Garth Rattray | Loud music is noise pollution

Aside from hammering and harming the ears of people who are exposed to it, loud music causes noise pollution throughout entire communities. Powerful speakers that pump out 5,000 peak and 600 RMS watts, can produce a frightening 130 decibels (dB) up close and cause intrusive house shaking disturbance over a kilometre away. Loud events can harm event patrons and innumerable citizens in nearby communities where innocent residents become collateral damage in the private war against boredom and poverty.

The sensitive hearing apparatus is often damaged in partygoers and in people who enjoy loud ‘music’ at entertainment events. Vibration from loud music can also damage other organs. High decibel sound triggers a response from the ‘sympathetic nervous system’ (which is a part of the autonomic nervous system). The autonomic stress response to noise, in turn, increases stress hormones, constricts blood vessels, increases blood pressure, and increases the risk of heart disease, heart attacks, and strokes.

Being near to loud bass speakers can cause your internal organs to vibrate at their resonant frequency. It can lead to brain inflammation and cognitive decline. It can also weaken your immune system. It’s bad enough that patrons expose themselves to the ill effects of loud music, but they also put the health of citizens in surrounding residential communities at risk.

On Sunday morning, March 1, at 8:34 a.m., Jamaica experienced a 4.6 magnitude earthquake. It was felt throughout the Corporate Area. I immediately telephoned a good friend, who lives in Hope Pastures, to see if she felt it. She was totally unaware of the earthquake (the natural phenomenon), because that entire weekend there was a massive two-day musical event in Hope Gardens (an unnatural phenomenon). The music/noise shattered the peace and nerves of many residents in nearby Hope Pastures. My friend was not aware of the earthquake because she [mistakenly] believed that the noise and shaking were coming from the weekend-long event at nearby Hope Gardens.

DISSIPATES RAPIDLY

Regarding the effect of loud sound on surrounding communities; sound dissipates rapidly in open spaces. Depending on the conditions, sound decreases by 75 per cent each time the distance is doubled. Obviously, high-performance, high-output, loud dB-producing sound systems will cause sound to travel far greater distances. High frequencies will travel less, but that attenuation does not hold true for powerful, low (bass) frequencies. Bass frequencies from large woofers (both 18 and 20 inch) can travel much further, penetrate buildings, significantly shake and rattle windows and doors, disturb residents and keep them awake even three kilometres away.

Loud entertainment events cause intense stress, physical discomfort, sleep disruption, and increases health risks. The noise travels outwards to a large radius, especially in the late evenings and early mornings.

Loud music is noise pollution. It is classified as ‘environmental noise’ and is a form of abuse. Loud music is sometimes used to torture prisoners by assaulting the nervous system with loudness and causing sleep deprivation. Loud music / noise is “unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activities”. It negatively impacts our health and well-being. Noise pollution comes second only to air pollution as a cause of environmental health problems because it is associated with hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stress, and sleep disruption.

A major casualty of loud noises / music is the children. They need more sleep than adults because their brains and bodies are growing and they are learning at a rapid rate. Many bars and [musical] ‘sessions’ take place within the inner cities. Some people use these places to ameliorate their stresses, ‘blow off steam’, and to mingle. People who blast their music are inconsiderate. It is impossible for children to develop normally with noise pollution. One reason for poor academic performance from children growing up in underprivileged communities is the frequent noise pollution.

HIGH RISK

Students of all ages residing within poor communities are at high risk of academic performance problems, simply because some of their unreasonable neighbours want to have fun or ‘eat a food’ at the expense of their health.

Noise pollution is an independent causal factor for increased violent crime in low-income communities and [sometimes] in affluent communities. Loud music acts as a stressor that triggers aggression, reduces self-control and increases the tendency to violence.

Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury. During sleep our brains ‘wash’ out toxic proteins, consolidate memories, move ‘files’ around, regulate emotions, ‘detoxify’ negative emotions, calm the fear centre (the Amygdala), perform synaptic scaling (maintenance), trim the volume of synaptic cross talk, repair nerve cells, and release hormones for tissue repair and brain cell regeneration.

Current Jamaica Noise Abatement Act of 1997 “prohibits amplified sound that causes annoyance to the public beyond 100 meters, particularly during specified quiet hours”. Many entertainment producers, and some police personnel erroneously believe that a permit for an event is a permit to ignore the Noise Abatement Act. It is not.

The Constitution of Jamaica, through the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms (Constitutional Amendment) Act, 2011, “guarantees the right to respect for and protection of private and family life, and privacy of the home”. This includes the right to a “healthy and productive environment free from the threat of injury or damage from environmental abuse”.

I hope that the discussion on a comprehensive review of the current Noise Abatement Act and creating designated entertainment zones will take into account the rights and needs of the citizens. Our health may be negatively impacted by any decision made regarding the revised Act.

Garth Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice, and author of ‘The Long and Short of Thick and Thin’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and garthrattray@gmail.com