A Preliminary Study on Assessment of Noise Levels in Indian Offices: A Case Study

Abstract

The urban noise pollution is growing day by day and has become a universal problem for both the public and the policy-makers. The increase in number of market complexes, growing population and consequently increase in number of vehicles have inevitably caused major noise pollution in different public places and government offices. Now-a-days, there are records of high level of dissatisfaction due to noise incidence in and around different offices. Therefore, an attempt has been made to assess the noise pollution levels at 10 different office corridors in and around the city of Balasore. The noise data collected from different offices displayed wide ranges of noise level varying in three different times (10-12 noon, 1-3 pm and 3-5 pm). The maximum noise level was assessed at RTO office (83.4 dB), while minimum was assessed at Head Post Office (43.7 dB). Also, the maximum equivalent noise level was assessed at RTO office (75.3), while minimum was assessed at Income Tax office (58.3). The maximum noise pollution level (NPL) and Noise Climate (NC) were assessed at RTO office (96.6) and Collectorate office (26.5) and minimum was assessed at Inspector of Schools (70.4) and at Horticulture office (11.2) respectively.