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RISK

There is a risk of noise harming our health as long as we are exposed to it over a prolonged period of time. There are several factors which manipulate the level of risk. The risk level increases depending on our proximity to the noise and the manner in which the noise is handled.

PROXIMITY

The closer you are to the source the louder noise becomes? This is generally true, however, we ought to consider a number of other factors to truly understand how proximity affects the risk of noise pollution in Singapore. Singapore, being a metropolitan city, has the population, housing, traffic and industries all densely packed within a small area. Therefore, besides being close to the sources of noise, we are also affected by the construction materials used in these structures. For example, concrete bricks and hard walls reflect noise well off their surfaces while foam and materials used in walls between apartment rooms absorb noise better. This results in situations where sound does not reach us despite being close to the source while in other situations the sound reaches us despite being further away from the source.

MANNER OF HANDLING

Sound barriers help to reduce the noise level from the source to its surroundings by 8-10 decibels, however, if only half of the track is covered as seen from the picture, noise can still escape from the sides.

 

 

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