[HN Gopher] The Effects of Noise on Health (2022)
___________________________________________________________________
The Effects of Noise on Health (2022)
Author : averageValentin
Score : 158 points
Date : 2023-04-24 19:15 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (hms.harvard.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (hms.harvard.edu)
| jmugan wrote:
| I wonder if when you take affects like this into account if it
| really is safer to have large machines go "beep beep beep" in a
| warning that can be heard a kilometer away.
| DoreenMichele wrote:
| _Urban sprawl and deforestation destroy natural carbon absorption
| reservoirs while removing natural sound buffers... Conversely,
| certain climate mitigation strategies such as creating green
| spaces in concrete jungles offer opportunities to muffle noise._
|
| Yeah, we need to up our game on making better places and it needs
| to be a holistic approach.
|
| Re the stuff about heart health and noise sensitivity:
|
| Magnesium deficiency can cause noise sensitivity. Magnesium is
| also critical to heart function, specifically the ability to keep
| the beat.
|
| Furthermore, noise causes physical vibrations much like the beat
| of the heart, which is something you can listen for in a patient.
|
| Armies historically marched to the beat of a drum because you can
| feel the vibrations even if you can't really hear it over the din
| of war.
|
| You can put a baby to sleep by calming _yourself_ and then
| holding them in your arms. The beat of _your_ heart will not only
| set the pace for theirs, it will lend their heart some of your
| energy, making it easier for them and helping them to relax.
|
| Given the constructive ways vibrations can impact us, it should
| be no surprise that vibrations from noise can also negatively
| impact the heart.
| ThatGeoGuy wrote:
| An addendum to the posted article:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8
|
| Cities aren't loud; motor vehicles are. Tire noise near heavy
| stroads and highways are in particular egregious offenders.
| There's a lot of other points in the comments about some other
| urban nuisances (leaf blowers, anyone?) but I encourage anyone to
| walk around (yes, walk) while measuring the ambient noise levels
| with your smartphone's microphone.
|
| It will be extremely obvious where the noise is coming from. This
| is an often misunderstood part of "the war on cars:" the stress
| gained from additional constant noise (e.g. like a highway) takes
| YEARS off our lives.
|
| And don't get me started on how loud shops are in North America.
| For whatever reason they seem to always keep the volume three or
| four levels above comfortable, making it much harder to have a
| conversation without shouting at least a little.
|
| It wasn't until I started traveling a lot that I started to
| notice any of this. You can have your quiet part of town, but
| often you get to your quiet part of town by driving through the
| noisiest part of town where a good number of people live and
| work.
| creato wrote:
| Not all car noise is equal though. I ride a bike regularly
| along an 8 lane freeway. It's pretty amazing how hundreds if
| not thousands of cars go by and it's mostly a blur of white
| noise. But every now and then a jackass with a loud exhaust
| goes by and it's a completely different level of annoyance.
| [deleted]
| amluto wrote:
| > And don't get me started on how loud shops are in North
| America. For whatever reason they seem to always keep the
| volume three or four levels above comfortable, making it much
| harder to have a conversation without shouting at least a
| little.
|
| I think almost everyone operating a sound system is biased
| toward making it too loud. I've been to events for _small
| children_ with painfully loud sound. There will be a DJ
| blasting 95-100 dB, never mind that (a) no one is on the dance
| floor because it's too loud, (b) everyone is there to chat and
| do crafts anyway, not to listen to music, and (c) it's actively
| dangerous to expose people to that volume.
|
| I've also seen events where the DJ or band keeps edging the
| volume higher. It's like they become desensitized to their own
| music and keep feeling like it needs to be 1 dB higher to sound
| right.
|
| I believe that France actually regulates sound exposure. I bet
| that France's maximum SPL plus a pair of good 10-15 dB earplugs
| would make for a great concert experience.
| jerlam wrote:
| > I've also seen events where the DJ or band keeps edging the
| volume higher. It's like they become desensitized to their
| own music and keep feeling like it needs to be 1 dB higher to
| sound right.
|
| This is very much a thing and not limited to DJs or bands.
|
| Some advice I got a long time ago (but can't find the
| source): if you've been listening to music for a while, turn
| the volume down to zero, and then slowly increase the volume
| back to where it sounds the same. You usually end up with an
| absolutely lower volume but it sounds exactly the same.
|
| Also if you go to concerts and wear earplugs, your brain
| eventually recalibrates the sound so eventually it sounds
| just like normal volume.
