Photo credit: James Cheney
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Florida Museum is currently closed for renovation, but it posted content online from the Thompson Earth Systems Institute at the University of Florida about noise pollution. The Institute states that it is advancing communication and education about Earth systems science in a way that inspires Floridians to be effective stewards of our planet. Writer Aleida Wells defines noise pollution as any unwanted or disturbing sound which can lead to adverse effects for humans and wildlife.
A few years ago I published a new definition of noise — noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound — but at last year’s spring meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Ottawa, Canada, I updated that definition. I haven’t gotten around to finishing the manuscript for publication, but the revised, more complete and new definition of noise starts with: “Noise: a) For living things, noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound.” The revised definition goes on to include engineering and scientific definitions of noise as well.
Why did I revise the new definition? Because, as Wells’ article notes, noise pollution can affect wildlife as well as humans, even if the animals can’t tell us that they don’t want to hear it. Animals rely on their hearing to find food and mates, communicate with each other and avoid predators. Wells writes that birds living in environments with constant noise had lower hatching rates with smaller and less developed hatchlings. Noise pollution can even affect plants, not (as far as I know) from any direct effect on the plants but rather by changing the behavior of birds and small mammals, thereby changing patterns of seed distribution.
There’s the old philosophical question that asks: “If a tree falls in the forest and there’s no one there to hear it, did it really make a sound?” The definition of sound implies that someone hears it. But if one includes animals or even insects, perhaps the answer is yes! I’ll let the philosophers continue to debate the answer to that question. But one thing I know for sure is that noise pollution affects humans and animals, and a quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.
