Impact of Noise and Vibration on People and Products

By Daryoush Allaei (R&D, QRDC, Inc. Chaska, Minnesota, USA)

The effect of noise and vibration on people and products is an important issue for communities. In particular, the noise and vibration issues are more important when communities are around industrial facilities and transportation systems. There are a number of research groups throughout the world which have been actively researching these effects. The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the well respected authorities. WHO defines health as “A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity?” Even though this is a broad definition of health, it embraces the concept of well-being, and thereby renders noise impacts “health” issues. In general noise effects can be grouped into two broad categories: auditory (noise-induced hearing loss) and non-auditory (behavioral and physiological effects). Most products and machines not only are subjected to noise and vibration during their production, but also are the source or receiver of such dynamic forces during their operations. Therefore, the product quality and performance are also influenced by excess noise and vibration. This seminar focuses on an overview of the influence of noise and vibration on both people and products.