Distinguishing sound and noise

Have you ever experienced the breaking down of a mountain?

I used to have sensitive ears, and the first time I heard the noise of flattening a mountain for construction, I was distressed.

The excavator-mounted hydraulic hammers used in breaking large rock masses into manageable pieces are not quiet at all. The noise can be so loud that your mind refuses to process any thought. "So forget studying," said my best friend, a sixth grader then.

Almost six years later, they are at it again. On the same lane. This time, the excavator is often seen sitting on broken rocks and can be seen climbing up further.

"I have evolved," I said to myself and decided to cope with the noise that starts around 7 am. Almost a month since they began their work, I am actually able to hear the birds chirping even in the midst of stone hammering.

What happened?

I used to joke and convince myself to imagine it as the sound of percussion — someone is playing the drums.

Due to its high intensity and percussive nature, it is often cited as one of the most annoying and disruptive noise sources on construction sites.

But what can one do? People need to build houses.

We can try justifying the action, but one cannot stop wondering if this sound falls under sound pollution because of its extremely high decibel levels. Apparently, conventional hydraulic breakers can produce sound power levels exceeding 125 dB(A), which is comparable to a jet engine taking off.

But I am not sure about the one working in the residential area. After all, someone is going to construct something.

The mind, however, wants to know more: would there be any health hazards? According to my mini research, noise levels often exceed 114 dB. During rock or concrete breaking, the noise is well above the 85 dB threshold where long-term hearing damage begins.

The sound does fall under disturbance factors: it is considered a major source of noise pollution for both construction workers and nearby communities. The noise is both intensely loud and persistent, often lasting for long, continuous periods.

At one point, there were two excavators working simultaneously. At this point, my imagination was not willing to help me cope. They start at 7 am, and I was grateful I could run along to my workplace. In my thoughts were other residents and babies in the locality and, of course, the workers. Would definitely like to know what protection measures are taken.

There must be a health and environmental impact.

According to the experts, "Chronic exposure to this noise is linked to increased stress, fatigue, higher heart rates and sleep disturbances." It can also damage structures and disturb wildlife due to ground-borne vibrations."

When we had the rains, I did wonder about rocks rolling down. Other than that, it has been a make-believe world of being at a rock concert.

And then there was silence.

There they were, walking on the mountain, most probably with their supervisor, studying the area. They walked as if they were walking on plain land or in a garden. The third man was slightly more careful about where he set his foot and was delicately trying to catch up with the other two. A conversation on the mountain slope, and I noted they were born hikers.

Every day, we guess when they might finish and how far they might continue. It would be better to have a direct conversation, but with all that noise, who is going to be heard?

We would probably make more noise speaking louder. Even a regular office environment has sound pollution.

Acoustic trash is a term used to describe the "background noise clutter" that serves no purpose but creates significant mental fatigue.

We are exposed to the layer of low-level, persistent sounds in an environment that our brain is forced to process and filter out constantly. We think we are filtering out, but can we actually do that? In a workplace or public setting, acoustic trash typically consists of indistinct chatter where we cannot hear the words, but our brain still tries to decode them. Oh, and the voices matter too.

Then we have the mechanical hum generated by air conditioners, computer fans and the lights. Let us not forget the digital beeps. At the office, the contributors are notification sounds, printers and the clicking of the keyboards. Have you noticed how your attention can be drawn to the sound of someone tapping a pen, footsteps in the corridor, or the sound of a trolley, which are all considered inconsistent rhythms? So why are all these sounds considered 'trash'? They are considered 'zero' because they provide no information but are very much within our bandwidth, which gets our cognitive processing going. Acoustic trash is considered a form of passive pollution.

No matter what techniques we try to use to tune out the noise, scientists say our brain works overtime. The impact results in high cortisol levels and reduced deep work ability.

Now you know the reason behind the sense of restlessness we experience at times.