Noise Pollution Notes
Thesis: Controlling noise pollution is important to our health and well-being.

Noise pollution comes from all kinds of machinery like airplanes, cars, trucks, construction equipment, and industrial equipment.
Noise pollution causes people to be uncomfortable, distracted, and anxious.
Noise pollution can cause people and animals to lose their hearing.
Many communities have noise laws that limit the hours of the day that people can use lawn mowers or make other kinds of noise.
Most of the job of controlling noise is up to states and local communities.
There are some organizations that work to tell the public more about noise pollution.
A sound level of 80 decibels is when noise is annoying to most people.
Sound is painful to people at 120 decibels.
Noise pollution can even be in neighborhoods that seem quiet. Sounds like lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and car alarms bother many people.
Noise pollution can cause stress, high blood pressure, and sleep loss.
People make a lot of their own noise, like running noisy appliances or turning the stereo up loud.
The sound from a vacuum cleaner is about 80 decibels.
The noise from a chainsaw is about 110 decibels.
Congress passed the Noise Control Act in 1972 because more people thought that noise was a danger to people's health.
The government set up noise standards for transportation equipment and construction equipment.
Airport noise has been a big concern for many communities.
Noise from fun vehicles like speedboats, jet skis, and snowmobiles has become more of a bother to people.
If you're in a wilderness area, the sound level is about 35 decibels.
If you live near a freeway or an airport, the sound level is between 80 and 90 decibels almost all the time.
Noise can make it hard for people to hear each other and communicate well.
In schools, background noise can make it harder for students to learn.
Sound that is unwanted is noise.
Scientists measure sound in decibels. An increase by 10 decibels means the sound level increases 100 times.
Sound is described by how loud it is, how high the pitch is, and how long the sound lasts.