Noise – noise reduction – noise protection: some headlines from the summary discipline, acoustics.Acoustics, the science of sound, deals not only with the phenomena of music and speech. In 1933, the founders of the Association could not have thought that in the second half of the century a new field would emerge as a harmful consequence of civilization.

The beginnings - until 1990

In 1967, a few obsessed professionals, filled with a sense of professionalism and a desire to do something, started their work with noise in a working committee, in a specialist group: to get to know and introduce the concept and effect of noise in the ever-expanding professional environment. This committee, or specialist group, organized itself in 1977 and became a division of OPAKFI, the noise abatement Section, and later the noise and vibration abatement Section.

The initial swing was quite high. In addition to Budapest, other cities as Győr, Miskolc, Szeged, Debrecen and Pécs have also made it onto the domestic noise protection palette - thanks to the activity and organization of dedicated colleagues who deal professionally with noise and its effects. The aim of their work was to support the authorities' protection against noise and vibration, to introduce and utilize domestic and foreign scientific results, to explore the industrial background of noise protection and to help industry. In this, he also collaborated with other bodies and institutions, assuming the pioneering and initiating role. Thus, with the Acoustical Complex Committee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the National Environment and Nature Protection Office, the Environmental Protection Institute, the Hungarian Standards Office, the Public Health and Epidemiological Stations, the Engineering Science Association, the Transportation Science Association, the SZOT Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute and virtually everyone from whom professional assistance received or could provide assistance. Over the years and decades, the names of the institutions and organizations have changed, but the professional dedication and expertise of the specialists gathered in the Section have remained unchanged.

The broad presentation of the science and technology of noise and vibration protection began in 1971. At that time, the 1st International Noise Reduction Conference was organized as an accompanying conference of the ICA congress, which was followed by the other major events in Győr, Székesfehérvár, Debrecen, Szeged, Pécs, Kecskemét every three years with a changed name (... "Seminar") and the other highly successful , an unforgettable "seminar with international participation", - yes, with this title, since we could not organize an "international conference" in the political environment of the time. At these seminars, in addition to the lectures, there were noise technology exhibitions, which presented advanced and increasingly advanced industrial noise and vibration reduction products even in the age of international seclusion.

This noble tradition continued: every year. The 2- or 3-day seminars covering certain narrower areas deserve mention, such as e.g. Győr Environmental Days, seminars organized for several years under the title Noise and Quality, seminars dealing with workplace noise, environmental noise, traffic noise, modern ideas in noise protection, noise protection aspects of new domestic legislation and other seminars, all of which are consistent science disseminators of the Section his work is praised.

From the very beginning, the Section had another important activity too: every year it prepared environmental and other studies, commissioned workplace and environmental noise tests and gave expert opinions on them. In most cases, these expert opinions also covered the practical solution of the complaints that arose. This work was essential throughout - but especially in the early days, when society and companies struggling with noise complaints had nowhere to turn. We deny: these works also brought economic benefits and supplemented the Section's and even the Association's meager budget.

Our association and its Section have always considered the support and help of the authorities in protection against noise and vibration to be important. The Section and especially some "obsessed" members, in a good sense, played a major leading role in creating the legal foundations of noise protection. In the 1980s, the standards recording noise-related requirements and describing the test were drawn up one after the other, setting an official framework for noise protection activities. Various state laws and decrees dealing with noise and vibration appeared in succession, regulating within legal frameworks the powers and methods of noise protection for the entire country, setting and demanding the limit within which things should be done sensibly and correctly in environmental protection and the noise-related part of labor protection they must flow.

The noise protection profession still lives on these.

The external relations of the Section deserve a mention. In the beginning, in the 1960s and 1970s, it was difficult to acquire and maintain foreign relations. Our Section overcame the difficulties and its previously mentioned conferences became completely international.

In the 1980s, we still managed to maintain and further develop the previously established bilateral cooperation with foreign (GDR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, USSR, Bulgaria) professional organizations, and this gave us the opportunity for annual exchange visits of specialists, to get to know the latest professional results directly, and at the same time, with the support of the Section, many domestic specialists could also participate in prestigious international events.

From 1990 to the present

The social and economic changes that took place in our country and in the neighboring countries in 1989-1990 - unfortunately - did not benefit international relations.

