The Sound Barrier

COLOMBO, Nov. 10 -- Sri Lanka's Supreme Court on Friday issued an order banning the use of loudspeakers between 00:10 p.m. to 06:00 a.m. local time (1630 GMT to 0030 GMT) with immediate effect, the Daily News reported Saturday.

According to the newspaper, the court on Friday also ordered the cancellation of all the permits issued by the police to use loudspeakers. However, permits could be issued for special religious functions or events after 00:10 p.m. local time ascertaining the views of the residents in the vicinity. The court made these directions as interim orders until the new draft regulations with regard to the Community Noise Level Standards are approved by the parliament. The police was asked to submit a report to court by Dec. 12 on the implementation of the new order on noise pollution. Sri Lankan public have been complaining of the growing menace of noise pollution and have been urging the government for tight regulations.

What is sound pollution?

Noise Pollution or Sound Pollution is when the exposure of people or animals to levels of sound that are annoying, stressful, or damaging to the ears. Although loud and frightening sounds are part of nature, only in recent centuries has much of the world become urban, industrial, and chronically noisy.

A moronic overview

A simple situation with a simple solution. Three cheers to the minister of environment in Sri Lanka. This must be the greatest victory that the environmentalist in Sri Lanka ever have achieved. NOT.

Standing on my usual economy based ideology (which may seem crap to many) I have been grappling with this issue for the past couple of weeks.

The need of Sri Lanka becoming an economically sustainable country has been stressed in my previous postings. I will not again go into those puny little atrocities.

Let’s start this off in simple terms. Sri Lanka needs a healthy economic base. For that we need a healthy industrial sector. For the industrial sector to flourish we need a good market. Herein there is the Local market as well as the foreign market. Leaving aside the foreign market (I hope to tackle this in a future posting emphasizing on the “Shilpa” exhibition which was recently held in the BMICH, Colombo) let us consider the local market.

What is the local market anyway? Normal day to day people buying goods at the old “anupama” grocery at the junction. What exactly makes this market sway? Is the supply enough for the demand of the people? What do the people demand? How can we increase demand?

Going back to the basics again can we not agree that putting aside the quantitative aspect and qualitative aspects aside and taking the factor of “time” alone can make a dent in the market system? If you agree on this point read on or else go and put on some rock and roll baby.

How the marketing time affects the countries economy as well as the social system will be the main basis for this posting.

Normally shops open at around 9.00 am in the morning and they close around 7.45-8.00 pm (usually this is the case but there maybe some exceptions such as supermarkets, as always I will get to the supermarket issue on a later posting) that gives the shops roughly 10-11 hrs of business. What if the shops could be open 24/7? Wouldn’t that increase the business? Wouldn’t the revenue for the businessman increase? Not really.

Why do they close shops? Lack of infrastructure in the country. If the shops were open 24/7 the businessmen would have to provide the workers with transport since the public transportation system in Sri Lanka is in a rut. This is the simple overview of the situation but considering deeply into this matter is up to you.

How does the sound pollution act come into this scenario? Since I’m an architect I will consider this issue with an urban design viewpoint. What makes a city live? Why do we need a live city? Is a live city better than a dead one? (Colombo is worse than the frikin necropolis.) The people of the city make it alive. The quality of dynamism in terms of people is achieved by increasing various stimuli. We can increase the hue of a space and make it live eg: a room colored in bright red or yellow can be considered to be more lively than a room colored in blue or grey. Similarly if you increase or decrease the lighting levels the dynamic nature of a space can be enhanced. Taking this into consideration ponder on the thought whether a soundless space or a space filled with sound is more energetic. Herein sound is not merely thought of as noise. People shouting talking, singing, music playing, these are the sounds that make a space alive. I will go on further in explaining how sound enhances dynamic spaces because this in its own will become a academic paper.

Imagine your daily “pola”=Sri Lankan Markets, without the hustle and bustle of people. Imagine it without the shouting fish mongers “labai labai” continuous babbling. Its rather frustrating isn’t it.

Now imagine a bustling night life filled with sound, music, people shouting, with lights, at the nugegoda junction around 11.45 pm!

Won’t that be gorgeous? To wonder around the night bazaars, eating freshly made “Iringu” and “Isso vadai” at 11.45 pm in the night. You would think I’m crazy. How are we supposed to get home without the bus service? Haven’t you ever traveled the bus at Vesak time? In the night? I have. If there is demand, there will be supply. This is a basic principal.

By imposing this sort of unnatural socio-unfriendly laws the government is trying to take the country backwards not forwards.

Take away the sound law off, and rather encourage sounds at night. People will get on to the streets. Organize festivals, night bazaars, more people will get on. After working all day they do need some leisure time. When people come infrastructure will automatically come. Revenues for the local business man will increase. Very simple. This is just an overview. I’m too tired to go on further. You figure the rest yourselves.