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Everything Is Getting Louder

theatlantic.com

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Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#61

Post by wozniacki »

htk wrote: post #20
abjKT26nO8 wrote: post #6

For me the trigger is TVs. I've been renting a flat in a poorer area for over a year now. The walls are a lot thinner than in other places. There are a lot of people today (mostly 50+ year-olds) who cannot fall to sleep without the TV on. My neighbor is one of them. And the thing with TVs is that the most irritating sound frequency they emit is the one that is barely audible when you're in the same room, but when you…

I use Howard Leight’s Max every night during sleep to keep my sanity.

Sometimes the "noise" is not heard but felt due to poor dampening of the structures and inferior - if any in the first place - sound proofing.

You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters.

With audible noise you can atleast wear earplugs / use noise cancelling devices. With those tremors theres no escaping them. You feel your walls and floors tremble and its a great nuisance.

I can't believe there are no laws on the books that require builders to use vibration-dampening, sound-proofing materials / buffers for even newly constructed apartment buildings !!

I mean none of this is exactly new. Noisome and insensitive neighbors are dime a dozen.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#62

Post by Swizec »

wozniacki wrote: post #17
t34543 wrote: post #14

I suffer from misophonia, I can’t live in an apartment or work from an office. It’s really difficult to deal with. Everyone is used to loud noises and nobody cares, but I get seriously annoyed.

So how do you deal with it? Are there any federal rules / regulations currently in the pipeline to help such sufferers? Do other countries - perhaps Scandinavian - have standardized noise norms that you cannot exceed or are they pretty much non-existent everywhere?

As a fellow misophonia enthusiast (it’s not an officially recognised condition) — noise cancelling headphones and music are the only way I can survive office environments. A pinch of stoicism and deep breaths helps when stuff gets through.

For me the worst trigger sounds are eating noises and crinkly food wrappers. Trying to open a crinkly wrapper quietly makes it worse.

The misophonia gets worse when I’m otherwise stressed which leads me to believe dealing with it is like dealing with any other stressor: You just man or woman up and deal.

Me and my sister both have it so we obviously used to use it to poke fun at the other. Squishing bananas in your mouth is the quickest way to provoke a reaction. You might get punched*

*the punching response is, of course, restrained in the office. If I get that annoyed, I just walk away.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#63

Post by techsupporter »

wozniacki wrote: post #61
htk wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Howard Leight’s Max every night during sleep to keep my sanity.

Sometimes the "noise" is not heard but felt due to poor dampening of the structures and inferior - if any in the first place - sound proofing. You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters. With audible noise you can atleast wear earplugs / use noise cancelling devices. Wi…

> You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters.

For the love of Flying Spaghetti Monster so much this. So far as I can tell, my neighbors barely make an audible sound. But the continual slamming doors, closing drawers, heavy walking, rolling of chairs, clomping up and down the building stairs...all of it comes straight into my unit and reverberates like the lowest string of a bass guitar and sets me on edge.

I'm slowly getting used to it--mostly by telling myself that they can't hear what they're doing, they're not doing it intentionally, and I'm sure I make the same sounds--but it's super hard because it's very distracting to me.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#64

Post by excalibur »

Tinnitus sufferer here. Left ear no longer hears anything in the environment, but rings loudly at all times. Stereo is a distant memory, locating the source of any noise involves spinning in a circle. Let me get out my tiniest violin for you all.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#65

Post by opencl »

zamadatix wrote: post #15
btrettel wrote: post #12

Whoever decided to make cars beep when you lock or unlock them did humanity a disservice in my view. I don't think the small benefit of helping the driver locate their vehicle outweighs the shear number of times that has woken people up.

I don't usually find the lock beeping to be noticeable, certainly not louder than people's cars starting or that one asshole with the "loud and proud" engine that likes to idle it for heat in the morning. What gets me are the people that have car alarms. I've never seen one do anything useful and people still get them. One in particular goes off weekly to the point I'm amazed it hasn't gone off due to someone putting…

Who has a car without an alarm? Almost everything manufactured in at least the past 2 decades has one installed from the factory, at least in the US.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#66

Post by frosted-flakes »

zamadatix wrote: post #15
btrettel wrote: post #12

Whoever decided to make cars beep when you lock or unlock them did humanity a disservice in my view. I don't think the small benefit of helping the driver locate their vehicle outweighs the shear number of times that has woken people up.

I don't usually find the lock beeping to be noticeable, certainly not louder than people's cars starting or that one asshole with the "loud and proud" engine that likes to idle it for heat in the morning. What gets me are the people that have car alarms. I've never seen one do anything useful and people still get them. One in particular goes off weekly to the point I'm amazed it hasn't gone off due to someone putting…

Car alarms come standard in most cars, and you generally can't disable them (that's the point). Even my 20 year old VW has a car alarm, and there's no simple way to disable it, short of never locking my car door or disconnecting the horns (which are also activated by pressing on the steering wheel). I wish I could disable it, because this specific model has faulty door-open sensors that sometimes detect an open door when it's shut, triggering the alarm.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#67

Post by macintux »

opencl wrote: post #65
zamadatix wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't usually find the lock beeping to be noticeable, certainly not louder than people's cars starting or that one asshole with the "loud and proud" engine that likes to idle it for heat in the morning. What gets me are the people that have car alarms. I've never seen one do anything useful and people still get them. One in particular goes off weekly to the point I'm amazed it hasn't gone off due to someone putting…

Who has a car without an alarm? Almost everything manufactured in at least the past 2 decades has one installed from the factory, at least in the US.

Not my 2005 Jeep Wrangler, and I don’t recall my 2012 Civic having one, but I didn’t have it very long so that may be a flawed recollection.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#68

Post by Waterluvian »

tempestn wrote: post #48
heymijo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have neighbors and/or are you in an area with lawns that need maintenance? Suburbs in the midwest are inundated with noise: lawnmowers, leaf blowers, trimmers, and cars.

One nice thing is that battery electric versions of all of those are now quite good and are becoming more popular. They still make some noise of course, but far, far less than gas powered versions. The lack of maintenance is great too. I could have a conversation at a normal speaking volume beside my lawnmower if I wanted. (Of course I would probably shut it off, since it's only a pull of a switch to start it again!)

I was given a used battery mower. Really hated it. Super heavy and the torque would just die if I got to any particularly high grass area. Naturally the cable everywhere sucks but if you have a smaller lawn it's probably worth it. You eventually master the cable lasso rodeo.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#69

Post by rootusrootus »

neilv wrote: post #49
btrettel wrote: post #12

Whoever decided to make cars beep when you lock or unlock them did humanity a disservice in my view. I don't think the small benefit of helping the driver locate their vehicle outweighs the shear number of times that has woken people up.

My apartment is bordered by around 100 housing units, and a large number of car parking spaces. Very few of the cars beep anymore, but a large number honk their horns whenever (loosely) anyone gets in or out of the vehicle. To those of us with especially poorly-placed apartments, this gratuitous honking throughout the early morning, day, and night is always annoying, often jolting, and sometimes awakening. I understa…

My Tesla honks when it locks and I'd prefer it did not. But if it were silent, I wouldn't know when it fails to lock because someone didn't fully close their door. I wish they'd do a Subaru beep instead. Or just send me a push notification on my phone. Having it honk in my garage every time I walk away gets a bit irritating.
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