SOURCES OF INDOOR NOISE AND OPTIONS TO MINIMIZE ADVERSE HUMAN HEALTH EFFECTS

Many people are affected by environmental pollution level. Many studies presents the harmful effects of common air pollution sources such as dust, toxic substances emitted by cars and industry, but an important pollution source remains: the noise. Generally, the noise effects are separated into two broad categories: auditory (noise-induced hearing loss) and non-auditory (behavioral and physiological effects). There are over 140.000 people in Iasi County at risk of becoming ill because they live or work in an area with high noise level, as shown in a study requested by City Hall and executed by Transport Research Institute INCERTRANS. Over the noise given by the external environment, which is more or less attenuated depending on the type of building, each person is subjected to electrical equipments noise or to other noises. The paper will present the main indoor noise sources (predictable or not-predictable), will perform a frequency spectrum analysis of the resultant noise and will present the main solutions to reduce the noise effects.