Noise on bird's nest industry at Hilir Perak District / Mohd Amir Md Khalid

Malaysia is the world's third biggest producer of bird's nest after Indonesia and Thailand with an average of 12 tonnes of nests produced monthly. Hilir Perak District was one of the contributors where about more than 1000 swiflet farms were set-up at mixed development area (residential-commercial}. There were lots of complaint from the public on the stench from the bird's droppings and continuous noise from the speaker. A cross sectional study has been carried out to identify the noise level exposed to the resident and to identify the health impact nearby resident. Respondent were selected by stratified random sampling (n=80). Noise mapping was done by using Sound Level Meter brand SOLO 01 dB type I. A standardized procedure was done based on the guidelines from Department of Environmental, Malaysia. Result shown that the noise levels were decreased between distance 50 meter, 100 meter, 150 meter and 200 meter. The noise levels exceeded action levels (40dB) as stated in the Guideline For Bird's Nest Industry thus there was a significant difference between the level of sound and sampling distance. Study also found that there was a significant correlation between noise exposure and blood pressure against respondents (n=37). Hopefully, this study can be a baseline for government to set up specific guidelines for the bird nest industry in Malaysia.