European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 24, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 20 the stars and stripes May 1977 modern living quiet by Jenkins new York times Rhesus Monkey named Mare recently spent 12 hours a Day for 30 Days being buffeted by the sounds any pass c cry might hear at noon outside Jack son memorial Hospital in o her experience is part of a research project on acoustical physiology 1 Row being conducted at the University i of Miami medical school with Etnan Ocial help from the office of noise abatement and control o the environmental Protection the experiments reflect sharply rising concern that noise May be a serious general health though an insidious one one Seldom recognized even by its experts not Only damages hearing but May create psychological troubles and contribute to such diverse physical ailments As heart disease and in an ancient Battle Over noise in the workplace is still going on while no one denies that excessive noise Over Long periods causes hearing there is wide disagreement Over what is excess Given variations in individual but using 85 which Many authorities consider too High for hearing As an upper it is estimated that More than 12 million american workers Are overexposed to permissible exposure under the current labor department Standard is 90 roughly equivalent to the Low Range of Jet plane Over an eight hour Mars the Monkey was hearing about 75 comparable to the sound a sub compact car makes at 60 Miles an hour and quieter than some portable hair labor unions want enforcement of the now spotty at and then a reduction to 89 because the Decibel scale is the Dif Ference Between s3 and 90 represents a doubling in one estimate is that full enforcement of the 90dccibel Standard would prevent a hearing loss of 29 decibels or More for and that an enforced Standard of 85 would prevent the same loss for almost double that Nicholas Ashford of the Center for policy alternatives at the Massachusetts Institute of technology thinks the greatest danger in occupational noise May Stem from an impairment of the body ability to handle toxic there Are in use in american Industry and he Ozone from office copying to name under the body intake of toxins is a celer its been shown that amphetamines Are 10 limes More toxic under what do you think the noise in a Metal stamping Plant is doing o a worker taking Pep pills to keep up with the work noise is the most pervasive health Hazard in the and noise Ai a stress or in combination with toxins May turn out to be the most serious health Hazard work ers when noise assaults the the heart rate in creases and blood pressure blood is diverted from the digestive system to the brain and other production of adrenaline and other hormones is stepped increasing the flow of fatty acids and glucose into the the body reaction to infection is changed ail those involuntary vestiges of mans adjustment to noise primeval fight or flight response to a Are part of the reason noise is thought of As an insidious in the unlike other sense cannot adjust to excessive even in people tend to accommodate to noise and even enjoy it witness Rock musicians and their you adjust to but the biological effects Are the says Samuel eme Ritus professor of otology the science of hearing at the mount Sinai school of Medicine in new because it acts As a Long Range noise is suspected of contributing to cardiovascular fetal damage and even research has offered tantalizing clues in All those but no conclusive proof preliminary findings in the Miami de signed to determine whether there is a Prova ble link Between noise and cardiovascular Are typically it was like the original White knuckle Krisl a says of the experiments with for the first three or four the poor animal just gripped the arms of her refusing to look away from the noise her blood pressure and heart rate shot up to about 30 per cent above Normal and stayed during the noise Lor the whole 30 but Peterson and his colleague Jeffrey Augen a do not yet know whether or not Mars has been permanently Jack a professor of psychiatry at the University of is satisfied that noise contributes to mental he notes that school children have been shown to develop learning and emotional difficulties in noisy and is particularly concerned about an almost Universal trouble noise in the Richard president of local 588 of the United automobile shares the concern Over psychological people prefer to work the Midnight shift just to gel away from the noise a Iii i says and workers and supervisors on the late shift get play Golf and bowl Tuv shift kind of Sodal interaction is they cant hear each and they shout and pretty soon they re against the background of such concerns campaigners against noise find Hope in a number of r can1 land in no Are quieter is new York transit Autori Matt ult environmental Mist inn 1s work to Cut no Wor to Cut Down the Senam and Roar and howl of the subway r pm reach 110 the Uniac level of a fairly Jet is America doubtful quiiler1 most authorities a Lut of i Beng used t could reduce noise int Ion of vehicles is going nut a
