DOI: 10.36347/sjet

Pages: 154-168

Sound that is unwanted or disrupts one‘s quality of life is called as noise. When there is lot of noise in the environment, it is termed as noise pollution. Sound becomes undesirable when it disturbs the normal activities such as working, sleeping, and during conversations. It is an underrated environmental problem because of the fact that we can‘t see, smell, or taste it. Community noise, or environmental noise, is one of the most common pollutants. It is defined by the World Health Organization as noise emitted from all sources, except noise at the industrial workplace. ‗Community noise includes the primary sources of road, rail and air traffic, industries, construction and public works and the neighbourhood‘ (WHO, 1999).Environmental noise is increasingly becoming a community concern internationally . Considerable efforts have been made over about the last four decades to reduce noise impacts from transportation sources such as road and rail traffic and aircraft. Nonetheless, many of the benefits of these efforts have been lost due to increased traffic volumes (by all modes) for longer periods of the day and evening. At the same time increases in urban population have resulted in greater exposure of a larger percentage of the population to the increased noise levels. World Health Organization stated that ―Noise must be recognized as a major threat to human well-being. According to the USEPA, there are direct links between noise and health.