Transport drivers and traffic police are the main victims of sound pollution. There is data about the health hazards caused by the high pitch noise, no steps to reduce the pollution.
It is 9:00am and the sun is already high in the sky and all the vehicles are trapped on the road in a long tailback. M Nadir, 47, the traffic control police, was trying desperately to untie the gridlock in front of Bangladesh Mahila Samiti Girls's High School and College. It was a day shift school schedule.
Nadir was controlling the traffic for the last eight years in the different areas of the city for eight hours daily.
He was too busy controlling the transportation in the busy road in the morning while the correspondent tried to talk about any of his health hazards because of the environment and too much sound every day. His very brief reply: 'I am a patient of type 2 diabetes and have no other issues.'
When asked if he faces any hearing impairment, Nadir nodded his head and said he has got used to everyday sound.
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers 0-20 dB (Decibel) as a normal sound level, 21-40 dB as a moderate sound level, and 41-70 dB as a mild sound level. The maximum permissible exposure time at 85 dB is 8 hours, at 100 dB it is 15 minutes, at 110 dB it is one minute and at 120 dB it is only nine seconds.
If anyone is exposed for a 15- minute to 100 dB sound it could result in temporary hearing loss. A 120 dB sound could result in permanent hearing loss.
M Ibrahim, 37, a public transport driver has no clue that exposure to constant high sound on the road may have something to do with his bad headache and high blood pressure.
Father of two children, Ibrahim has been in this profession for 17 years. Describing his health condition while he was driving a passenger-loaded bus from Patenga to Muradpur route, he said the health issues didn't cross his mind for once.
On some hectic days when his transport is stuck in the traffic and roads crowded with heavy horns and sounds, he feels dizzy and the health condition deteriorates in such moments, compelling him to take a day's off from job.
"I am trying to go abroad for job", he told the daily observer.
The correspondent has interviewed a total of 20 traffic police men and transport drivers who work in the crowded areas in the city. They all never linked their health issues to sound pollution and accepted the habit of tolerating excessive sound.
According to the Department of Environment Divisional Laboratory, the area where Nadir is deployed for his duty falls under 'silent zone' and the sound level should be below 45 dB, while their data of the last four months shows the noise there is 67 dB in daytime.
In the port city, the Department of Environment Divisional Laboratory records the sound level of 30 zones that belong to different categories of 'silent', 'mixed' 'residential' and 'commercial'. All the areas show noise much higher than the standard level.
According to the Noise Pollution (Control) Rules 2006 in Bangladesh, the permissible sound level is 50 dB for the daytime and 40 dB during the night while the level around 60 dB for the daytime and 50 dB during the night in mixed areas including residential and industrial, 70 dB for daytime and 60 dB for the night in commercial areas.
Sound pollution is like a slow poisoning, and the victims remain unaware of their health problems till the final damage, according to Dr Ahmed Rasul, who is the Superintendent (in-charge) of Divisional Police Hospital of Chittagong.
Sound pollution causes mental and physical illness of people especially who continually stay in noisy environments. Lack of awareness means the victims has no idea about the destructiveness of extra sound, he added.
High blood pressure, diabetes, headaches, indigestion, ulcers and insomnia are caused by noise pollution Rasul said, adding that, illustrate of one year's data (from April 2022 to March this year) of Divisional Police Hospital of Chittagong shows that everyday around 517 people visit the hospital for outdoor service and 58 for indoor service for those diseases. The number of outdoor patients has increased after the weekend.
There are no health insurance or treatment facilities for the transport labour and they get some compensation if any of them dies in accident or hospitalized. The owners and transport association also do not pay attention to their health issues.
This is true that the transport workers are deprived of their health benefits and have no insurance facilities for future, said Golam Rasul Babul, Secretary General of Chattogram Sharak Paribahan Malik Group, while he also confessed that the public health issue is completely ignored and after working long time in the sector they literally get nothing.
Some non-government organizations had arranged an awareness campaign against noise pollution and hydraulic horn for transport laborers before the pandemic but in the last two years no such initiative has taken place for the sector, he added.
Physicians considered the problem a serious issue and said family members of the victim have experienced the symptom of hearing loss and irritation at home, but the victim did not realise that until the damage was done finally.
Dr Nurul Karim Chowdhury, Assistant Professor of Ear, Nose, Throat department, Chittagong Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) said the transport workers and traffic police men who are in the profession since long are the victim of hearing loss ultimately.
Citing everyday experience in treating more than thousand patients at outdoor service, Chowdhury said they don't have detailed data according to occupation but everyone is under risk of sound pollution.
Shortening the duty time and using ear plugs can reduce the damage of hair loss and necessary steps should be taken immediately, he opined.
