In the beginning there was silence, and all was good. From silence came sound, not all of which was good nor welcomed. It was named noise.
Today more than ever we are bombarded with noise overload. Noise pollution has been known to cause aggression, hypertension, high stress levels, tinnitus, hearing loss, sleep disturbances, and other harmful health effects. Stress and hypertension are the leading causes to health problems, whereas tinnitus can lead to forgetfulness, severe depression and at times panic attacks. Is it no wonder that we have become what some consider as a violent and ailing world.
Below is a table of various noise levels. The dB scale is logarithmic so every 6 dB increase is double the sound level. So a street corner in a city at 80 dB compared to a quiet night in the country at 30 dB, is 128 time more noisy.
| Typical source of the noise | Typical noise level (dB) |
| Jet airplane taking off | 130 |
| Threshold of pain | 120 |
| Rock concert at stage | 110 |
| Subway platform | 100 |
| Side of a busy highway | 90 |
| Street corner in city | 80 |
| Side of a road with cars | 70 |
| Typical office | 60 |
| Suburban area background | 50 |
| Suburban area at night | 40 |
| Rural area at night | 30 |
| TV recording studio | 20 |
| Audiometric test booth | 10 |
Since for many of us, our day is spent in the workplace around noisy machines, blaring PA systems etc., the noise we are exposed to play an important role in our well-being. Compressed air is a vital energy source in an industrial facility. If left untamed it can be loud and debilitating.
EXAIR has a line of compressed air products that are designed to lower operating sound levels, save air, and maintain performance . If you want to explore what EXAIR products can do for you, call and ask for one of our application engineers at 1-800-903-9247
Joe Panfalone
Application Engineer
joepanfalone@exair.com
Phone (513) 671-3322
Fax (513) 671-3363
Web: www.exair.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/exair_jp
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