Manhattan tendencies call for earplugs for Addis-citizens

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New York City is by many known as the city that never sleeps but every person who has been visiting or living in Addis Ababa in recent years will know that the Ethiopian capital could easily possess the same title, writes Mads Oddershede.

Ethiopia, and especially Addis, is experiencing substantial growth these years, which is reflected by all the construction work being carried out in the city. But the growth is also to blame for some of the noise in the capital as the construction work is making a lot of disturbing sounds in the daytime together with other sinners. Whether you are walking down the street or sitting inside your house, not a minute goes by without some kind of noise. The noise often comes from drivers honking the horn of their cars, music playing from a bar or a shop nearby or maybe a wild dog barking.

As a Dane coming from a small town in the countryside, the upheaval of coming to a big city like Addis with a population of around 3.4 million people is massive. I find it impossible to walk peacefully down the street, as there always is some kind of noise interfering with the silence. The Danish capital Copenhagen, with a population of 1.2 million people, can also be loud sometimes, but the noise doesn’t seem to be as embracing as in Addis Ababa, which probably is due to the comparatively lower number of inhabitants, no wild dogs in the cityscape and, maybe, more tolerant drivers.

The Federal Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has released some upper limits of permissible noise in decibel for the industrial, commercial and residential areas of Ethiopia. The EPA’s upper limits for the industrial areas are 75 dB during the day and 70 dB during the night, while in the commercial areas the limits are 65 dB in the daytime and 55 dB in the night. The residential parts of Addis clearly have the lowest limits of the three areas with the permissible noise being 55 dB during the day and 45 dB in the night. But how loud is 75 decibel? To put things into perspective, a normal conversation between two people lays, according to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, around 50 dB while a nearby jet take-off is around 130 db. The midtown Manhattan traffic noise is usually somewhere in between 70-85 dB.

The limits in Ethiopia are therefore relatively high. However, the limits are being exceeded almost every minute in many areas of the capital. If you go to the roundabout near Edna Mall at Cameroon Street, I found that the number of honks from cars easily goes above 10 honks every minute. If you then walk down on some of the adjacent streets to Cameroon Street you will often hear loud music playing from bars or music stores, some construction work being done or sometimes the religious institutions such as churches and mosques making a lot of noise as well.

To find out exactly how loud the noise actually is in one of the more busy areas of Addis I walked down Cameroon Street for about 10 minutes measuring with an app on my phone the decibel numbers. The noise often rose above 80 dB and it was almost impossible to find a moment where it went below 60 dB. Sometimes the noise went close to 100 dB. The average noise level during my walk could, in fact, easily compete with Manhattan traffic noise!

I am only here in Ethiopia for a month and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to live in this constantly humming beehive. Izra, a man I met on the street who works as an accountant in Addis Ababa, told me: “When you live in the city you are constantly exposed to a lot of different noises. The cars are especially a big problem I think, but in other parts of the city the churches and mosques make a lot of noise as well.”

Fere, who has her own shop near Cameroon Street and the previously mentioned roundabout near Edna Mall, is also annoyed by all the noise. “Although I work here every day I still find the noise, especially from the cars, annoying,” she said. One thing is all the noise during the day, but in the night it is also hard to find peaceful moments as the nightclubs start playing loud music from their enormous speakers to entertain their guests without thinking of their surroundings. Honks from the cars are, as in the daytime, very common to hear every now and then and sometimes even a car alarm goes off. My first uninterrupted night’s sleep is therefore still to come.

In fact Ethiopia’s upper limits of permissible noise are, together with India that has the same limits, among the highest in the world. For instance, countries like Japan and Israel have significantly lower limits for some areas. In Japan the upper limit for industrial areas is only 60 decibel while the commercial areas in Israel have a limit of 55 dB. But not only is it annoying to be exposed to all different kinds of noises whilst trying to walk peacefully down the street, it can also be very unhealthy. To be exposed to a lot of loud noises on a daily basis and for longer periods of time can at first lead to hearing impairments and a rise in blood pressure.

