Noise Level Signatures over Bida Town, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

The trends towards urbanization in Nigeria mean that it becomes of academic interest to quantify and describe the levels and prevalence of urban noise pollution. In this 'study, noise level signatures over portions of Bida town were measured and the results have been duly presented. The core objective of this study is to quantify the levels of noise at strategic locations in Bida town in relation to the internationally recognised tolerable level of 70dB so that a pattern of noise pollution in these areas could be established. A couple cadastral sheets from the map of Bida town were considered for this survey, and measurements were taken from over one hundred stations of interest on the ground. Thirty-four GPS points were surveyed for noise level values for each of the cadastral maps whence it was noticed that nearly all of these points suffer from high ambient amount of noise pollution at peak activity periods. In each case, the loudest contributor to environmental noise pollution was the electric milling machine. The noise level corresponding to the electric milling machine was found to be 97.06 dBA in Sheets 14 and 22; in Sheet 16 the noise level was peaked at 102.2 dBA. All of the principal sources of noise in the three sheets considered for investigation can be appropriately termed "noisy".