TO STUDY THE NOISE LEVEL IN MY

SCHOOL USING SOUND PRESSURE

LEVEL(SPL) METER.

A Project Report
Submitted to
National Examination Board, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur,
Nepal

In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

Grade XII in Physics

By
Saugat Giri
Sukuna Secondary school
NEB Registration Number:
Kathmandu, Nepal
2079
 CERTIFICATE

It is certified that Mr. Sauagt Giri of has carried out the

project work entitled “TO STUDY THE NOISE LEVEL IN
MY SCHOOL USING SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL)
METER” under my supervision. I recommend the
project in the partial fulfillment for the requirement of
degree of grade ‘XII’ in physics.

Submitted To
Mr. Mani Raj Limbu

……………………………….
Signature
Date: - 2079/12/19
 STUDENT’S DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project work entitled “TO

STUDY THE NOISE LEVEL IN MY SCHOOL USING
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL) METER” submitted to
the Nepal Examination Board (NEB) is an original piece
of work under the supervision of Mr. Mani Raj
Limbu,HOD, of Science department of Sukuna
Secondary School and is submitted in the partial
fulfillment for the requirement of degree of Grade-XII,
physics. This project work has not been submitted to
any other institution for the award of any degree till
date.

Name of the student: Saugat Giri

Roll no: 01
Date: 2079/12/19

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my
supervisor and Mr. Mani Raj Limbu for his admirable
cooperation, inspirable guidance, caring, continuous support
and valuable suggestions throughout the process of project
work.

Furthermore, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all

my teachers, friends, collage staff who directly or indirectly
helped me in completion of the study and skill development.

Specially, I would like to express my gratitude to the Head of

Department Mr. Mani Raj Limbu for all the support and
homely environment throughout the work.

Additionally, I would like to thanks to all my family members

and all my relatives for their unconditional support. Lastly, I
would like to thank to all the respondents, who provided me
the accurate first hand, data for my research work.

EVALUATION
We certify that we have evaluated this project work
entitled “TO STUDY THE NOISE LEVEL IN MY SCHOOL
USING SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL) METER”
submitted by Mr. Saugat Giri and in our opinion, it
fulfills all the specified criteria in the scope and quality
as project work for the partial fulfillment for the
requirement of the degree of Grade-XII in Physics at
NEB, Sanothimi, Bhaktapur, Nepal.

Evaluation Committee

……………………………………….. ……………………………………………..
Mr. Mani Raj Limbu Mr. Ramesh Khatiwada

CONTENTS

Page No.
1. ABSTRACT 01
2. INTRODUCTION 02
3. EFFECTS OF NOISE 03
4. NOISE CRITERIA 03
5. SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL) METER 04
6. OBJECTIVES 05
7. OBSERVATION 05
8. CONCLUSION 06
9. RECOMMENDATION 07
10. REFERENCE 07

11. APPINDIX 08

ABSTRACT
The rapid urbanization and presence of large number of
students make large sound pressure around Sukuna
Secondary School as resulted in the noise pollution. The study
focuses on the noise pollution in the school premises along
with road-side as well. Noise level was measured by using
Sound Pressure Level (SPL) Meter during the day, time ranging
from 7:50 AM to 9:00 AM. The result shows that the equivalent
noise level is above the prescribed noise level standard given
by the Rajpatra (Kartik-13, 2069). This report shows the noise
pollution in our school area which is to be minimized by the
help of public awareness as well as the management of the
school.

INTRODUCTION
The addition of the containments into natural environment
that cause adverse change is known as pollution. Mainly
pollution is caused by things which are useful for mankind. One
of the problems in the world is pollution. Noise pollution, Air
pollution, water pollution etc are the kind of the
pollution ,mainly seen around the Nepal. Environmental noise
is unwanted sound which is created by human activities that is
considered harmful to human health and quality of life, while
‘noise’ was identified as sound that is out of place. Noise is
the unwanted sound which disturb or irritate us. Noise
pollution is the state of environment covered with noise. It is
generated by modern technology such as 4G,5G internet
network which is the main caused of the distribute
superimposition of the different amplitude of the
electromagnetic waves. The rapid growth of human population
and many types of the industrialization is responsible for noise
pollution.

EFFECTS OF NOISE
Sounds helps to communicate with each other. However,
irrelevant, excessive, unpleasant sound becomes noise. Noise is
responsible for any temporary or long-term effect on the
physical, psychological or social functioning of human organs.
Hearing impairment, speech intelligibility, lack of
concentration, irritation, fatigue and headache sleep
disturbance, cardiovascular and physiological effects, mental
illness are some effects of noise.
 NOISE CRITERIA
According to Rajpatra’s criteria for safe noise level for a city is
63 dB. The threshold limits for noise by the National Standard
for Noise, 2069 B.S. for different sectors in day and night are
shown in the table below.

