Criteria for Evaluating the Harmful Effects of Noise

Planning and execution of an effective noise control program requires definition of the harmful effects of noise to be prevented and the establishment of goals to be achieved. In response to the Noise Control Act of 1972 the US Environmental Protection Agency conducted studies to clarify the cause and effects relationships between the noise environment and various health effects, which were published in a Criteria Document. Based on these findings environmental noise levels were identified, at or below which the population would be protected against adverse effects on health and welfare; this information was published in the Levels Document. The rationale for selecting basically one descriptor for characterizing noise environments with respect to their health effects and the justification for the levels selected based on hearing conservation and activity interference/annoyance criteria will be discussed. The use of these levels in the overall environmental noise control program and their relationship to industrial/occupational noise exposure limit levels will be explained. (Author)