| throwaway22032 wrote:
| Eh. I live in London, that well known city.
|
| Cars aren't loud here unless you specifically live on a major
| road.
|
| What is loud is construction noise. Aeroplanes. Excitable
| drunks walking by at night. Sirens from emergency vehicles.
|
| This is just what living in a city is. You have people and
| people do and need things.
| ThatGeoGuy wrote:
| Some of these are things we can control with infrastructure
| and regulation (e.g. why is your airport so close to
| housing?), and others aren't really what I would consider
| problematic noise.
|
| Sirens are an unfortunate reality, but the reason they're so
| loud is because most cars have a ton of sound-proofing. I'm
| sure you know this, but you can hear sirens blocks away when
| they're trying to alert a driver... maybe 20 metres in front
| of them to move out of the way?
|
| As for excitable drunks, I think there are places where
| that's a constant problem, but again, this isn't constant and
| permanent. Traffic noise and airplanes are pretty constant
| though - I live on what should be a pretty quiet stretch of
| land but the local stroad always has at least a few really
| loud cars in the wee hours of the morning. The rest of the
| day it's just lots of regular cars making a lot of noise as
| cars are want to do. At least with the excitable drunks they
| don't make noise all hours of the day, since they have to
| sleep or be drinking at some point!
| drukenemo wrote:
| I'd say construction work is a close second offender in any
| major city with high population density.
| Arrath wrote:
| By necessity, unfortunately. Loud diesel engines, jackhammers
| and rock breakers that require workers to have hearing
| protection, all anchored by an undercurrent of backup alarms
| that must pierce the rest of the din and the hearing
| protection to be audible to the workers.
| decafninja wrote:
| Many US cities and towns permit construction to happen at
| relatively early hours - like 6 or 7 AM. That's usually not
| a problem if you're a 9-5er.
|
| It is a massive problem if you work late shifts. My wife
| works in the restaurant business and 6 or 7 AM she's still
| deep asleep.
|
| We had construction near our condo for nearly three years
| where spring, summer, and fall the jackhammers started at
| around a little before 7 every weekday. It was brutal for
| her.
|
| That, plus various other issues, lead us to decide our next
| home is going to be a quiet single family home in a suburb.
| Yes - a suburb!
| b33j0r wrote:
| I find it fascinating. Jet engine combustion isn't what you're
| mostly hearing near an airport, when it's really annoying.
|
| It's mostly the aerodynamic pressures coming from the flaps,
| the landing gear, and the angle into the airflow of the craft.
| Most planes are pretty quiet in cruise, in relative terms.
|
| (Except for high-performance military-power engines that just
| don't care. They have to defy gravity with much less stable
| glide lift. They also get to.)
| blowski wrote:
| I believe the noisy shop thing is intentionally to discourage
| you from chatting. Chatty customers buy less. I think I read
| this in Trolley Wars.
| drewcsillag wrote:
| "Cities aren't loud; motor vehicles are", especially busses and
| subways. They can be nearly deafening.
|
| Cars comparatively are nothing.
| theteapot wrote:
| Except the cars that are designed to be loud. Engine breaking
| trucks are pretty bad too.
| Sakos wrote:
| So the moment I leave my door until I reach my destination's
| door, I have my isolated Bose headphones on. Even if I'm not
| listening to anything, I keep them turned on and covering my
| ears. The other day I took them off and was alarmed by this
| loud sound of a car approaching just before I started to cross
| the street. I look over and it's a good 200m away.
|
| Cars are ridiculously loud and few of us really recognize how
| loud they are.
|
| I started nearly permanently wearing them because I read some
| articles about the effect of ambient noise on hearing over
| long-term. But since then I've also noticed how noisy and
| disturbing cities are in general. It's so damn peaceful and
| calm when I have the headphones on and I could never do without
| them anymore.
| moremetadata wrote:
| [dead]
| tppiotrowski wrote:
| > Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by
| noise, the greater the health risks they face from it.
|
| This is due to stress. I have wondered for a long time how
| increased education contributes to cardio vascular risk as we are
| learning things to avoid and when we encounter them cortisol
| spikes. This could be red meat or sugar or UV rays or lack of
| sleep or lack of exercise or in this case too much noise etc.
| graeme wrote:
| In my experience people don't generally believe noise is bad
| for health beyond being annoying. Do you have any evidence for
| your belief the health effects are merely due to stress rather
| than being real?
