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Everything Is Getting Louder

theatlantic.com

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Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#231

Post by huffmsa »

imposterr wrote: post #127
kungtotte wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

My parent's have a Bosch that is so quiet you can talk over it without raising your voice at all. The only real indication that it's running is the timer indicating how many minutes remaining it projects onto the floor. No LEDs, no beeps, boops or gurgles.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#232

Post by huffmsa »

Noise isn't really what these people are complaining about, it's manmade noise.

The loudest thing I've ever hear is the sound of total silence. Your brain is so used to hearing something that it will manufacture sound when you're completely isolated, and it does a bad job of it. Which is why sensory deprivation makes great torture.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#233

Post by bcaa7f3a8bbc »

huffmsa wrote: post #232

Noise isn't really what these people are complaining about, it's manmade noise. The loudest thing I've ever hear is the sound of total silence. Your brain is so used to hearing something that it will manufacture sound when you're completely isolated, and it does a bad job of it. Which is why sensory deprivation makes great torture.

I've also heard (pun not intended) that the ear itself and the sensory system has an inherent "noise floor", you can hear it when you are in an anechoic chamber.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#234

Post by huffmsa »

bcaa7f3a8bbc wrote: post #233
huffmsa wrote: post #232

Noise isn't really what these people are complaining about, it's manmade noise. The loudest thing I've ever hear is the sound of total silence. Your brain is so used to hearing something that it will manufacture sound when you're completely isolated, and it does a bad job of it. Which is why sensory deprivation makes great torture.

I've also heard (pun not intended) that the ear itself and the sensory system has an inherent "noise floor", you can hear it when you are in an anechoic chamber.

It's that sound that the brain tries to amplify up to normal volumes. The sound of the little hairs swishing, blood flowing, shit (literal) moving through your guts.

A decent write-up here https://www.wired.com/2015/05/big-question-can-silence-make-...

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#235

Post by molmalo »

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…

Why not using an ultrasonic bark control device?

I started using a bark control collar with one of my dogs, after a neighbour complained when my dog barked too much one afternoon when it was left alone at home.

So, now, as soon as it's on, she never barks (as she learned how it works), which is helpful when I need to go several hours leaving her alone. Never had another complaint.

I haven't tried the ultrasonic ones, as the other dog never barks, so I thought it would have been unfair to have both "punished" because of one.

But I guess in your case it would have been really useful.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#236

Post by Sendotsh »

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've moved house a few times because of the low frequency hum. It drives me absolutely insane, to the point of sleep deprivation and major anxiety/stress. I can't explain why some places I lived in had it, and others didn't, but finally finding a city/area that doesn't have it has ensured that me and my family will live here forever.

The main thing I could think of that those places had, was most were in built up areas. Inner suburbs of major cities, apartment living, etc.

It was like a very very low frequency hum in the back of my skull, at the absolute bottom limit of being audible but definitely a distinct sound.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#237

Post by amelius »

burntoutfire wrote: post #203
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…

If the noises aren't too loud, a noise machine can help. I have one on 24/7 and most of the sounds that were irritating me before now get drowned in the noise and I don't even notice them.

Perhaps you could also add more natural sounds such as wind, rain or sea-waves.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#238

Post by laegooose »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #139

Loudly beeping lifts in stations, like a fire alarm, while no moving parts whatsover are exposed inside or outside. The beeping of cars when the doors are open. The short blaring of car alarms, when they are closed remotely via key fob, just to make sure they work! The beeping of bus and train doors when they are closing. The banging hissing vents of overpressure in the pneumatic tanks of busses and trucks. The hummi…

Oh man, good to know I'm not alone

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#239

Post by arthurfm »

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 last car (a W177 Mercedes A Class) had an option to disable the acoustic locking verification sound in the infotainment system. I turned it off straight away.

The beep is unnecessary since the lights also flash when locking/unlocking.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#240

Post by petra »

Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #210
epistasis wrote: post #134

I found this article's style infuriatingly slow. If it had been a quarter or a third of the length I think it would have been much stronger. It took quite a while to figure out what the hell was going on. And then you get to things like this halfway through: > Thallikar took his campaign to his homeowners’ association and to his neighbors. The response was tepid, though he did persuade one person to email the city. W…

This. I have no problem reading a 8000+-page article if it's about a complex subject and I'm really learning things all the way through. But here, the signal-to-noise ratio is just too low. I could have learned the same in a quarter of the length. In general, for me, articles where the first sentence talks about a particular person (meaning that they are going to tell a personal story to exemplify whatever issue they…

//I wonder why that writing style is so common nowadays

Google sends more traffic to articles that capture the user attention.

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