The Section continued to organize the traditional "Noise Protection Seminars" every year. The seminar was only not held during the covid period. At the seminars, we dealt with the relevant issues and problems of noise protection that are of most concern to professionals, authorities and stakeholders. Several companies regularly participated in the seminars as exhibitors, where they presented their instruments, products, and references for noise and vibration reduction.

The organization of the INTERNOISE'97 Noise Reduction Congress and Exhibition at the Budapest University of Technology, which was attended by 640 participants from 38 countries around the world, was an outstanding job as a conference organizer. The three-day, approx. in 400 lectures, the speakers dealt with practically every issue of noise and vibration protection and gave an account of their research and results. Nearly 50 companies (including 17 Hungarian ones) presented in the exhibition hall their noise and vibration reduction products and instruments. Several companies presented their program packages for modern computer noise design.

It was up to the participants as to who made use of the results of this congress.

In the life of the Association another important event was the organization of Forum Acusticum 2005, which praises the joint work of the two Sections: of Acoustics and of Noise and Vibration Reduction.

The accompanying programs were also valuable and interesting, the ACTIVE'97 pre-event and other official meetings showed the future directions of the discipline for international noise organizations and professionals.

In 2006, strategic noise mapping and the preparation of action plans based on it appeared as a completely new task of environmental noise protection, which meant the implementation of the provisions of Directive 49/2002/EC (on the assessment and management of environmental noise). The Section contributed to the creation of the first strategic noise map. As a subcontractor of the consortium preparing the strategic noise map of Budapest and its catchment area, the working group organized by the Section carried out the examination of the noise emissions of industrial plants subject to the regulation and the modeling of noise emissions using the Association's IMMI 6.0 noise calculation program. In connection with this, we cooperated as experts in a larger project commissioned by the Capital City Municipality (further development of the strategic noise map database).

Based on the experience gained here, we came to the conclusion that it would be useful to present the new possibilities offered by noise mapping at a broad "open" conference, which could significantly contribute to improving the environmental condition of our cities. We organized the conference series "The noise became visible", the opening event of which was held at the Ministry of Rural Development.

170 registered participants took part in the conference. The aim of the conference was for the concerned municipalities and planners to view the noise mapping regulations arising from the EU directive not as an obligation, but rather as an opportunity. In connection with the event, we announced a highly successful children's drawing contest, the materials of which were used to organize an exhibition in the Ministry's hall. The professional conference "Noise Became Visible" was also held in Pécs, Nyíregyháza and Győr also.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of the Section's ongoing professional work, which demonstrates the wide range of professional activities that we have contributed to the effectiveness of domestic environmental noise protection:

• Preliminary Environmental Inspection of reconstruction works of Széll Kálmán tér, preparation of the noise and vibration protection work Section
• Geothermal energy utilization study in Budaörs, preparation of the noise protection work part of the preliminary environmental impact assessment (Client: FŐMTERV)
• Examination and analysis of noise emission and noise load during operation in the environment of the waste dump Dunakeszi no. 2. (Client: Mélyépterv Kultúrmérnöki Kft.)
• Noise test in the surroundings of the Pusztazámor Waste Landfill (Client: Mélyépterv Kultúrmérnöki Kft.)
• Examination of the traffic noise pollution in Bp. XVI. for the state of the environment report (Client: Budapest Capital City XVI. Local Government Mayor's Office Environmental Protection Office)
• Environmental noise testing of highways (Client: Állami Autópalya Kezelő Zrt.)
• State of the environment report (Client: Budapest XVI District Local Government)
• Within the framework of agreements concluded with Főmterv Mérnöki Tervező Zrt, we performed the following professional tasks:
  • the "Budapest tram and trolleybus vehicle development Phase I, Budafok depot preliminary inspection documentation, noise and vibration protection chapter"
  • "Preliminary environmental noise and vibration assessment, noise and vibration protection chapter related to the complex renovation of tram line 2" and
  • preparation of the noise and vibration protection chapters of the study plan for the post-utilization possibilities of the superstructure of the M0 south Danube bridge (Deák Ferenc bridge).
• Special professional work commissioned by the Hungarian Water Polo Association: "Determining the noise emission limit value of a leisure facility due to the EC Water Polo" (Alfréd Hajós swimming pool)
• In 2019, on behalf of the Budapest Mayor's Office, we prepared an Action Plan based on the capital's strategic noise map.

