U.S. researchers have put together a colored map of the quietest and loudest regions in the United States.

This unique map is based on 1.5 million hours of acoustical monitoring from places as remote as Dinosaur National Monument in Utah to places as noisy as New York City.

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The map was released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The U.S. National Park Service will use the map to see where man-made noise affects wildlife. Environmentalists argue that animals such as bats and owls are disturbed by loud noises because they have more sensitive hearing.

The map shows the eastern half of the U.S. is generally much louder than the western half. The West coast appears to be an exception, but that's not all that surprising considering Los Angeles.

Deep blue or quiet regions like Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming and the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado are among the quietest in the country. The background noises here are lower than 20 decibels, which is similar to pre-colonial times, according to the researchers.

The busiest cities are orders of magnitude louder, ranking somewhere between 50 to 60 decibels.

Noise pollution takes place when there is either an excessive amount of noise or an unpleasant sound that causes temporary disruption in the natural balance. This definition is usually applied to sounds or noises that are unnatural in either volume or production.

Biologists believe the noise map will be useful in identifying places where human-made noise is adversely affecting wildlife.

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