick M. Kessler, Noise and Noise Control, 2018
The Noise Pollution Level, suggested by Robinson,33 utilizes A-weighted sound level samples. The energy mean, Leq, and the standard deviation, o, are computed from the sampled data. NPL is computed from NPL=Leq+2.56σ(6)
Device Capabilities Leveraged in Apps Location, Magnetometer, Motion Sensor, Touch, and Scanner
Published in Jithesh Sathyan, Anoop Narayanan, Navin Narayan, K V Shibu, A Comprehensive Guide to Enterprise Mobility, 2016
Jithesh Sathyan, Anoop Narayanan, Navin Narayan, K V Shibu
For example, the microphone can be used to calculate the amount of noise in the neighborhood. One such application is Widenoise for iPhone. This application can be helpful in identifying a suitable house in a location where the average noise level is minimum. There are applications that help users to calculate their exposure to noise pollution. Also, a user can measure the amount of noise pollution (measured in decibels) in an environment. Also, with the help of GPS and general packet radio service (GPRS), the data collected by sensors will be available across the web. These data can be used to calculate the collective noise level. There are additional driver softwares to reduce noise in the call using noise-cancellation techniques. This is done by identifying the frequency of the caller's voice, and this specific frequency range is amplified. Also, the background noise is cancelled by using a negativefeedback mechanism.
Mechanical and acoustic absorption characteristics of UHMWPE weft-knitted structures of flexible porous laminated composites
Published in The Journal of The Textile Institute, 2022
Ruosi Yan, Xingteng Zhang, Mengjin Wu, Zhengkun Zhang, Tuo Liu, Lixia Jia
With the rapid development of the modern industry, noise pollution has severely affected the daily lives of populations and caused considerable harm to human physical and mental health (Echeverria et al., 2019; Shen & Jiang, 2014; Yu et al., 2014). Exposure to noisy environments for long periods causes hearing impairment and other complications such as neurasthenia, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and other symptoms (Duan et al., 2020). In addition, noise pollution exerts adverse effects on the service life of building structures (Faridan et al., 2017; Linton et al., 2015; Munzel et al., 2014; Taban et al., 2016). Therefore, controlling noise in buildings such as hotels, offices, and residences is crucial (Oliazadeh et al., 2019; Suvari et al., 2013). Improving the living standards of people by establishing appropriate measures to control and reduce the harm caused by noise pollution is essential.
Holistic approach to human comfort
Published in Australian Journal of Multi-Disciplinary Engineering, 2020
Kevin M. Peddie, Michael J. Soligo
The design of outdoor spaces, especially in an urban context needs to consider, and account for, the intended uses. While a design might be able to consider the thermal comfort levels, wind conditions and air quality aspects for a given outdoor space, the potential impact of noise pollution can significantly impact the ‘quality’ for the people using the area and nearby community. The World Health Organisation undertook a study to investigate the impact of noise pollution on a person’s health. It found that environmental noise was one of the most frequent sources of environmental complaint in Europe, especially in dense urban areas and residential spaces located near highways, railways and airports (WHO 2011). The ‘Night Noise Guideline for Europe’ (WHO 2009) detailed the damage to one’s health from night-time exposure and recommended that night-time exposure should not exceed 40 dB outdoors. The 2011 study found that the impacts on human health due to noise pollution included ‘annoyance, sleep disturbance, cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment, hearing impairment and tinnitus’ (WHO 2011).
Mobile crowdsensing accuracy for noise mapping in smart cities
Published in Automatika, 2018
Sanja Grubeša, Antonio Petošić, Mia Suhanek, Ivan Đurek
Two basic ways of tracking and measuring noise pollution are sound level metre measurements [20,21] and noise mapping calculations with the known acoustic sound power of sound sources (traffic, industry plants, etc.) [22]. A problem when using the sound level metre is that measurements need to be densely sampled in order to obtain the complete coverage of a certain area. The sound level metre takes the sound pressure level at a particular location and it must be calibrated before and after each set of measurements. In terms of traffic noise measurement, such manual data collection method at each measurement position can be very time consuming and expensive [23]. Another way of collecting data is to use noise mapping calculations with the known acoustic sound power of sound sources (traffic, industry, etc.). The outdoor sound attenuation is the sum of the reductions due to geometric spreading, air absorption, interaction with the ground, barriers, vegetation, and atmospheric refraction [24]. It is very difficult to calculate noise levels with all that input data (density of traffic, average speed, roughness of road’s material, type of trains, airplanes) [25], especially in big cities with many cross-roads, dense traffic and enormous input data set for noise mapping calculation. These noise mapping calculations also need to be calibrated with real measurements in a few points of interest to check the input parameters’ accuracy [26].