|
| (Or that noise isn't causing physiological stress)
|
| You can find all kinds of rat studies where noise worsens rat
| health. The rats surely haven't been reading media articles
| about the effects of noise.
| gabereiser wrote:
| What about the colloquial increased education = increased
| stress. I'm not talking about the stress of trying to pay your
| bills on a welders salary, but the stress of running enterprise
| projects, teams, or being the top neuroscientist in your field.
| The stress from that is a different kind. It's a continual
| stress especially for those that suffer from impostor syndrome.
| Anyway, interesting theory about cortisol spikes. Where can I
| read more?
| asdfman123 wrote:
| Lower socioeconomic status is on average far more stressful
| than high SES.
|
| Sure, it's possible to be relaxed about your lower status,
| but it's way easier to be relaxed about being richer: e.g.,
| look at your coworkers who are quietly working for 4 hours
| and then going out biking in the middle of the day.
|
| There's a cultural narrative that in some ways, richer people
| have it harder than poorer ones. It's responsible for
| underpinning the moral legitimacy of our class system, but I
| don't think it's actually true on average.
|
| The thing is, no matter where you land you're going to find
| people who are unhappy or are struggling with their problems,
| but that's just because humans in general struggle with
| things.
| woooooo wrote:
| Getting a chance to productively and quietly work for 4
| hours is pretty unusual for a lot of us.
| airstrike wrote:
| Personally I am able to find that more often doing chores
| around the house than actually doing work in the
| office... which must be why I love doing the dishes
| asdfman123 wrote:
| You have that option though if you really seek it out.
| pen2l wrote:
| The average homo sapiens about a thousand generations ago faced
| greater adversity than what almost any of us has faced,
| particularly in raw nature where predators roamed. What were
| the cortisol levels like for that average homo sapiens?
|
| We were always tribal and social animals, so I wonder if the
| security from communal living played a very important role in
| moderating stress and building resilience.
| faeriechangling wrote:
| Who is to say that our ancestors coped with stressors?
| Evolution doesn't care about much other than your ability to
| reproduce.
| CrampusDestrus wrote:
| short term stress vs. cronic stress
|
| if you can, read Sapolsky's book about it "Why zebras don't
| get ulcers"
| lr4444lr wrote:
| They lived an average of how long? Enough to have kids at age
| 18-20, and help their kids raise their own for 2-5 years when
| they reached that same age. Evolution didn't equip us to live
| much longer than that.
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > They lived an average of how long?
|
| If they made it to at least 15, then probably on average
| somewhere between the 40s and late 50s from estimates I've
| seen.
|
| (1,000 generations being probably < 30kya; there appears to
| have been a fairly radical expandsion in lifespan around
| 30kya, before that most estimates I've seen would have
| adults, by thrbsame definition, averaging sonewhere in the
| mid-30s or so.)
| PuppyTailWags wrote:
| > Enough to have kids at age 18-20, and help their kids
| raise their own for 2-5 years when they reached that same
| age. Evolution didn't equip us to live much longer than
| that.
|
| Huh? Humans can live upwards of 3 generations worth of
| humans. It's not uncommon for humans to remain functional
| enough to raise their grandchildren!
| kekebo wrote:
| From what I understand a key difference from then to now were
| short term stressors that appeared solvable by direct
| (group-) action as opposed to modern day long term stressors
| that can appear abstract and outside of our own radius of
| action, resulting in paralysis and
| psychological/physiological harm over long periods of time.
|
| Don't have a source on hand though, may have come from a book
| by Robert Sapolsky
| RC_ITR wrote:
| Sure but we've always known about dying, the ultimate
| insolvable problem.
| noahchumsky wrote:
| Why zebras don't get ulcers!
| culi wrote:
| for anyone unaware, this is a book by Stanford professor
| Robert Sapolsky:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Zebras_Don%27t_Get_Ulce
| rs
|
| The book is about stress and the impact of
| glucocorticoids on the body. The chemical stress response
| used in "the wild" by animals is actually the same as the
| stress response we have when worrying about losing our
| job, not being able to complete a paper for school,
| dealing with poverty, etc. It's a partial explanation for
| why modern humans have so many chronic diseases that are
| rarely seen in other animals (or even
| archeological/anthropological evidence of non-industrial
| societies but he doesn't really go there much in the
| book)
|
| I also highly recommend Sapolsky's Human Behavior Biology
| course which he taught for Stanford but published on
| YouTube:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA
| sasas wrote:
| Peter Attia has an interview with Robert Sapolsky that was
| recently "rebroadcasted" - " The impact of stress on our
| physical and emotional health" [1]
|
| Highly recommended listening.
