Revised comprehensive new definition of noise

Abstract

A revised comprehensive new definition of noise is proposed. Noise: a) For living things, noise is unwanted and/orharmfulnd. b) In engineering and electronics, noise is any unwanted disturbance within a useful frequency band, such as undesired lectric waves in a transmission channel or device. c) In scientific measurements, noise is erraic, intermittent, or statistically random oscillation. The revised comphrehensive new definition builds on the Acoustical Society of America/American National Standards institute definition to include technical considerations, and acknowledges the harmful effect of noise on plants. It updates the noise definition presented at the 2019 Acoustical Society of America winter meeting, noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound. Unlike the standard definition, noise is unwanted sound, that new definition emphasized that unwanted sound is harmful, able to cause adverse auditory and non-auditory health effects, and that wanted sound can also caus auditory damage. The Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics article based on that presentation has been cited 37 times. The prevvious new definition opens the 2021 American Public Health Association policy statement, Noise as a Public Health Hazard, was adopted for use by the International Commission on Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN) in 2023, and added to the ICBEN Constitution.