Article Title: Decibel Hell Author/Source: Environews A: List the major ideas, concepts or key points- point by point

- During a single day, people living in a typical urban environment can experience a wide range of sounds in many locations, including shopping malls, schools, the workplace, recreational centers, and the home. - In fact, its difficult today to escape sound completely. - Noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard, and it is estimated that 120 million people worldwide have disabling hearing difficulties. - The growing noise pollution problem has many different causes. Booming population growth and the loss of rural land to urban sprawl both play a role. - Transportation passenger vehicles, trains, buses, motorcycles, medium and heavy trucks, and aircraft are the most pervasive outdoor noise sources. - Some experts noise simply as unwanted sound, but what can be unwanted for one person can be pleasant or even essential sound to another- consider boom boxes, car stereos, drag races, and lawn mowers in this context. - Sound measured by decibels (dB) - Zero dBA is considered the point at which a person begins to hear sound. - A soft whisper at 3 feet equals 30 dBA, a busy freeway at 50 feet is around 80 dBA, and a chain saw can reach 110 dBA or more at operating distance - Brief exposure to sound levels exceeding 120 dBA without hearing protection may even cause physical pain. - In U.S. about 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous sound on job. - Industries having a high number of workers exposed to loud sounds include construction, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and the military. - Indeed, the term secondhand noise is increasingly used to describe noise that is experienced by people who did not produce it.

- Dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, and hair dryers can all reach or exceed 90 dBA. - Popular boom cars equipped with powerful stereo systems that are usually played with the volume and bass turned up abnormally high and the car windows rolled down can hit 140150 dBA. - Prolonged exposure can actually change the structure of the hair cells in the inner ear, resulting in hearing loss. - It can also cause tinnitus, a ringing, roaring, buzzing, or clicking in the ears. - Hearing loss is irreversible. Once hearing is lost, its lost forever. - The effects of sound dont stop with the ears. Nonauditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that dont cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry. - Studies have revealed that as children grow they are exposed to sounds that can threaten their health and cause learning problems. - Acts as a stressor-activating physiological mechanisms that over time can produce adverse health effects. Although all the effects and mechanisms are not elucidated, noise may elevate systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate, thus producing both acute and chronic health effects B: Summarize the AUTHORs main point or idea- at LEAST 1-2 paragraphs During a single day, people living in a typical urban environment can experience a wide range of sounds in many locations, including shopping malls, schools, the workplace, recreational centers, and the home. Its difficult today to escape sound completely. Some experts noise simply as unwanted sound, but what can be unwanted for one person can be pleasant or even essential sound to another- consider boom boxes, car stereos, drag races, and lawn mowers in this context. The effects of sound dont stop with the ears. Nonauditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that dont cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry.

C: Write a reaction paragraph to the article stating your own thoughts on the topic, using specific citations from the article to support your views I agree that sound could affect learning ability because if you are sitting in a class and outside they are building home or road, how could you sit there and studying? Hearing loss is irreversible. Once hearing is lost, its lost forever. So just keep in mind that we have to protect ourselves, from being losing hearing, because once its lost, its lost forever, you cant do anything to have it back. The effects of sound dont stop with the ears. Nonauditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that dont cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry. So What? - Noise pollution - unwanted sound - Everywhere - harmful - Lost hearing - Heart attack - Blood pressure - What If? What Does This Remind Me Of? Mark Stephenson Says Who? William Luxford

There is a law? A law to protect people from I should protect myself because no one could being hearing all those sound? From being save me from being lost hearing. I would stay died? away from those large volumes that people like to turn it all high. And I would keep in mind that once the hearing is lost, its lost forever.