|
| As a neuroendocrinology researcher, much Robert Sapolsky's
| life work revolves around the questions your pondering on. He
| has spent years studying wild baboons in Kenya, " ..
| specifically, Sapolsky studies the cortisol levels between
| the alpha male and female and the subordinates to determine
| stress level." [2]
|
| [1] https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-peter-attia-
| drive/...
|
| [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sapolsky
| culi wrote:
| > What were the cortisol levels like for that average homo
| sapiens?
|
| Much much lower actually. We use the same stress response for
| seeing a lion that we do to stress about making a mortgage
| payment. That's why we get ulcers and zebras don't
|
| On top of that _Homo sapiens_ also just had much more
| freetime and the median lifespans were actually not too far
| off from what they are today (~72 years[0]). Yes there was a
| huge dip in lifespans in (some) agricultural societies and
| when the industrial revolution started and there 's
| definitely a lot of variation in difficulties faced but
| overall on average prehistoric peoples were healthier and
| much less stressed out than the average American is today.
| Also peoples that lived on islands and certain other
| ecosystems didn't really have to deal with predators at all.
| Predators are very unlikely to be the biggest source of
| stress in general as even the most dangerous of all
| predators, big cats, are very unlikely to attack a group of
| humans. As long as you're with your tribe you generally don't
| have much to fear.
|
| [0] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181002-how-long-did-
| anc...
| InitialLastName wrote:
| There's an interesting question whether it makes a difference
| that as human societies have modernized (through the
| agricultural, industrial and digital revolutions) the causes
| of stress have become progressively more detached from
| physical or existential adversity and the physical stress
| related to those threats (adrenaline, exertion, starvation,
| etc).
| ekanes wrote:
| Sort of. Now your cortisol could spike because of all kinds
| of things, none of which you can SEE. That's usually called
| anxiety. Back thousands of generations ago, if you were high
| on a rock by your cave with a good view, you knew you were
| safe.
|
| Carrying this forward, we humans will have to work on better
| systems, because it's about to get worse/weirder. Our brains
| aren't designed to be good at detecting lies _visually_ -- we
| have mental processes for speech, but visually, what you saw
| was always real. Now with AI in the mix, it 's gonna get...
| messy.
| RC_ITR wrote:
| >if you were high on a rock by your cave with a good view,
| you knew you were safe.
|
| But you also knew that you had to go on the hunt again
| tomorrow.
| just-ok wrote:
| So do you: it's called a job.
|
| And you still have to worry about traffic/accidents,
| performing well, getting fired or laid off, getting
| berated by customers/clients/bosses, plus any number of
| additional anxiety-inducing events.
|
| Most of us would probably still take that trade, though:
| at least sitting all day kills you slowly relative to a
| mountain lion.
| mrkrabs wrote:
| Have you found any notable stories where someone genetically
| prone to stress has meaningfully overcome it? I tend to worry
| and control my environment but never quite find a sweet spot
| between knowledge and ignorance.
| avgcorrection wrote:
| _Research shows that being knowledgable about health risks is
| "the new smoking"_
|
| _Friendly health experts still insist that 97% of the
| population still don't eat enough cauliflower_
| knocknock wrote:
| Any dangers in using a loud White Noise machine? We use it
| everyday for our baby.
| hawski wrote:
| My kid sleeps with some kind of white/brown noise since being
| around 2 years old. The child psychologist we went to with,
| now, the 6 year old recommended us to try to eliminate the
| noise. She seems to need it to fall asleep, but around midnight
| it should be easier, but we still have ups and downs with it.
| The psychologist said that it is a kind of a strain for the
| nervous system as it is kept being stimulated (at least that's
| how I understood and tried to translate it to English).
| mpreda wrote:
| Maybe it would be prudent to set it to less loud pending a
| definite answer to your question.
| ttpphd wrote:
| So long as it is 75 dB SPL or softer in intensity, you should
| be fine. You may want to consider acclimating your baby to be
| able to tolerate sleeping without the machine or with the
| machine at a softer volume. This can help set better sleeping
| habits in the long term.
