A Decibel Hell Reading Answers

Jan 11, 2023

A Decibel Hell Reading Answers is an IELTS Academic reading topic that requires candidates to solve a given set of questions within 20 minutes. A Decibel Hell Reading Answers has been referenced from the IELTS Book 2019 IELTS Reading Actual Test 13 and contains a total of 13 questions. This IELTS reading topic; A Decibel Hell Reading Answers comprises 13 questions. The question types in this IELTS reading topic that candidates are required to solve are; choose the correct letter, match the information and two words only. To practice more such reading passage candidates can refer to the IELTS reading practice papers.

Check: Get 10 Free IELTS Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

A Decibel Hell Reading Answers

Section A Decibel Hell:

It’s not difficult for a person to encounter sound at levels that can cause adverse health effects. During a single day, people living in a typical urban environment can experience a wide range of sounds in many locations, even once-quiet locales have become polluted with noise. In fact, it’s difficult today to escape sound completely. In its 1999 Guidelines for Community Noise, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared, “Worldwide, noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard, and it is estimated that 120 million people worldwide have disabling hearing difficulties.” Growing evidence also points to many other health effects of too much volume.

Mark Stephenson, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based senior research audiologist at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), says his agency’s definition of hazardous noise is sound that exceeds the time-weighted average of 85 dBA, meaning the average noise exposure measured over a typical eight-hour workday. Other measures and definitions are used for other purposes.

Section B Growing Volume

In the United States, about 30 million workers are exposed to hazardous sound levels on the job, according to NIOSH. Industries having a high number of workers exposed to loud sounds include construction, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and the military.

Noise in U.S. industry is an extremely difficult problem to monitor, acknowledges Craig Moulton, a senior industrial hygienist for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). “Still,” he says, “OSHA does require that any employer with workers overexposed to noise provide protection for those employees against the harmful effects of noise. Additionally, employers must implement a continuing, effective hearing conservation program as outlined in OSHA’s Noise Standard.”

Section C Scary Sound Effects

Numerous scientific studies over the years have confirmed that exposure to certain levels of sound can damage hearing. Prolonged exposure can actually change the structure of the hair cells in the inner ear, resulting in hearing loss. It can also cause tinnitus, a ringing, roaring, buzzing, or clicking on the ears.

NIOSH studies from the mid to late 1990s show that 90% of coal miners have hearing impairment by age 52 – compared to 9% of the general population – and 70% of male metal/nonmetal miners will experience hearing impairment by age 60 (Stephenson notes that from adolescence onward, females tend to have better hearing than males). Neitzel says nearly half of all construction workers have some degree of hearing loss. “NIOSH research also reveals that by age twenty-five, the average carpenter’s hearing is equivalent to an otherwise healthy fifty-year-old male who hasn’t been exposed to noise,” he says.

William Luxford, medical director of the House Ear Clinic of St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles, points out one piece of good news: “It’s true that continuous noise exposure will lead to the continuation of hearing loss, but as soon as the exposure is stopped, the hearing loss stops. So a change in environment can improve a person’s hearing health.”

Research is catching up with this anecdotal evidence. In the July 2001 issue of Pediatrics, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that, based on audiometric testing of 5,249 children as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition, Examination Survey, an estimated 12.5% of American children have noise-induced hearing threshold shifts – or dulled hearing – in one or both ears. Most children with noise-induced hearing threshold shifts have only limited hearing damage, but continued exposure to excessive noise can lead to difficulties with high-frequency sound discrimination. The report listed stereos, music concerts, toys (such as toy telephones and certain rattles), lawnmowers, and fireworks as producing potentially harmful sounds.

Section D Beyond the Ears

The effects of sound don’t stop with the ears. Nonauditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that don’t cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry.

The nonauditory effects of noise were noted as early as 1930 in a study published by E.L. Smith and D.L. Laird in volume 2 of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The results showed that exposure to noise caused stomach contractions in healthy human beings. Reports on noise’s non auditory effects published since that pioneering study have been both contradictory and controversial in some areas.

Bronzaft and the school principal persuaded the school board to have acoustical tile installed in the classrooms adjacent to the tracks. The Transit Authority also treated the tracks near the school to make them less noisy. A follow-up study published in the September 1981 issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology found that children’s reading scores improved after these interventions were put in place.

