The decibel levels in Mumbai, the world’s noisiest city, have started taking a toll on the health and mental peace of its citizens. And the most affected among them are the ones most sensitive to noise — the visually impaired.
Since the blind navigate and identify objects in their environment based purely on sound, excessive noise can prove to be life-threatening for them.
“I have had so many narrow escapes in the last few years due to heavy honking of buses and autorickshaws. I get confused on roads and sometimes forget the direction also,” said Manju Maggu, 35, a blind musician from Chembur who runs an orchestra. “As soon as they spot a woman, two-wheeler riders start to loudly honk and zoom past. I guess they don’t have silencers installed. I have even had to stop my recording several times due to multiple noise sources.”
Singer and visually impaired Sarla Padhi, 28, from Goregaon, said, “We are getting used to heavy noise but it really scares me when I am on the road or at a railway station. I can’t read indicators, so announcements are very important to me. But I am unable to hear whenever a train comes due to other noises interfering with my hearing.”
While most visually impaired people can move about independently, in cases where they are in noisy surroundings, they can often do with assistance. Chandra Devendran, project secretary of Blind Welfare Association, said, “The sound of vehicles is important to us to understand the direction from which they are coming and at what distance they are. On roads where loudspeakers are blaring or say, marble is being cut, it becomes quite difficult for us. We need help from others to cross the road.”
The apathy of drivers only makes things more difficult. Maggu said, “Truck drivers feel that they are the owners of the road. Owners of four-wheelers are also insensitive and honk incessantly. For them, not only the visually impaired but every person walking on the street is invisible.”
Of the 37 million people across the globe who are visually impaired, over 15 million are from India. The city has over 30,000 visually impaired residents.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}