| jodi wrote:
| Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman covered some science behind
| exposure to white noise during development/using white noise
| machines with babies in his episode "The Science of Hearing,
| Balance & Accelerated Learning". Its nuanced, but he says there
| is some evidence it can be detrimental to a baby's
| brain/auditory system if used for long periods of time.
| https://youtu.be/JVRyzYB9JSY?t=3351
| albertgt wrote:
| I wear noise cancelling headphones to sleep. When I wake up I
| feel immensely better, I recommend it!
| dotancohen wrote:
| A recent HN thread described how noise cancelling headphones
| may cause tinnitus. You might want to research that.
| navigate8310 wrote:
| I would like to know more about this. Do you suggest wearing
| plugs made for music concerts? Or they are completely
| different?
| accrual wrote:
| I wear earplugs every night. I personally can't imagine
| wearing actual noise cancelling headphones which would
| prevent me from moving freely and requiring a charge every
| night. But good quality earplugs (e.g. from Etymotic,
| Downbeats, or Loop) make a world of sleep quality difference,
| especially when paired with a sleep mask.
| pawelduda wrote:
| What model? Mine wouldn't probably last all night. And I assume
| you mean earbuds?
|
| Do you think there's a meaningful advantage over using quality
| ear plugs?
| neilv wrote:
| Related: Nearly 20% Adults May Have Misophonia - Significant
| Negative Responses to Sounds (neurosciencenews.com) 65 points by
| bookofjoe 29 days ago 98 comments
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35317452
| sylware wrote:
| And social acceptance?
|
| I have been suffering from chronic parastesia... which I can
| _hear_!
|
| Falling to sleep and focus are challenges everyday. No pause, no
| break, no cease fire.
| [deleted]
| tayo42 wrote:
| I feel like there's some kind do difference with noise tolerance
| between either culture or class. Hard to say, in the US foreign
| culture tends to be lower economic class.
| throwaway22032 wrote:
| There's a big connection between any form of externality
| tolerance and class IME.
|
| I don't mind noisy DIY work, older cars polluting, parties on
| the weekend. It means that I can do them too.
|
| As long as it's not preventing people from sleeping on work
| days I don't see the problem to be honest.
| wenc wrote:
| My stress levels decreased after getting a pair of AirPods Pro 2.
| It literally creates a cone of silence around me.
|
| I wish there was something similar I could wear during sleep
| comfortably. I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less
| restful with them in. I suspect they either make my inside noises
| more noticeable or block airflow during night time breathing.
|
| I guess the other more expensive solution is to move to an
| apartment facing a courtyard rather than the streets or to get
| heavy noise blocking curtains.
|
| I know Bose used to make noise canceling sleep buds but I'm not
| sure how well they work. Since they're discontinued I'm guessing
| not well.
| jffhn wrote:
| >I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less restful with
| them in.
|
| Earplugs also tend to cause noise when you move your jaw, or
| even just slightly move your head.
|
| I use Peltor X4A noise reduction earmuffs, with only the top of
| the head on the cushion when I'm on the side, that's the best I
| could find (its very dense foam makes it much better than a lot
| of earmuffs, also it's passive so no need for batteries).
|
| You can also combine earmuffs with earplugs, it improves the
| reduction a little bit (can't do magic with some of the sound
| going through the body anyway), but you shouldn't need it
| unless your place is very noisy.
|
| Peltor X5A is a bit better but much larger, so with it it's
| best to lay on the back.
|
| With such good protection you might not ear your alarm clock,
| so instead you might want to use vibrate phone alarm with the
| phone in your pocket.
| jallbrit wrote:
| I am a sensitive sleeper and after waking up from loud sounds
| and roommates for a while, I got Loop Quiet earplugs (I wear
| the smallest size), and I've been wearing them every night.
| Occasionally I pull them out during my sleep but they stay in
| very well and are definitely effective. I sleep much better
| now. I would recommend them.
| PuppyTailWags wrote:
| I'm always curious: what is the effect of noise on the noise
| producers? As much as I have a disdain for leafblowers, and as
| much as I absolutely despise people who play bass-heavy music at
| night, why don't they suffer the same ill effects and heart
| issues as the people they subject noise to?
| monktastic1 wrote:
| I'm not sure of the answer, but it's generally the case that
| things affect us much more negatively when we have no control
| over them and feel at their mercy. I haven't read TFA to see if
| they controlled for this, but it wouldn't surprise me if that
| was actually the majority of the problem.
|
| Edit:
|
| > Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by
| noise, the greater the health risks they face from it.
