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Everything Is Getting Louder

theatlantic.com

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Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#111

Post by austhrow743 »

jfnixon wrote: post #80
austhrow743 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a special place in hell reserved for the people responsible for all of the beeping and LEDs in the modern home. An eternity of never ending beeps and blinking lights.

Find the speaker/chirper/noisemaker and disable it, using wirecutters if necessary. Black tape works great on LEDs.

I have a roll of black stickers that get stuck on everything. Latest offender though is a power board that has an LED near the USB ports. I've covered where it's supposed to shine through, but its bright enough that it shines through the USB ports as well. Even if something is plugged in to them!

Is it generally safe to assume that cutting a noisemaker (or LED?) off wont break the rest of the product?

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#112

Post by egypturnash »

jdietrich wrote: post #76
blunte wrote: post #26

Many people either cannot hear very low frequency sound, and they cannot understand what it’s like for those of us who can. The sounds don’t necessarily get louder at night - there are just fewer competing sounds to mask them. Earplugs and other sound barriers make it worse by filtering out higher frequency sounds, making the remaining VLF sounds seem louder. VLFs also penetrate earth, stone, concrete, etc. And becau…

As a trained sound engineer, I don't find this explanation wholly plausible. Human hearing is increasingly less sensitive at low frequencies; the threshold of hearing is typically around 60dB at 20Hz and 72dB at 10Hz. Anyone who has configured a large public address system knows that vast amounts of power are needed to deliver useful response at these frequencies; many systems simply fake the presence of low bass by…

I suggest you skim this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#113

Post by reddotX »

myroon5 wrote: post #39

The number of appliances that intentionally make noise and cannot be configured to stop making noise irks me. I never want microwaves, dishwashers, laundry machines, etc. to make any noise. Even worse is how many of them continue making noise until you unload them. I'd like to one day be able to run a load of laundry or dishes overnight without being constantly woken up.

find the speaker and remove it...

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#114

Post by jjoonathan »

tomrod wrote: post #74
ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to sleep with earplugs very nicely until I got an ear infection and the doctor told me to lay off them. So I bought a bluetooth speaker that can play files off a SD card, and loaded it up with a 1 hour rain sounds file and play that in a loop as white noise when I sleep. Feels better as my brain can focus on the soothing sounds of the rain instead of the thoughts that sometimes creep up in the silence of the e…

Check out the ambience apps. It's doing this, but very customizable!

On the other hand, a memory card won't start skipping at 10PM when the kids downstairs start playing with their $10 aliexpress quadcopter that barfs theoretically highly illegal quantities of RF all over 2.4GHz.

Ditto for $2 aliexpress chargers and their gaggle of $20 whitelabeled progeny on amazon.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#115

Post by liquidify »

I've got a low frequency hum that has been permeating my environment for years. I have no idea where it is coming from. Low frequencies are especially hard to locate by ear due to their omnidirectional nature. I'm pretty sure there is nothing I can do about it. It has messed up my ability to record music though. I used to be able to record and mix in my living room but that has not been possible for many years now without constantly hearing that noise.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#116

Post by blunte »

egypturnash wrote: post #109
crazygringo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never heard of this and have a hard time believing it but I’m curious. What causes “low frequency sound” for you? And why do you think other people can’t hear it? At low frequencies tones degrade into individual pulses but can still be heard/felt. Noise-cancelling headphones actually work best with low frequencies like train and plane noise... do those help you? Googling “VLF” only gives results about radio wa…

So about a year before I moved out of Seattle I started hearing this HUM around the University District. It was low pitched but it was everywhere. And it was especially in my bedroom. All night long. My sleep became a lot less sound. My boyfriend never heard it. Ever. He’d sleep right next to me. His ears just didn’t go down that low, I guess. Or maybe my skull resonated with this noise better than his did, I dunno.…

I had the same situation with a partner who couldn’t hear it and got tired of me complaining. I asked a neighbor, and he said he heard it but his wife did not... and that she got tired of him complaining too!

The only solution I found was to turn on an air purifier to generate soft, low pitched white noise. With just a little increase of noise across more frequencies, my brain would relax. I suppose it’s like water drop torture compared to a soft shower.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#117

Post by rhacker »

monster_group wrote: post #77
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 sold my previous house precisely because of noisy neighbors (or rather their dogs). Their three dogs lived in the backyard permanently no matter what the weather - never seen them walked. Talked to the neighbors twice about the noise - no action. Called the cops at 3 in the morning - still nothing. Finally, I decided to sell the house and move somewhere where there is low dog density. I developed a dislike for dogs…

This saddens me to hear this. I see in Zillow sooo many instances of a Yellow dot (sold, say 1/2018) then a red dot shows up as of 5/2018 and just sits on the market. The problem? the new neighbors. After analysis my wife and I have concluded, after seeing hundreds of homes (even with acreage) that neighbors are far far far the #1 reason a house goes for sale. It might be kids, dogs or music.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#118

Post by jjeaff »

zamadatix wrote: post #13

For anyone looking for what the article is (mainly) about before reading it all: chiller whine for large datacenters/complexes between 630-1000 Hertz. Ironically at no point in the story did anyone actually find out how loud the noise was.

That's what was so weird to me. The guy was an engineer and it never occurred to him to go out and get some scientific measurements? Instead, he just wastes time sending daily emails to city council members and contacting other authorities like the police. It also appears that the sounds not only don't bother most everyone else, but they can't even hear them.

If you are going to make such a concerted effort to fix something, at least get some objective data or else you risk looking like someone with a mental illness or like someone who is "allergic" to WiFi.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#119

Post by [deleted] »

egypturnash wrote: post #109
crazygringo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never heard of this and have a hard time believing it but I’m curious. What causes “low frequency sound” for you? And why do you think other people can’t hear it? At low frequencies tones degrade into individual pulses but can still be heard/felt. Noise-cancelling headphones actually work best with low frequencies like train and plane noise... do those help you? Googling “VLF” only gives results about radio wa…

So about a year before I moved out of Seattle I started hearing this HUM around the University District. It was low pitched but it was everywhere. And it was especially in my bedroom. All night long. My sleep became a lot less sound. My boyfriend never heard it. Ever. He’d sleep right next to me. His ears just didn’t go down that low, I guess. Or maybe my skull resonated with this noise better than his did, I dunno.…

[deleted]

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#120

Post by tempestn »

Waterluvian wrote: post #68
tempestn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you remember what voltage it was? I've got a 56V Ego mower—at the time I got it that was the highest voltage available, although it may have ticked up in the past few years. Makes a big difference. It's close to indistinguishable from a gas mower as far as power, and doesn't feel particularly heavy either.
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