VietNamNet Bridge – Urban dwellers in Viet Nam are coming to realise just how painful it is to live with serious noise pollution, not only from the endless procession of motorbikes and four-wheeled vehicles but also selfish store proprietors who blast out promotional music at an incredible rate of decibels.

Drivers suffer dust and noise from a construction site on a stretch of National Highway 32 through Ha Noi's Tu Liem District.

In the districts of Cau Giay and Hai Ba Trung in Ha Noi, there are many clothing and electronic stores that compete by turning up the volume to screaming point in the hope that suffering shoppers will find their noise the most attractive.

In Cau Giay area, many stores are equipped with big internal speakers playing assorted music of dubious but deafening appeal. In Lang and Nguyen Trai streets, shop owners hung up speakers on the streets so that no one missed out on going deaf.

Nguyen Thi Thao, the owner of the Karaoke Restaurant in Ha Dong District, said that she used big speakers to attract clients. She said local order and security forces sometimes warned against it, but she said if she didn't blast passers-by, no one would stop at her restaurant.

Supermarkets and banks also play screeching music to attract clients when they have special events. And some bars in the Old Quarter find that this type of music is a dumb patron's substitute for entertainment.

Nguyen Tien Tho, an audio consultant with Hoabinhaudio said stores often used Chinese speakers which cost only a few million dong. According to Dang Duong Binh, who is in charge of Environmental Management at the Department of Natural Resources, Environment and Housing in Ha Noi, capital city people have to endure noise beyond all permissible limits, but it is still not as bad as in HCM City.

Nguyen Thi Mai opened a kindergarten in Le Quy Don Street in District 3, HCM City but her students could not concentrate on lessons because of the noise from an adjacent store, so she complained to the authorities. But when inspectors were sent to check, the store turn off the music. In other areas, when stores play music so loud, inspectors have no equipment to measure the amount so can only issue a reminder and retreat.

Nguyen Thi Lien, 71, from Le Quy Don Street, has been tortured by loud music from neighbouring bars which often shut at around midnight, and, until then, few locals manage to grab a wink of sleep.

Lawyer Nguyen Quoc Viet said that according to Decree No73/12/2010/ND-CP, disturbing the peace between 10pm and 5am, even near hospitals and nursing homes, was subject to fines of VND100,000 - 200,000 (US$4.80 to -9.60).

And, he added, those using loudspeakers, gongs, horns, trumpets or other means to promote their wares can be fined between VND 300,000 - 800,000 ($14.40-38.40).

"This is too low to make anyone stop the habit," he said.

After studying 400 people living or working near noisy places, including roads, a research team from the Institute of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Hygiene said people had higher levels of neurological diseases, headaches, insomnia, difficulty concentrating and higher anxiety.

A doctor of the National Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital, said that normally, people can hear in the range from 0-125 decibels. However, if their ears were exposed to a continuous blast of 105 decibels, they would suffer from ear pain.

"Hearing continuous and prolonged noisy sound can cause permanent hearing loss," he said.

Nguyen Thi Tien, from the Medical Institute of Labour and Environmental Hygiene, said that exposure to noise levels of 90 decibels for four hours a day could cause deafness. This is only marginally higher than the average level of noise in 13 cities and towns across Viet Nam.

Tien suggested authorities build much stronger regulations against noise polluters.

Source: VNS