Hanoi (VNA) - Noise pollution inbig cities and urban areas has become more serious, badly affecting residents’quality of life, but punishment of polluters remains ineffective.

Noise pollution is attributed to traffic,factories and constructions sites. With the increase in the number of vehicles,traffic congestion in big cities has become more severe and the engine noise isgrowing. The horning habit of drivers only worsens the problem.

Loud music from bars, restaurants andstores is also disruptive. Proprietors often blast out promotional music at anear-piercing decibel (dBA) level.

Nguyen Thanh Huyen from the capital’s CauGiay district said living on Xuan Thuy Street, lined by stores selling variouskinds of products from clothes, electronics and mobile phones to food, isreally uncomfortable.

“The stores often play music loudly to getcustomers to buy their products, and it even lasts until midnight. It is reallydisruptive when people want to go to sleep and have to get up early to go towork,” she said.

According to the national standard issuedin 2010, noise level limit for special areas like hospitals and schools is55dBA and 45dBA between 6am and 9pm and 9pm to 6am, respectively. The figure forresidential areas is 70dBA and 55dBA, respectively.

But HCM City reported in April 2016 that97.08 percent of noise at 12 traffic points exceeded the national standard. Thefigure in 2015 is 90.27 percent.

In Hanoi, the Institute of Environmental Scienceand Engineering measured the noise level on some key streets in differentdistricts in 2015, also finding that the noise level exceeded permissiblelimits, reaching between 74-107dBA. 

According to medical experts, people livingor working near noisy places are susceptible to neurological diseases,headaches, difficult concentrating and higher anxiety levels.

Dr Nguyen Thi Ngat from Bạch Mai Hospitalin Hanoi said that normally, people can hear in the range from 0-125 decibels.However, if their ears are exposed to a continuous blast of 105 decibels, theywill suffer from ear pain.

Hearing continuous and prolonged noisecould cause permanent hearing loss, she said.

Under current regulations, causing noiseexceeding allowed levels is subject to fines of up to 160 million VND (7,000USD) for individuals, and 320 million VND (14,000 USD) for organisations. Violatorsare also required to suspend operations for three months to a year, dependingon the levels of their infringements.

However, enforcement is hard. It is noteasy to catch noise polluters red-handed, unlike catching visible polluterssuch as waste water and rubbish dumpers, according to deputy head of theVietnam Environmental Administration Hoang Duong Tung.

The Ministry of Natural Resources andEnvironment’s inspectors regularly check and supervise noise levels atbusinesses and production sites, but they only issue warnings to violators.

The biggest measure to deal with theproblem is raising public awareness of the impact of causing too much noise, hesaid.-VNA