Monitored Community Noise Pollution in Selected Sensitive Areas of Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

This article focuses on the monitoring of community noise pollution in some selected sensitive areas of Kuala Lumpur that include Blue Boy Mansions residential area and LaSalle Secondary School in busiest part of Klang Valley. The objectives of the article were to monitor and to assess the existing noise levels at the selected sites. A modular precision Sound Level Meter (SLM) Type One was used in the measurements. The measurements were taken for 24–hours in the residential area and from 6 am to 7 pm in the school area (schooling hours). The measurements were taken at an interval of ten minutes and each measurement lasted for five minutes at appropriate points in accordance with ISO 1996-1:1982, ISO 1996-2:1987 and ISO 19896-3:1987. Equivalent Continuous Sound Level (Leq), Sound Level exceeded 10% of the measurement period (L10), Sound Level exceeded 90% of the measurement (L90), minimum noise level (Lmin) and maximum noise level (Lmax) were measured to assist in assessing the existing noise levels at the selected sites. Results showed that the monitored noise levels in terms of Leq, in residential area ranged between 52.1dB(A) to 72.7dB (A) and in the school area ranged between 68.2dB(A) to 73.7dB(A). These levels highly exceeded the level recommended by the World Health Organization (p ≤ 0.001). These noise levels cause sleeping disturbance, interfere with speech communication and message extraction. The main causes of such noise levels are related to transportation system, motor vehicles and traffic supported by poor urban planning. To reduce such noise levels suggestion are made for municipalities to consider protection of communities from an environmental noise as an integral part of their policy for environmental protection to create conducive environment for the society.