It seems to have become an accepted norm of public behavior to subject people in the streets, in malls, stores and supermarkets, in restaurants, in hairdresser salons, even in ukay-ukay areas, to amplified music of the popular hit-song, often the birit variety, namely top-of-their-lungs singing.
Nope, no soothing, instrumental or god-forbid “classical“ music as that might be too mingaw, dreaded in this culture that loves all forms of loudness: neighborhood radios turned up high, church festivities that start with blasts of firecrackers at dawn (my town!), barangay disco sound heard kilometers away, stores with loudspeakers mounted on outside walls or turned to the street, karaoke joints, and of course, the sheer delight of motorcycle owners who want to make their existence known to the world by the extremely- loud roar and rumble of their engines.
Last week, the Philippine Information Agency held a Kapihan on Environmental Noise and its Impacts on Health, Business and Community.
Panelist and environment advocate Esther Windler began the discussion by pointing out how noise pollution was the least addressed of environment issues by City authorities, even as it is creating problems in the City and in communities.
Thirty people had been invited and 50 showed up, many to express their dissatisfaction with the growing problem of noise in the City, and the resulting deterioration of the quality of life.
One woman described how her old and ailing relatives suffered from the videoke next door that went on till dawn (drunken quarrel noise, too); another how urban poor children’s study time and sleep were affected; hotel managers said clients complained of noise, and of course, many wanted explanations on why motorcycle noise was still poisoning their lives, and not being adequately addressed by City authorities.
Panelist Councilor Alan Gel Cordova, chair of the City Council Committee on Public Order & Safety acknowledged problems in the implementation of the “muffler“ ordinance but said that efforts were ongoing for its effective enforcement.
But after hearing the stories and testimonies of the participants about the negative impacts on them of other sources of noise such as karaokes, barangay discos, public music events and the like, Councilor Cordova pledged to make the issue of noise pollution his priority in the work of the Public Order committee — earning him grateful applause from the Kapihan participants.
Important information that is not widely known was provided by panelist Dr. Rosalind Yu, neurologist, who also acknowledged that the local medical community had not yet engaged with this issue.
While there have been warnings, especially to young people, about possible hearing loss due to excessive use and volumes of personal audio devices, it is less known that sound/noise is a psychosocial stressor that can generate cardiovascular activation such as increased heart rate and blood pressure.
At which point, Sr. Rosa Fulleros, living in the Carmel community in barangay Balugo, and with an existing heart condition, got up and recounted her experience of enduring four consecutive nights of loud barangay disco noise, feeling unwell, and having to be hospitalized.
According to the 2011 WHO publication, Burden of Disease from Environmental Noise, “There is overwhelming evidence that exposure to environmental noise has adverse effects on the health of the population.“
Amazingly, the study also showed that even at relatively low exposure levels, night-time noise activates the body’s responses to stressors even during sleep.
Eyes can be shut but the ears are permanently open auditory channels that allow brain arousals and cardiovascular reactions.
There are evolutionary reasons for this: alertness to predators in the dark.
Today’s pervasive noise is dangerous: included in this report are the preliminary results from a study of six European countries that attributed to noise one in 50 heart attacks in those countries.
So while many Filipinos appear to delight in noise, we have to realize that it can also make us sick and anti-social!
The WHO report had a whole chapter on “Annoyance“, detailing that frequent exposure to noise can produce anger, depression, anxiety, agitation, tiredness, and even stomach discomfort.
It is clear that noise is a public health, as well as a peace and order issue that needs to be discussed everywhere, in the business community, at barangay levels, and in the City Council.
And why not the rehabilitation of the value of mingaw in the sense of silence and peace?
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Author’s email: h.cecilia7@gmail.com
