NOISE POLLUTION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE NEIGHBOURHOOD – CASE STUDY

Noise pollution generated from different sources with its weight on the worth of life of humans is considered as a potential pollution to be addressed more seriously.Especially in urban areas where more no of motorized vehicle start playing with severe traffic snarls, utilising modern constriction method and other noise creating sources like flour mills and festivals etc.The present study focuses on five different sources of noise pollution like traffic, industrial place, and shopping mall and flour mill.The influence of noise in areas located near human settlements leads to considerable noise pollution.The recorded noise levels were as follows: highways (73.2-125.8dBA), downtown streets (53.1-61.2dBA), shopping malls (72.5-112.7 dBA), industrial plants (104.9-122.8dBA), and flour mills (87.6-105.9dBA).The flour mill observed in the study used machinery for grinding rice, chili, and shikakai into powder.Human interference further increased the noise levels, particularly because these mills were located within residential neighbourhoods.The noise level recorded in all the situations is compared with ambient noise levels.The comparison of the data shows that the noise levels at the selected locations are more than the permissible limits.Vehicular traffic and grinding operations are found to be the main reasons for these high noise levels.The conclusions were drawn and given guide lines for controlling noise pollution are presented.