**1. Introduction**

One of the most common job-related occupational risks is noise and is a global problem. In urban areas it affects the health of people and also the environment. In many reports it has been reported how the people from different part of world are exposed and affected by noise pollution [1–4]. Many studies also reported that there is a corelation between noise and health problems like headache, irritability etc. [5–7]. The main source of noise pollution is vehicular traffic noise or road traffic noise, as reported by many studies [3, 8–12]. Increased noise exposure is known to produce annoyance [5, 13, 14], headaches [15–18], diabetes [19], irritability [20], sleep disturbances [21–26], hypertension [27–30], and problem in blood pressure [31]. Presently, it is a global problem [32].

Again, in many studies, it was also reported about the noise pollution level and its impact on public in world-wide [33–36]. Similarly, in many parts of India, research

has been going-on on noise pollution and its impact on human health. In most of the study, it also been reported that the noise levels on Indian road conditions was more than the prescribed noise level set by CPCB [37]. The noise levels of many towns of Odisha are also more than the prescribed limit [38–52]. Silence zones were the most affected by noise pollution, according to Kalawapudi et al. [53], followed by residential, business, and industrial zones. They went on to say that proper city design could help people avoid being exposed to growing noise pollution levels, in Mumbai Metropolitan region. Thakre et al. [54] also discovered a 4.4 and 5.2 dB increase in the morning and evening sessions, respectively, in Nagpur from 2012 to 2019 [54]. The impact noise on bus driver [9], public coming to the park for refreshment [10], Office [55], Bank [56, 57], festivals [11, 41], Industrial areas [58, 59] and workers working in the stone crusher industry [60, 61] has also been reported. Zambon et al. [62] reported about the comparison to the same period in 2019, noise levels in terms of both absolute noise levels (Lden) and hourly noise profiles (median across lockdown period) showed a substantial drop of nearly 6 dB [62], while it was 1–3 dB in Boston metropolitan areas of USA [63] and reduction of 5.1 dB in Ruhr area of Germany [64]. The highest sound levels were found along major roadways, with a logarithmic reduction as distance from the roads increased [63]. Significant outdoor noise fluctuations were discovered, and participants clearly perceived noise variations both in urban and indoor settings, claimed by Caniato et al. [65]. Alias and Alsina-Pages reported that there was a significant reduction in the harmful impact of noise on the population of Milan urban and Rome suburban areas [66].

Now, most of the Indian cities are going to face major threats in the form of noise pollution on public's health. It can affect both physically and mentally on the public's health. But the life changed after the spreading of COVID-19 in whole world. After its existence, first Janata Curfew was coming in to existence followed by the lock-down system. During this period the vehicular traffic noise has been reduced drastically in world-wide. But how much it was reduced is a concern. In this study, an attempt has been made to access the noise levels of the Balasore town before, during and after lockdown phase in different areas. The impact of such noise levels on public's health was also accessed through questionnaire. Suggestive reduction procedures are also given in the present study.
