UP504_Final Podcast_Emily Tejeda
From Emily Tejeda Vargas
Related Media
Well-Being in the City; Noise Pollution in Massachusetts: Boston, East Boston, and Chelsea
Introduction
This podcast will talk about city health in terms of noise pollution by comparing the cities of Boston and Chelsea, how they grew denser, and also louder; how noise is impacting our well-being, and why it is affecting some citizens more than others.
Noise Pollution at Chelsea, MA
At Chelsea Massachusetts, a small city north of Boston, with a population of about 40, 000. 40% of them are emigrants, and 18 % are below the poverty line. When looking at Chelsea, this is a town that deals with noise pollution from a whole orchestra of commercial and industrial sources, within a 2.2 miles area.
Noise Pollution at Boston and East Boston, MA
Erica Walker, who biked around Boston to take the measure of a city’s noise, assures this affects neighborhoods differently. Across Charles Street from Boston Common, at the Public Garden, the average sound rate is 5 decibels. The sound of water, birds, and wind equals white noise, and that, according to scientists reduces stress. That does not happen back in Boston and East Boston, at the crowded streets and denser apartments, where the average decibel ranges from 40-80. In fact, the quality of sound depends on the accessibility to space.
Who does it affect?
According to Mayra Romero, a Chelsea Resident, it is incredibly hard to get a good night's sleep with the constant sound of airplanes. At night these are 55 decibels. The World Health Organization recommends that the sound level outside levels should not exceed 40 decibels in the evening.
One study that analyzed airport noise found that Hispanic and Latino's communities tend to be more exposed to noise than other communities in the US. That is because in many cases because of legal statuses, they choose to adapt in places that others choose not to because they are too dirty and noisy.
One question remains unanswered: Besides all the articles, media cover, and research: what are cities and government doing, not for attractive downtown areas, but the socially discriminated and immigrant communities, to provide them with better health?
Conclusion:
The takeaways are the overlooked noise pollution, how it affects our health and how that degree also depends on your race, your background, and your socioeconomics. This is why it is so important to look at the already very complex problems through the lens of intersectionality because that defines how different health is given to different people in this country. Auditive Health affects us in many ways: environmentally (in terms of global pollution), physically (for different cardiovascular and respiratory conditions), socially (as constant discrimination), and primarily, it affects our mental state.
Hopefully, we will see an improvement in how noise pollution is researched. And further on, provide us with proposals that incorporate soundscapes such as water features, green space, and integrative buildings, so future cities can thrive.
Sources:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/magazine/magazine_article/mapping-bostons-soundscape/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CPnLGKGrBU
https://iands.design/articles/33122/how-can-cities-be-designed-combat-noise
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:3f9d8e23-ef3f-4b45-a22d-0527915b4100
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:2c4439a4-ae03-40fe-95cf-5ef9d0afd317
https://physicianshearingservices.com/blog-posts/noise-pollution-in-cities-linked-to-hearing-loss
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