Sounding the Alarm: Exploring the effects of noise pollution on organisms

Noise pollution is defined as the damaging effects of sound activity on human and animal life. It is an environmental component that leads to negative impacts, such as hearing loss, loss of productivity, high blood pressure and more. This problem has surged amongst the community of New York City due to the continuous sounds emitted by traffic, transportation, construction and more. In this experiment, we collected the sounds emitted in everyday life in NYC in neighborhoods and the city environment. The purpose was to observe the behavioral changes caused by noise pollution on organisms. Noise pollution can be detrimental because it can interfere with mating calls which can disrupt reproduction and offspring rate. In this experiment we used crickets as a model organism to observe the acute behavioral changes in response to the environmental noise in their habitat.