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Everything Is Getting Louder

theatlantic.com

121–130 of 316 posts

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#121
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Bavaria if your dog barks more than 30 minutes per day, the neighbours can record it on video, call the police and you will get fined. At first I thought this is astupid law but after reading your story I changed my mind.

in Bulgaria people will poison your dogs

Oh you know that happens in everywhere right?

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#122
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Noise isolating ear tips or IEMs for listening to audio are another great option if you want to maybe sacrifice a little bit of comfort for wonderful audio reproduction and probably portability/convenience.

Even better are noise isolating earbuds INSIDE of 3M Peltor 31 decibel earmuffs.

I have worn my earPods, wire and all, inside my X5As. If I'm watching a webinar or something on my laptop, it gives great isolated sound.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#123
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe. But it’s also slightly more nuanced. Honda for example works like this. One press of the remote, locks all the doors. The second press will beep the horn if all the doors are successfully locked. If you left one of the doors open, the horn won’t beep on the second press. So it’s a away of getting confirmation that all doors are closed and locked. It seems useful, but when my neighbor comes home in the middle o…

What gets me are the number of people who will put their keys in their pocket and just beat the ever loving hell out of the "lock" button as they walk away. So it's all "beep," "beep beep," "beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep" until they finally get out of range. I'm sure those are the same people who, if or when they are pedestrians, stand at the corner and repeatedly slam the crosswalk request button.

Seems like a much better UX would be for the remote to ding or vibrate instead of having the car make a sound. But then that would cost a few more dollars I suppose.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#124
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Or just make the remote chirp or vibrate would be even better.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#125

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.

You're woken up easily. Makes me wonder if my Subaru with loud pipes wakes people up.

You're talking to someone using text on the internet and you somehow know a sound of some kind with no information on loudness or distance can claim that it wakes someone "easily".

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#126

I slept for about 18 months in a second-story room overlooking one of the busier streets in town. That'll never happen again. Motorcycles were especially obnoxious; I usually sleep like the dead, including all the way through an energetic northern California earthquake, but we had a regular that would rip up and down the street sometime after 1 a.m. and it often interrupted my sleep. Also -- and this hasn't previousl…

I live in an area where old Vespa scooters from the 70s-80s are used as the main form of transportation for textiles between businesses probably because of the wide rack at the back and ease of buying used vehicle. Not only do most of them spit out blue smoke, but the putter of the engine is absurd compared to anything modern.

Counter point that with electric scooters that scare you when they whiz by because they're barely audible and there's hope for a future.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#127
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own a washing machine that particularly annoys me. It beeps at the end of the wash, as if expecting you to unload it. It also has a heat sensor tied to the door lock, where it won't let you unlock the door if it's too hot. It also takes 5-10 minutes after a wash to reach a level where it'll let you open the door.

We recently bought a new dishwasher that's nearly silent during operation, and will automatically open the door and power down at the end of the cycle (no notification beeps). It didn't cost us any extra, but I would've paid double for that now that I've had it for six months. I can start it immediately before going to bed and when I wake up it's finished.

You can't just post a comment like that without mentioning what model/make the dishwasher is.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#128
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I find that on products that are mostly digital removing LEDs and speakers shouldn't cause an issue. However, some analog electronics may be designed with the LED as a current path. If this is the case perhaps you can replace it with a non light-emitting diode with similar Vf

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was in a similar situation I ended up paying for a few hundred dollars worth of acoustic foam for the walls. It didn’t stop everything, especially stopping noise from upstairs neighbors, but it was still a huge help. It’s unsightly though. The kinds that are actually nice to look at as wall decoration are super expensive.

Did you do a before and after dB measurement? I'm curious on quantitatively how well it worked as I was thinking of doing the same thing but I talked to a few musician buddies and read many things like https://acousticalsolutions.com/how-to-soundproof-acoustic-f... & https://soundproofcentral.com/soundproof-foam/ and all seem to agree foam stuck on a wall is for echo not soundproofing so didn't try it out. Also many…

I didn’t measure it unfortunately. It definitely didn’t stop everything, I could still hear a lot of stuff, but it just dulled it enough that it was easier to tune out.

I think most of the sound was actually echoing through the ductwork and leaking past gaps in the doors rather than going through party walls so if it was actually possible I’d try to get in there.

Ideally though, the soundproofing needs to happen in the room where the sound is happening rather than in your space. The building I’m in now reserves the right to require you to put rugs down if your neighbors complain. When I got a dog I put a bunch down so the downstairs neighbors didn’t have to deal with the constant patter of his feet.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#130
I was pleasantly surprised when I walked out in front of my house the other day. When we bought it last year, in early spring, we had hoped the nearby small wooded area would block out some freeway noise once the leaves grew in, but it didn't help. Now there's a big new high school under construction between us and the freeway. That direction is almost entirely silent in the evening. We might not be so lucky when football games start next year, but that's better than constant engine braking sounds.
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