Section E Fighting for Quiet

Anti-noise activists say that Europe and several countries in Asia are more advanced than the United States in terms of combating noise. “Population pressure has prompted Europe to move more quickly on the noise issue that the United States has,” Hume says. In the European Union, countries with cities of at least 250,000 people are creating noise maps of those cities to help leaders determine noise pollution policies. Paris has already prepared its first noise maps. The map data, which must be finished by 2007, will be fed into computer models that will help test the sound impact of street designs or new buildings before construction begins.

Activists in other countries say they too want the United States to play a more leading role on the noise issue. But as in other areas of environmental health, merely having a more powerful government agency in place that can set more regulations is not the ultimate answer, according to other experts. Bronzaft stresses that governments worldwide need to increase funding for noise research and do a better job coordinating their noise pollution efforts so they can establish health and environmental policies based on solid scientific research. “Governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens by curbing noise pollution,” she says.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-5
Complete the sentences below with words taken from the Reading Passage.
Use no more than TWO WORDS for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

Nowadays it seems difficult for people to avoid the effects of living in a noisy world. Noise is the sound beyond the average of 1……………………… referring to the agency’s definition. Scientific studies over the years from the mid to late 1990s have confirmed that exposure to certain levels of sound can cause damage 2……………………… on certain senior age.From the testing of 5,249 children, those who are constantly exposed to excessive noise may have trouble in 3……………………….. sound discrimination. The effects of sound don’t stop with the ears, exposure to noise may lead to the unease of 4……………………….. in healthy people. Europe has taken steps on the noise issue, big cities of over 250,000 people are creating 5……………………….. to help to create noise pollution policies.

Answer: 85 dBA
Supporting Sentence: noise is sound that exceeds the time-weighted average of 85 dBA
Keyword: difficult, avoid, effects, noise, sound, average
Keyword Location: Section A, Paragraph 2, 3rd line
Explanation: The supporting sentence mentioned above clearly states that noise that exceeds the defined scale ate that time weighed over an average of 85dBA. Moreover, this level of noise can be injurious and cause major hearing illness.

Answer: hearing impairment
Supporting Sentence: Studies from the mid to late 1990s show that 90% of coal miners have hearing impairment by age 52 – compared to 9% of the general population – and 70% of male metal/nonmetal miners will experience hearing impairment by age 60.
Keyword: Scientific studies, mid to late 1990s, exposure, levels of sound, damage
Keyword Location: Section C, Paragraph 2, 1st line
Explanation: As mentioned in the above reading passage, studies revealed that people developed a hearing loss by the onset of 50-60 years of age. The reason behind this is the continuous exposure to noise at an extreme level.

Answer: high frequency
Supporting Sentence: Most children with noise-induced hearing threshold shifts have only limited hearing damage, but continued exposure to excessive noise can lead to difficulties with high-frequency sound discrimination.
Keyword: testing, 5249 children, exposed, excessive noise, trouble, sound discrimination
Keyword Location: Section C, Paragraph 4, 5th line
Explanation: The passage quotes that children who are continuously exposed to the severe frequency of noise can lead to damage their ability to distinguish between sounds.

Answer: non-auditory effects
Supporting Sentence: Nonauditory effects of noise exposure are those effects that don’t cause hearing loss but still can be measured, such as elevated blood pressure, loss of sleep, increased heart rate, cardiovascular constriction, labored breathing, and changes in brain chemistry.
Keyword: effect, sound, ears, exposure, noise, unease
Keyword Location: Section D, Paragraph 1, 1st line
Explanation: Non-auditory consequences are those that aren't directly linked to hearing loss but are nevertheless impacted by exposure to noise and can make some body parts uneasy.

Answer: noise maps
Supporting Sentence: In the European Union, countries with cities of at least 250,000 people are creating noise maps of those cities to help leaders determine noise pollution policies.
Keyword: Europe, step, noise issue, 250,000 people, creating
Keyword Location: Section E, Paragraph 1, 3rd line
Explanation: People in European nations are creating noise maps to inform their politicians on what needs to be changed, where, and how, as well as about policies to address the problem.

Questions 6-10
Given below are statements and the list of researchers-
Match each finding with the correct researcher.