|
| It would be great to do a study where people learn a technique
| like meditation to be less "bothered" by noise and see how that
| affects their biomarkers.
| emerongi wrote:
| I used to live in an apartment where the upstairs neighbour
| would just randomly start trampling super hard. If it had been
| a constant noise - like the cars driving outside - my brain
| would probably have gotten accustomed to it. It seemed to me
| like it was agitating because it was at random times, when I
| wasn't expecting it.
|
| When I turn on the bass, I am in control. I can turn it on when
| I don't have anything important going on and I can always turn
| it off. That makes the bass enjoyable. If it's somebody else's
| bass, then I don't know when it starts, when it ends and
| whether it will interrupt me. That's the source of frustration
| for me.
|
| I'm generally fine with monotonous background noise, as long as
| it's not too loud. There's probably still some subtle passive
| effect on my health, but I can live with that.
| [deleted]
| coldtea wrote:
| Who said they don't?
|
| That said, one difference is also that they do use their leaf
| blowers after they wake up first or are in the mood to do it,
| so they're not disturbing their own sleep or quiet time.
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| They do?
| Anechoic wrote:
| I don't know why you're being downvoted, but you're correct -
| they do.
| cesnja wrote:
| They wear earmuffs and aren't trying to sleep, respectively.
| spacemadness wrote:
| And many America cities flat out refuse to contain construction
| noise. As someone very sensitive to noise, it strikes me as pure
| stupidity and barbaric in how we construct buildings and fix our
| cities with no consideration of its effects. People act like they
| aren't effected but most people seem quite out of touch with what
| actually effects their moods and stress levels.
| virtualwhys wrote:
| Perhaps a similar study could be done in, say, India.
|
| I'm not sure if it's due to their being used to loud/disturbing
| noise , or if Indians in general have some kind of ongoing inner
| Zen, but the amount of noise that the general population seems to
| completely ignore (e.g. a vehicle loudly and continuously honking
| right behind you as you walk) is really quite impressive.
|
| I remember eating dinner at a restaurant in Rishikesh one night
| in a quiet remote-ish area. There were some workers about to
| unload a truck, and just in front of them on the restaurant
| grounds was a multi-generational Indian family all together
| enjoying their meal. I saw two of the workers casually hurl this
| big piece of sheet metal onto a metal trailer, resulting in a
| massive clash of ear piercing noise that the family somehow just
| ignored, not a head turn of annoyance (as would be typical in the
| west), just continue the conversation without skipping a beat --
| amazing.
| droopyEyelids wrote:
| India's life expectancy is almost 10% shorter than the USA's
| (70 vs 77)
| ternaryoperator wrote:
| I've long felt that the truest luxury in today's world is
| silence.
| slfnflctd wrote:
| Unfortunately, that luxury is out of reach for people with
| permanent tinnitus, along with those of us who are hyper-aware
| of the sounds of our own bodies.
|
| I'll likely always prefer some amount of white noise to a
| totally silent space. A smooth-running fan has regenerative
| properties for me. Up to certain thresholds, I can turn that
| fan up to drown out the majority of whatever noise might be
| going on outside my room or building. It's helpful to be able
| to disconnect and float in your cocoon, whether for work, play,
| meditation or sleep.
| mhb wrote:
| I don't like leafblowers and other loud noises either, but isn't
| this article pretty thin soup?
|
| "Stephanie Dutchen is manager of feature content and multimedia
| in the HMS Office of Communications and External Relations."
| JCM9 wrote:
| A lot of this boils down to the need for better zoning and
| stricter controls on what happens where when. Forces today are
| pulling things in other directions... build houses everywhere,
| even in places where it makes no sense to build houses.
|
| We're seeing things like former green belts around airports now
| being turned into housing developments. There were no houses
| there in large part because of noise. Now developers move in and
| build big developments there with new residents screaming about
| how bad the noise is. Can't make it up.
| RC_ITR wrote:
| The above is because more desirable places to live have been
| zoned for no new housing.
|
| Stricter zoning isn't the answer. Looser zoning is.
| NKosmatos wrote:
| A fully detached house, with good soundproof insulation and with
| a surrounding garden with trees and bushes is the best solution
| for people wanting a quiet place.
|
| I find it strange that in our modern houses the "weak" sound is
| so difficult to get blocked, whereas the "powerful" light can be
| easily kept out.
| wantlotsofcurry wrote:
| How do y'all deal with determining what noise levels you'd have
| to endure when purchasing a new home/renting a new apartment?