Attitude formation

We attached great importance to the formation of attitudes about environmental noise - primarily among young people. We have organized and conducted many related events. We will now mention a few of them:

• In May 2015 - we took advantage of the opportunity provided by the Children's Rescue Service to participate in the City Park Children's Day program. At the event, we organized an interactive educational game for children, with which we drew the attention of children and parents to the harmful effects of noise and the danger of hearing loss. The Children's Rescue Service provided us with a tent, to which we organized the program elements. The tent was named "Fülhadiszállás" (“Ear military base”), which attracted visitors to the Városliget with its exciting, adventurous and attention-grabbing inscription.
• We held a series of lectures on a monthly basis under the title "Broken silence" - primarily reviewing the issue of the subjective assessment of noise.
• 2016. With the title "Children's noise exposure and hearing protection" was held in cooperation with the OPAKFI, the MTA Acoustics InterSectional Standing Committee, the Metropolitan Government Office and the Herman Ottó Institute. conference at the Herman Ottó Conference Center. About 70 participants (mostly teachers and public health professionals) took part in the event. 11 lectures were given in the program.
• Organization of the 2017 "Day of Silence" event, which was organized within the framework of the International Year of Sound. In addition to the scientific lectures, interactive presentations were also held at Corvinus University in Budapest. There was a hearing test, noise measurement, familiarization with a noise map, presentation of "artificial ears" and individual hearing protection devices. A particularly good example was the international competition created in connection with the Day of Silence. Here, we took part in a nationally announced drawing competition for invitations abroad, and we were very successful.

About noise protection regulation

We undertook professional cooperation in the processes for the operation and development of the environmental noise control system. Among these, our most important actions were the following:

Cooperation with the Office of the Ombudsman

There was continuous professional cooperation with the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Future Generations on professional issues related to noise control. Thus, when the Office conducted a comprehensive investigation in order to promote the creation of legal regulations ensuring the preservation and creation of a quiet environment, as well as to reveal the requirements for public events and other recreational use of public areas, our Section also participated in the comprehensive noise and vibration protection investigation.

Preparation of aid for local governments

Professional experience has shown that the compilation of action plans based on strategic noise maps - which is the task of the municipalities concerned - caught the obligees unprepared. For this reason, it was desirable to compile an auxiliary material that primarily reviews the goals and possibilities of the action plans from a local government point of view, and also helps local government administrators through practical examples to familiarize themselves with the measure's spirit, "mindset", and methodology. In the professional compilation of the Aid, the Section shared its decades of experience with the stakeholders. In this way, we have created the possibility for the obliged municipality to review and evaluate its own aspects, possibilities and competences in the light of the possibilities of reducing environmental noise.

Revision of environmental noise protection regulations

In order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of protection against environmental noise, it is essential to continuously and regularly examine the effectiveness, operability, and possible deficiencies of the regulation, and to take the necessary steps to correct them., in the comprehensive noise and vibration protection test. In the professional work aimed at this - which was entitled the review of the current regulatory system of protection against environmental noise - our Section also participated to a decisive extent. In the first step, in addition to the exploration of the problems, the common basic principles must be laid down, on which noise protection regulations in a broader sense (this does not only mean strictly speaking noise protection regulations) must be based on noise protection.

Association life

The Section currently has around 200 members, but together with the members of the Section of Acoustics, we know 300 professionals (most of whom are enthusiastic members of both Sections) who are active in the often overlapping, difficult-to-separate field of acoustics/noise and vibration protection.

From our membership, 15-20 people are in regular contact with the Association, another 10-15 people participate more often in the work of the Section, but in total we can expect about 100 "active" members who participate in at least one of our events every year.

In 1996, we launched newspaper ZAJINFÓ to improve contact with our membership, which is usually a 4-page, home-edited, not particularly demanding-looking publication. We feel that with the newspaper we have succeeded in achieving the basic goal that we formulated at the start as "...to know more about each other...".

The Association is currently a member of I-INCE and EAA international noise protection and acoustic organizations.