Long-term consequences can, in the worst cases, lead to cardiovascular diseases and hormone level changes, according to the World Heath Organization (WHO). The recommended level of noise in the daytime is around 50 dB while at night 35 dB is considered reasonable. With more people moving to the city and the continuing construction work going on, it looks like the earplug business will do well in Addis Ababa in the future – at least if people don’t want to lose their hearingManhattan tendencies call for earplugs for Addis-citizens

New York City is by many known as the city that never sleeps but every person who has been visiting or living in Addis Ababa in recent years will know that the Ethiopian capital could easily possess the same title, writes Mads Oddershede.

Ethiopia, and especially Addis, is experiencing substantial growth these years, which is reflected by all the construction work being carried out in the city. But the growth is also to blame for some of the noise in the capital as the construction work is making a lot of disturbing sounds in the daytime together with other sinners. Whether you are walking down the street or sitting inside your house, not a minute goes by without some kind of noise. The noise often comes from drivers honking the horn of their cars, music playing from a bar or a shop nearby or maybe a wild dog barking.

As a Dane coming from a small town in the countryside, the upheaval of coming to a big city like Addis with a population of around 3.4 million people is massive. I find it impossible to walk peacefully down the street, as there always is some kind of noise interfering with the silence. The Danish capital Copenhagen, with a population of 1.2 million people, can also be loud sometimes, but the noise doesn’t seem to be as embracing as in Addis Ababa, which probably is due to the comparatively lower number of inhabitants, no wild dogs in the cityscape and, maybe, more tolerant drivers.

The Federal Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has released some upper limits of permissible noise in decibel for the industrial, commercial and residential areas of Ethiopia. The EPA’s upper limits for the industrial areas are 75 dB during the day and 70 dB during the night, while in the commercial areas the limits are 65 dB in the daytime and 55 dB in the night. The residential parts of Addis clearly have the lowest limits of the three areas with the permissible noise being 55 dB during the day and 45 dB in the night. But how loud is 75 decibel? To put things into perspective, a normal conversation between two people lays, according to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, around 50 dB while a nearby jet take-off is around 130 db. The midtown Manhattan traffic noise is usually somewhere in between 70-85 dB.

The limits in Ethiopia are therefore relatively high. However, the limits are being exceeded almost every minute in many areas of the capital. If you go to the roundabout near Edna Mall at Cameroon Street, I found that the number of honks from cars easily goes above 10 honks every minute. If you then walk down on some of the adjacent streets to Cameroon Street you will often hear loud music playing from bars or music stores, some construction work being done or sometimes the religious institutions such as churches and mosques making a lot of noise as well.

To find out exactly how loud the noise actually is in one of the more busy areas of Addis I walked down Cameroon Street for about 10 minutes measuring with an app on my phone the decibel numbers. The noise often rose above 80 dB and it was almost impossible to find a moment where it went below 60 dB. Sometimes the noise went close to 100 dB. The average noise level during my walk could, in fact, easily compete with Manhattan traffic noise!

I am only here in Ethiopia for a month and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to live in this constantly humming beehive. Izra, a man I met on the street who works as an accountant in Addis Ababa, told me: “When you live in the city you are constantly exposed to a lot of different noises. The cars are especially a big problem I think, but in other parts of the city the churches and mosques make a lot of noise as well.”

Fere, who has her own shop near Cameroon Street and the previously mentioned roundabout near Edna Mall, is also annoyed by all the noise. “Although I work here every day I still find the noise, especially from the cars, annoying,” she said. One thing is all the noise during the day, but in the night it is also hard to find peaceful moments as the nightclubs start playing loud music from their enormous speakers to entertain their guests without thinking of their surroundings. Honks from the cars are, as in the daytime, very common to hear every now and then and sometimes even a car alarm goes off. My first uninterrupted night’s sleep is therefore still to come.

In fact Ethiopia’s upper limits of permissible noise are, together with India that has the same limits, among the highest in the world. For instance, countries like Japan and Israel have significantly lower limits for some areas. In Japan the upper limit for industrial areas is only 60 decibel while the commercial areas in Israel have a limit of 55 dB. But not only is it annoying to be exposed to all different kinds of noises whilst trying to walk peacefully down the street, it can also be very unhealthy. To be exposed to a lot of loud noises on a daily basis and for longer periods of time can at first lead to hearing impairments and a rise in blood pressure.