Table 1: Threshold limit for noise level (in dB)

Threshold limit for the Noise level (in dB)
Sectors
Day Night
Industry 75 40
Business 65 55
Rural residential area 45 50
Urban residential area 55 40
Mixed residential area 63 55
Peaceful area 50 40

Sound level is usually measured in decibels and is measured

with respect to the change in air pressure. The louder sound
means larger air pressure changing from atmospheric pressure
to another level. Sound pressures are measured in Pascal. The
smallest sound pressure that human can hear is 20 micro
Pascal or 2×10-5 Pa. So, the sound pressure can be calculated
by using this relation:
p
SPL=20 log
P
dB
Where ,p is the sound of the pressure we are measuring, and P

is our reference, the pressure of the smallest sound we can

hear,

2.0 ×10 pa.

−5
SOUND PRESSURE LEVEL (SPL) METER

sound-level meter, device for measuring the intensity of noise,

music, and other sounds. A typical meter consists of
a microphone for picking up the sound and converting it into
an electrical signal, followed by electronic circuitry for
operating on this signal so that the desired characteristics can
be measured. The indicating device is usually a
meter calibrated to read the sound level in decibels (dB; a
logarithmic unit used to measure the sound
intensity). Threshold of hearing is about zero decibels for the
average young listener, and threshold of pain (extremely loud
sounds) is around 120 decibels, representing a power
1,000,000,000,000 (or 1012) times greater than zero decibels.

The electronic circuitry can be adjusted to read the level of

most frequencies in the sound being measured or the intensity
of selected bands of frequencies. Because the alternating
current (AC) signal received by the unit’s microphone first
must be converted to a direct current (DC), a time constant
must be incorporated to average the signal. The constant
selected depends on the purpose for which the instrument was
designed or for which it is being used.
OBJECTIVE
The main objective of the study was to measure the
environmental noise pollution in Sukuna Secondary School.

OBSERVATION

Table 2:Noise in Sukuna Secondary School

S.N. No. of
Location observations Sound Pressure levels, dB (A)
(N) Min Max
1. Classroom 8 63.78 70.725
2. Temple 5 66.68 73.42
3. Stairs 8 63.5 73.3
4. Main gate 5 66.74 73.64
5. Canteen 6 68.85 80.1
6. Roadside 5 71.7 104.14

120

100

80

60

40 Min
Max
20

0
e s en e
oo
m pl air ga
te
te sid
sr em St n ad
as T ain Ca Ro
Cl M

120

100

80

60
Min
40 Max

20

0
e s en e
oo
m pl air ga
te
te sid
sr em St n ad
as T ain Ca Ro
Cl M

CONCLUSION
This project aimed to study the sound level in Sukuna
Secondary School was successfully performed using SPL meter.
Interestingly Sukuna Secondary School is located near the main
road. Therefore, during the day hour heavy human as well as
busses pass near the school. Also being a highly populated
school, the high number of students are also a major cause of
the maximal noise of 104.14 dB (higher than the prescribed
limit of 70 dB).

RECOMMENDATION
I along with my friends under the supervision of Mr. Mani Raj
Limbu conducted this survey during the time, ranging from
7:50 AM to 9:00 AM. The sound level should be assessed
regularly in a certain interval of time to get more precise as well
as accurate noise level. Similarly, different should be assessed
in the survey to obtain more accurate noise level in the school.

REFERENCES

[1]Government of Nepal (2012). Nepal Rajpatra, Kartik 13

2069 (www.rajpatra.dop.gov.np).

[2] B. Berglund, T. Lindvall, D.H. Schwela and World Health

Organization, Guidelines for community noise (1999).
APPENDIX
Table 3: Noise Level in Different Area of School
Mean
S.N. Location Minimum Maximum Max. Min.
66.4 68.6
63.2 69.4
1. Classroom 60.3 69.9
66.3 70.7 70.725 63.78
66.3 71.2
62.1 72.4
62.3 71.3
63.4 72.3
61.2 72.5
2. Temple 63.3 65.7 73.42 66.68
64.4 72.3
78.4 81.3
66.1 75.3
65.6 71.2
63.2 72.1
3. Stairs 63.6 74.5 73.3 63.5
64 73.2
62.2 74.7
63.1 75.6
60.1 74.2
62.2 70.9
65 69.5
4. Main Gate 67.4 72.8 73.64 66.74
67.2 74.9
66.2 74.5
67.9 76.5
69.1 82.7
70.8 81.7
5. Canteen 73.2 78.2 80.1 68.85
66.8 77.9
64.4 77.9
68.8 81.7
58.6 103.2
78.3 105.6
6. Road 69.8 105.3 104.14 71.7
70.4 102.9
81.4 103.7