Traffic noise pollution in Karachi,Pakistan

Objectives: to determine the level of traffic noise in the city of karachi. study design: descriptive,cross sectional study. place and duration: karachi,august 2008. materials and methods: six different sites were selected from busy locations in different areas of karachi for study. same persons made all recordings. kamplex sound level meter (slm3) with built-in calibrated condenser microphone was used for all recordings. inclusion criteria: two major roads of the city namely m.a jinnah road and shahrah-e- faisal were selected for study. exclusion criteria: air traffic noise,railway stations,vendors with their loudspeakers and loud music played on certain vehicles were all excluded from the study. results: maximum level of noise was 110 db (a),recorded from autorikshaw & motorcycles (without silencers) and minibuses. maximum noise was observed during the peak rush hours between 01.00 p.m. to 03.00 p.m. & 05.00 p.m. to 07.00 p.m. and was in the range of 110 db (a) with a dip of about 5 - 10 db (a) between 03.00 p.m. to 05.00 p.m. the noisiest site was found to be m.a jinnah road (merewether tower & opposite k.m.c building). the mean values of noise level in the commercial and residential areas were 95.75db (a) and 60 db (a) respectively. conclusion: karachi is facing an enormous problem of exceedingly high levels of traffic noise,which is significantly higher than all the available international data.