Status of international consortium on noise issues in developing and emerging countries

Abstract

As part of the growing interest in developing appropriate concepts and approaches for a "Global Noise Policy", consideration needs to be given to how effective and affordable noise policies might need to vary based on factors which differ depending on the "state of development" of individual countries. Although there is no standard manner to distinguish between "developed", "developing" and "emerging" countries, it is obvious that countries do differ in terms of their level of technological development their financial capabilities and the availability of other resources required for adequate management of community noise. They also differ in their level of knowledge about the effects of noise, their views about the proper role of national and local governments and the availability of engineering techniques to control exposure to community and occupational noise. Since effective noise policies need to be based on adequate research to understand cultural differences in how people in various countries respond to noise exposures, this topic will be especially important in the future. This paper reviews some of the noise research and noise policy issues which need to be considered as efforts to develop global noise policy concepts proceed and, especially the ways in which such concepts and exposure criteria might need to be modified to be relevant for "developing" and "emerging" countries. This paper describes the current International Consortium on Noise Issues in Developing and Emerging Countries as a forum to facilitate discussions and share relevant information among the Consortium participants and other interested acoustics professionals.