ABSTRACT
Environmental noise pollution is an indicator of environmental degradation and its impacts in the sub-urban areas on the sustainability of life is an emerging concern. This has spurred this study on investigation of environmental noise pollution in 54 purposeful selected study points in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna state. The noise measurement was carried out in commercial areas, selected busy streets, major intersections, and mixed residential areas. Extech Noise meter model 407750 for sound measurement and Geographical Information System (inverse distance weighted) were used for the spatial interpolation. The population was estimated and three hundred and eighty-five structured questionnaires were estimated and administered by purposeful random sampling. About 358 questionnaires were retrieved. SPSS and Excel statistical software were used for the analysis. The LDAY (LD), LEvening (LE), LNigth (LN) and (LDEN) were compared with WHO and NESREA specification respectively. For the LD, 100 % of all the surveyed sites exceeded the WHO standard and 94.4 % exceeded the NESREA standard which range from 67.6 dB (A) at Ijaw Street to 93 dB (A) at Kwangila intersection site one. For the LE, 100 % of the surveyed sites exceeded the WHO specifications and 90.7 % exceeded the NESREA specifications which range from 67.8 dB (A) at Hanwa residential area to 92.7 dB (A) at Kwangila site three. for the Lnight, 100 % of the surveyed sites exceeded the WHO standard and 83.3 % of the sites exceeded the NESREA specifications ranging from 63.3 dB (A) Dogorawa residential area to 92.1 dB (A) at Kwangila intersection site one. for the LDEN, all the surveyed sites exceeded the WHO specifications and 83.3 % of the sites exceeded the NESREA specifications which range from 73.1 dB (A) at Hanwa/ Graceland residential areas to 98.0 dB (A) at Kwangila site (1). The L10 range from 68.1 dB (A) at Graceland residential to 95.1 dB (A). The L90 range from 43.8 dB (A) at Graceland residential areas to 81.6 at Kwangila intersection site one. The Traffic Noise Index (TNI) range from 57.8 dB (A) at Hanwa/Pensioners residential area to 122.1 dB (A) at park road about 96.3 % of the surveyed sites exceeded the 74 dB (A) compared standard. The Noise pollution level (LNP) range from 78.1 dB (A) at Hanwa MTN generator to 123.0 dB (A) at Aminu Road and exceeded the compared standard of 72 dB (A) in all the sites. There was a significant difference between LD and LN, LE and LN, L10 and L90, TNI and LNP as P< 0.05 exception of LD and LE where P>0.05 with the confident level of 95 %. On the perception responses, about 90.2 % representing 323 of the respondents have awareness on various aspect of environmental noise. There was a significant response on the sources of noise and their severity as traffic noise, generator and commercial activities were ranked in descending order of severity using the Likert scale. There was a significant awareness of the various effects of noise pollution as hearing impairment, annoyance, stress, distraction and aggressiveness were ranked in descending order based on the Likert scale. About 61.7 % representing 221 of the respondents complained about environmental noise. About 72.2 % representing 258 of the respondents had done nothing in mitigating noise. About 91.1 % representing 326 of the respondents want the government to take more proactive actions in mitigating and punishing those who indiscriminately degrade the environments with noise pollution. The noise Index, Parameters, and Percentiles were exceeded in most of the surveyed sites. Therefore, a determined effort by concerned government agencies, non-government, institutions, well-wishers in creating necessary awareness to the expose population, planting of trees with large foliage, constant environmental sound monitoring, strategic urban planning, and wearing safety wears would serve as a deserving mitigating measure.