| bedobi wrote:
| this article about noise really resonates with me (pun intended)
|
| in my most recent neighborhoods (newly constructed multi use
| ones)
|
| * my neighbors would have all-night parties
|
| * people would revv and race their modded sports cars and hogs up
| and down driveways and the street (residential culdesac) at all
| hours of the day and night
|
| * teams of leaf blowering maintenance workers walked around
| during the day
|
| * an open air venue opened across the street. they had loud, bass
| heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake, and drunk
| people screaming, fighting and loitering past closing time (3am)
|
| * a cross fit gym opened across the street. they also played
| loud, bass heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake,
| with cargo doors open and trainers and clients screaming and
| doing intervals in the street (they opened at 5am)
|
| * a bbq restaurant opened across the street. it had a vent that
| released basically unfiltered smog around the clock. it made it
| impossible to be on the balcony or keep windows open, and it
| quickly built up a brown, sticky residue on surrounding
| buildings. EDIT here is a recording of one of the vents
| https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxNBn5LGkZBCQc9o6 note that right above
| it are the residential balconies and windows of the same building
| - would you want to live there? + you didn't need to live in that
| building to get the "benefits", the smog was generously
| distributed all over the neighborhood and came inside and made
| the clothes inside your closet smell even if your windows were
| closed
|
| needless to say, it's impossible to function while living in such
| an environment, so I moved, only to find the new neighborhoods
| also plagued by the same things. (in case anyone is wondering,
| this was Broadbeach, Newstead and West End QLD Australia)
|
| me I'm a hardcore YIMBY. I _want_ to live in a mixed use urban
| environment with entertainment, exercise, restaurant and
| everything you need around. but it becomes impossible if it 's
| 24-7. common sense hours like 08:00-22:00 would be good. oh and
| breathable air.
|
| many residents asked council and state government especially
| about the hours of operation of the venues (if bars play music
| until 3 and gyms at 5, when are we supposed to sleep?) and the
| unfiltered smog coming from the vents (100% hazardous levels,
| especially since it's all day every day long term), but they said
| all of it was OK.
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Wow, I thought our mere 4 days a week of leaf blowers (and
| actually illegal but unenforced) was bad.
| dalmo3 wrote:
| I see so many people leaving NZ for Australia nowadays, and
| friends ask me if I'm going too.
|
| I live 5 min from Wellington CBD, and apart from buses or the
| occasional construction work it's deafening silence.
|
| Anecdotes like this make me feel so lucky.
| bedobi wrote:
| to be fair, given that it's an entire continent, there's
| endless spaces where you can live in perfect peace and quiet
|
| but that would be in solitude, not near any urban life lol
|
| in urban spaces in Australia you're all but guaranteed having
| to deal at the very least with hooning and inconsiderate
| neighbours (I've lived in many different countries and
| Australia def stands out in how incredibly inconsiderate and
| aggressive people can be, and how large the share of the
| population are like that, lol)
| wizofaus wrote:
| I'm in a townhouse 4k from the centre of one of the big 3
| CBDs and can't say I've ever had a problem with
| inconsiderate neighbours, though it's definitely possible
| to hear them through the walls from time to time. As for
| noise, the nearby (<500m) outdoor festival venue has
| definitely been a source of it a few times but surprisingly
| we heard nothing from the last few shows, probably
| something to do with wind direction and stage orientation.
| It's vastly quieter than anywhere 4km from the centre of
| many other big cities around the world would be (Rome in
| particular comes to mind - I remember almost nothing about
| the place we stayed in except that there was virtually
| never a moment's silence, ever, and it was a good 5km from
| the town centre).
| Jeff_Brown wrote:
| I've heard many times in Colombia that it's customary to accustom
| babies to noise when they sleep. Also people love their
| subwoofers here, and partying until dawn. I bought an apartment
| in a community with a huge fraction of old people to escape that.
| I've seen people here sleep through experiences I could barely
| _think_ during.
|
| Even my own brain appears to have acclimated somewhat, though.
| Last week I got some nice noise-canceling headphones, and each
| time I take them off I'm shocked to realize how noisy the
| environment is, unless I'm at home. (Actually even at home, when
| I'm running the air filter, to protect myself from a different
| kind of pollution ...)
| dahwolf wrote:
| You forgot to include Colombian smartphone usage: max volume on
| speaker, then play videos and make phone calls.
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