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The travel chronicles En tierra yankee (Notas a todo vapor) (1895) by Porfirian intellectual Justo Sierra Méndez lead us to reflect on the ways in which they imagined the sonic and the audible in relation to changing urban spaces, the Mexico/United States border, and communication and transportation technologies such as the steam train in unequally modernized spaces. The narrator employs a terminology of musical composition and sound to indicate the emergence of an economic and industrial hegemony that reorganized the new noises that marked the modern rhythms of the first half of the twentieth century. Noise holds a prominent place in establishing and unveiling postcolonial and racist relations with the other (the Yankee, the Afro-descendant). The nature of the travel narrative as a genre was not limited to mobilizing bodies or goods but also encompassed aural sensitivities, enabling a reflection on the geopolitics of sound, and listening. At a time when ideas and discourses are developing about the need for a Latin Americanist front to counteract North American postcolonial impact, the problematization of Latinamericanism is manifested through noise according to Sierra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise, smells and visual impacts are, probably, the environmental pollution problems to which the least attention is paid, considering that they are the ones that least affect the planet; However, all of them influence our quality of life and health, in addition to hindering and even preventing the full enjoyment of the Human Right to a healthy environment. Although the country has a basic legal framework that aims to prevent and control these types of pollution, there are no legal regulations that contain detailed technical standards to measure and / or limit it, except in the case of noise pollution. In this paper we present and analyze the legal framework for the prevention and control of these types of pollution in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Objectives: to explore the acoustic noise conditions of the waiting rooms in primary care facilities and to evaluate whether the ambient noise level was within the recommended levels for these facilities. Methodology: the waiting rooms of four primary care clinics located in the south of Mexico City were tested. Several recording points homogeneously distributed and close to the seats of the users were chosen. In each recording point, four recordings of the ambient noise were carried out in intervals of 20 to 40 minutes; this was done during the provision of care. The day in which the recordings were made was randomly selected. The values of the specifications used in the analysis of the ambient noise levels were determined in the laboratory. Results: the ambient noise level of the waiting rooms in each of the four clinics was above 55 dB-A. This level is considered as the threshold of annoyance. In one of the clinics, the level exceeded 65 dB-A. The chief contributors to the noise were the conversations of the people that were at the waiting room or in adjacent rooms, and in some cases the sound from the TV sets. Conclusions: the study showed that the ambient noise level passed the upper limits indicated by The American National Standard Institute. It is appropriate to define criteria to guarantee suitable noise conditions inside health care facilities and to revise current Mexican standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]