The escalating levels of ambient noise in public places, caused by various sources such as industrial and construction activities, loudspeakers, music systems, vehicular horns, generator sets, and other mechanical devices, have adverse effects on human health and psychological well-being. It is essential to regulate and control the sources of noise production and generation to maintain ambient air quality standards with respect to noise.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed noise quality guidelines that summarize values regarding specific environments and effects. These guidelines consider the identified health effects and are set based on the lowest levels of noise that affect health, known as the critical health effect. Guideline values typically correspond to the lowest effect level for general populations, such as those for indoor speech intelligibility. Noise guideline values indicate the onset of health effects from noise exposures in different situations and environments.