A while back, the Southwest Athletic Conference banned the firing of cannons to salute a score during football games between member colleges. "It was not that stadium neighbors complained about the noise," says Commissioner Howard Grubbs in some amazement, "but that the fans did."

Perhaps the fans, ordinarily a loud lot, were wise to complain. Excess noise, and particularly sudden noise, can impair a person's hearing. And that's not all. Various authorities relate loud noise to a host of unwelcome ailments. John M. Handly, of New York, an authority on industrial acoustics, notes, "Noise pollution may be one of the reasons why the incidence of heart disease and mental illness is so high in the U.S." And a French study of neurotic Parisians attributes 70 percent of their troubles at least in part to noise.

Q. Underline a sentence which contains a general statement alerting the reader to the consequences of noise pollution.