The United Nations has announced the start of a 10-year investigation into the possible effect of human noise pollution on marine creatures.

The study, to begin with a meeting of international researchers in Paris Aug. 30, will seek to determine if human activity on the world's oceans is affecting marine species by reducing their ability to find food, seek out mates or avoid predators, a U.N. release said.

"Many marine species rely mainly on sound as a source of environmental information, in much the same way as human beings rely on their eyesight," the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said Wednesday in a release from it Paris headquarters.

Amid increasing industrialization of the oceans, marine scientists and representatives from private industry and military establishments will use the Paris meeting to plan the decade-long International Quiet Ocean Experiment, UNESCO said.

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