# Study of Noise Effect of Slag Storage Technology on Surrounding Environment
## 1 Introduction  
The metallurgical industry is one of the biggest polluters of the environment. One of the decisive factors perceived by the inhabitants of the surrounding areas is noise. The noise produced by large industrial complexes usually troubles the inhabitants of protected areas within a distance of tens of kilometers. The production of large quantities of waste of various chemical and physical types is of great environmental significance. The technologies used to treat and dispose of these wastes are associated with high levels of noise emissions. At present, most of the waste is disposed of in landfills in the immediate vicinity of metallurgical plants. Metallurgical slag is a large-volume non-metallic waste from high-temperature metal production processes. One significant source of noise is the slag storage process, during which a hydraulic hammer deskulls the stuck slag, which is discharged from slag pots mounted on special single-purpose ladle cars. The combined effects of harmful production factors such as solid aerosols, chemical factors, noise, and vibration cause risks to workers and inhabitants of the protected areas. One of the current problems is the noise pollution of the area. The areas affected are often large, as permissible values for the noise determinants are often exceeded at distances of several kilometers from the noise source. In this paper, the focus is mainly on the noise generated by the deskulling of slag pots containing metallurgical slag that is disposed of in a slag landfill. Several authors have addressed the issue of noise in the metallurgical sector. This topic has been addressed in the work of [PERSON] [1]. It is essential to address the acoustic characterization of steel industry by-products, particularly since it can lead to significant economic and environmental benefits. The authors investigated the acoustic properties of metallurgical materials using a four-microphone impedance tube and aimed to optimize their acoustic quality. [PERSON] [2] focused on the estimation of the optimum moment for the most effective slag foaming with respect to the utilization of the noise level. The results obtained indicate that the correlation between the emitted noise level and the variation of the active power during melting can be used to define the starting moment of the slag foaming materials being fed into the furnace. Innovations in the field of noise reduction in metallurgical plants of different countries were discussed in the article by the authors [PERSON], [PERSON] et al. [3]. The establishment of a sanitary protection zone, the size of which is assessed by noise mapping, is considered an effective approach to noise reduction. At the same time, the authors recommended the use of sound absorbers with modern types of lining, vibration dampers to reduce the noise of rolling mills, and the installation of acoustic barriers to eliminate noise propagation in operating areas. According to [PERSON] [4], simultaneous exposure to ototoxic chemical products and noise can cause irreversible damage to workers' hearing, even over short periods of exposure. A comparative study was conducted for workers in metallurgical plants exposed to noise alone and noise together with chemical products through audiometric tests. The results indicated that Group II had a proportionally higher rate of hearing loss compared to Group I, even after being exposed to aggressive substances for a shorter average time. Abnormalities in technological plant operations can often be determined through regular analysis of the situation using noise maps. For example, noise management in the interior of a power plant is challenging due to its large area and the rather significant difference in the noise value distribution in different parts of the plant. Therefore, [PERSON] [5] developed a noise mapping system that can model the inside of a turbine room and create a noise map by measuring the noise level at selected points. To increase the reliability of the model, the model was processed using the mapping system.