List of people or organizations

WHO
William Luxford (the House Ear Clinic),
Craig Moulton (OSHA)
Arline Bronzaft
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

People can change the environment to improve hearing health.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: It’s true that continuous noise exposure will lead to the continuation of hearing loss, but as soon as the exposure is stopped, the hearing loss stops. So a change in environment can improve a person’s hearing health.”
Keywords: People, change, environment, improve, hearing health
Keyword Location: Section C, Paragraph 3, 4th line
Explanation: A person's hearing can be impacted by their environment. Hearing improves and hearing loss ends if exposure to loud noises isn't continued.

The government should continue the research on anti-noise researches with the fund.

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: Bronzaft stresses that governments worldwide need to increase funding for noise research and do a better job coordinating their noise pollution efforts so they can establish health and environmental policies based on solid scientific research.
Keyword: government, continue, research, anti-noise, research, fund
Keyword Location: Section E, Paragraph 2, 4-5th lines
Explanation: As stated in the reading passage; Bronzaft exhorts the government to take the necessary actions as quickly as feasible in order to improve the management of hearing health.

Companies should be required to protect the employees to avoid noise

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: OSHA does require that any employer with workers overexposed to noise provide protection for those employees against the harmful effects of noise. Additionally, employers must implement a continuing, effective hearing conservation program as outlined in OSHA’s Noise Standard.
Keyword: Companies, required, protect, employees, avoid noise
Keyword Location: Section B, 6th line
Explanation: According to a formal code, persons who have suffered harm as a result of noise pollution shall receive compensation in order to keep them safe.

Noise has posed an effect on American children’s hearing ability

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: Based on audiometric testing of 5,249 children as part of the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, an estimated 12.5% of American children have noise-induced hearing threshold shifts – or dulled hearing – in one or both ears.
Keyword: Noise, effect, American children, hearing
Keyword Location: Section C, last Paragraph, 4th line
Explanation: Children have also been negatively impacted by excessive exposure to high-frequency sounds and poor hearing health, according to numerous tests and surveys.

Noise has seriously affected human beings where they live worldwide

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: “Worldwide, noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard, and it is estimated that 120 million people worldwide have disabling hearing difficulties.”
Keywords: Noise, affected, human being, live, worldwide
Keyword Location: Section A, Paragraph 1, 5-7th line
Explanation: A vast number of people have been impacted by noise-induced hearing loss, which is an international problem.

Questions 11-13
Choose the correct letter A, B, C, or D
Write your answers in boxes 11-13 on your answer sheet.

The board of schools built close to the tracks are convinced to

moved the classrooms away from the noisy track
regulated the track usage to a less extent
utilised a special material into classroom buildings lessening the effect of outside noise
organised a team for a follow-up study

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Bronzaft and the school principal persuaded the school board to have acoustical tile installed in the classrooms adjacent to the tracks. The Transit Authority also treated the tracks near the school to make them less noisy.
Keyword: Board of schools, built, close, tracks, convinced
Keyword Location: Section D, Paragraph 3, 2-3rd line
Explanation: It was decided that reducing outside noise will enable children to focus more and not lose their attention.

In European countries, the big cities’ research on noise focuses on

How to record pollution details of the city on maps
the impact of noise on population shift in the European cities
how wide can a city be to avoid noise pollution
helping the authorities better make a decision on management of the city

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: In the European Union, countries with cities of at least 250,000 people are creating noise maps of those cities to help leaders determine noise pollution policies.
Keyword: European countries, big cities, research, noise, focus
Keyword Location: Section E, Paragraph 1, 4-5th line
Explanation: As mentioned in the reading passage that the citizen in this aspect has played a key role in this. It has helped shape the health requirements in a better manner.

What is the best title in paragraph 1?

How people cope with noise pollutions
the fight against the noise with the powerful technology
The Effects of Living in a Noisy World
The Effects of noise on children’s learning

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: It’s not difficult for a person to encounter sound at levels that can cause adverse health effects.
Keyword: Effects, living, noisy, world
Keyword Location: Section A, Paragraph 1, 1st line
Explanation: The given setence on the cues is best suited to paragraph 1 in the reading passage. The first paragraph in this IELTS reading passage summarise the topic and isn’t centred upon a single point or two.

Read more IELTS Reading Samples