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Opinions of Sunday, 1 May 2011

Columnist: Lamptey, Alfred

Check noise making in the country- EPA

The environmental protection agency should work hard to check noise making in the country. Noise making has become rampant these days in the country to the extent that most Ghanaians can not have their "peace of mind." Noise can be defined as sound of any kind (especially unintelligible or dissonant sound) Noise making in the country can not be attributed to only a cause but various sources or causes.

Some of the causes of noise come from the hawkers on our roads and also market places. This is not to say that sounds or music can not be used in the sellers daily activities but what this means is that the amount of noise is too much. It has even been proven scientifically that continuous or frequent exposure to noise levels above 85 decibels can be harmful to human health. For example, the most significant health problem caused by noise pollution is hearing loss. Any noise appreciably louder than talking can damage the delicate hair cells in the cochlea, the structure in the inner ear that converts sound waves into auditory nerve signals.

Noise is also caused by most preachers in our various markets, some sellers use vans and even trucks to advertise their products for sale, and some preachers also play music at a very loud volume that prevent comfort around the market places for buyers and sellers alike. Some of the noise created by sellers and other workers in the market cause problems for other users of the road especially pedestrians. Some of these problems are the situation where by the pedestrians do not hear an on coming vehicles or other emergency vehicles such as the fire fighters van.

Noise can be caused by factories in the country due to the machines or equipments they use. Where the surrounding inhabitants are not able to avoid unhealthy noise it affects them especially their health every day. Other source of noise is associated with most vehicles that are used on our roads, to check such a problem we need to make sure that vehicles used on our roads that are faulty and as a result produce a lot of noise are catered for my the police and other security agencies involved.The way to prevent such noise in our system is to make sure that vehicles and other machines that are known for noise making are built to produce less noise. Four-cycle engines can replace much noisier two-cycle engines in such products as lawnmowers.

The government must enforce legislation concerning noise making in the country, especially areas under restriction and also the public areas.

Alfred lamptey.

Alfredlamptey88@yahoo.com