Sound around our everyday life

Julius Caesar banned chariot driving at night as it created sound causing disturbance to the citizens. Definitely it was not so shrieking sound. The wheels of cart could never make so shrill sound as we experience every moment today. He understood the bad effect of sound more than twenty five hundred years ago. Now being the citizens of a modern and computerised world, we fail to understand this practical fact. Human have the ability to tolerate 30 decibels of sound, whereas we are exposed to about 90 decibels everyday. Quite abnormal situation it poses. The sign of abnormality prevails in human behaviour and attitude due to this abnormal sound pollution. Various professional vie with each other to create generate sound. See the police van or lorry create unnecessary sirens and horns. Almost everyday I experience. Ambulance carrying dying patients should lie in a soundless atmosphere but get exposed to serious sound.

Our transport of all kinds cause serious and bad sound pollution. The reckless and illiterate drivers unnecessarily make shrill sound by playing hydraulic horns. Actually they don't know the bad and harmful effects of sound. They just do it because of their normal behaviour. People are getting educated but they don't seem to be so much concerned about the bad effects of sound. Law is there, law enforcing agency members are here, there and everywhere but the pollution continues. Law remains confined between police sergeant and the driver. None of them is so much concerned about it. The police make money and the driver continues to make sounds. Should we allow it to continue? Of course, not. We must not continue for the sake of our existence and for the sake of our posterity.

How can we get rid of this malady? We must make soundless horns. No hydraulic horns will be allowed to use. All the vehicles must be without hydraulic horns. If the vehicle itself doesn't have hydraulic horns, definitely the drivers will not be able to make any harmful sound. The police will have no scope to allow the drivers to continue making sounds though their income may be a little bit less. Shouldn't we allow it?

Kunming, a city of China, just two hours air journey from Dhaka and definitely not a European part of the globe but I got astonished to see how different it is from Dhaka. The whole city seems to be a residential area. Very big vehicles but very meek sound. The private cars and small cars don't make any sound. The whole city seems to be calm and quite. In the evening when we don't hear one another standing on the streets of Dhaka, you will see that Kunming city seems to be almost sleeping. No sound, peaceful silence prevails all around. What has happened to the city of Dhaka? All kinds of vehicles are vying with each other how shriek they can make sound. Even in the long queue of traffic congestion, drivers make unnecessary sounds causing serious problems to the stranded passengers of different vehicles. Neither these drivers know the harmful effects of sound, nor any law touches them to stop doing this thing. We have Ministry of Environment and Environment Directorate but vehicles continue doing the most hazardous jobs.

To further aggravate the situation, every nook and corner of the city sees the unnecessary miking -- meetings, slogans, social , cultural and religious gathering and functions making serious sound by mikes and other easily available means. It seems there is none to look after the matter or there is none who knows the bad effect of sound. Children, pregnant mothers, heart patients and weak people immediately become the victim of this pollution. There is no factual statistics but it is seen that almost every house witness the heart or diabetic patients due to this cause but nobody seems bothered about it.

When people are not conscious only the government cannot deal with this gigantic problem. Now we have several private TV channels. They can play laudable roles to minimise the pollution of sound. TV serials, dramas and short films can be made which will cover the highest number of population to make them aware of the bad effects of sound pollution. BTV must play the role of leader in this line though people hardly watches BTV.

The owners of industries should arrange a regular session for their workers. Environmentalists must come forward with slogans, banners, festoons and public contact individual to individual, society to society and area to area. The artists of all kinds and levels must perform something which attaches much importance to this issue. Now electronic media stands first to spread any idea, news and ideology. Print media lags far behind in this race. Who reads newspapers now a-days? Whose who read, who reads environmental articles or facts? Even then, we, the writers feel constrained to produce some articles regarding this matter. Actually, all sorts of professionals must do something to minimise sound pollution as it directly touches all. It should not follow the theory of everybody's business means nobody's business.

On many religious and social occasions young boys and girls of all areas and mohalls play with sound creating devices, which the police must ban without making any delay. The meetings of political leaders not be amplified by using many mikes as people will watch it on TV those who don't attend the meeting. Religious and political leaders' involvement is a must to minimise sound pollution. In many religious functions unnecessary sounds are being made without caring for public health and misinterpreting religion. We must consider that evil of sound is not a political issue rather it is closely related to our peaceful existence which we cannot afford to avoid in any way.

Md. Masum Billah works in the PACE Programme, BRAC.