Many countries have adopted a sliding scale of permissible noise levels in industrial environments. Exposures above 115 dBA are not permitted. There are similar limits in the Canadian Labour Code, and they have been adopted by workers' compensation boards. Whether such regulations are respected is another matter. In many cities and countries around the world, public annoyance with the noise of road traffic has resulted in regulations on the intensity of sound permissible for cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Police can then measure the intensity on a sound level meter and offenders can be fined.
An increasingly conspicuous problem, however, is that public administrations are reluctant to adhere to the regulations they themselves have set, generally pleading lack of manpower, expertise or the expense of prosecuting offenders in court. Once again the government promised action. Traffic everywhere is on a colossal upward curve. Already many of the subtler sounds of nature have been lost to increasing numbers of people. Then we might live in a hi-fi world.