ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the recognition, evaluation and control of noise and vibration in general terms. Occupational exposure to noise, its physiological and psychological consequences and methods of control are all very large areas of study. Noise-induced hearing loss is a major occupational disease and accounts for a large percentage of workers’ compensation claims. Few workplaces have the constant noise levels of, for example, dust-extraction cyclones or electrical generators. Noise tends to be intermittent, like the clanking of machinery, the roar of passing traffic or the mechanical percussion of hammers, chippers or grinders. Despite the virtual absence of long-range studies of city noise, many people have already noticed that road traffic, planes, trains and construction works, often combined with buildings with poor sound insulation, have led to increasingly noisy city environments and associated health problems. The principal health-related effect of noise exposure is hearing loss.
