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Everything Is Getting Louder

theatlantic.com

261–270 of 316 posts

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#261
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

Same in Belize, I hear from J.McA.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#262
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

In most places without sensible regulation they'd poison the dog, which opens the slippery slope to escalation. Bavarian law prevents that.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, needed editing though I fully sympathize with the people in the author's story. The drug shithole I used to live in after prison was crackheads screaming for hours after blowing up pipes in their face when a rain drop hits it after they heat it up, crackheads getting robbed and fighting all night, shootings, constant ambulance and firetruck sirens for fentanyl ODs, my neighbours door being kicked in by a drug…

What’s a drug collector? Or is that a typo. I just want to know what one is if there is a such a thing.

Like a debt collector but specifically for drug money.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should throw away the earplugs every few days. Or, you could use soft silicone putty earplugs, and sterilize them during the day.

I did exchange them often, that's not the problem. The problem is with earpulgs in summer moisture accumulates in your ear canal and with the lack of oxygen bacteria thrives inside.

Damn, I was worried this might be a thing. No issues yet but coming on two years of daily use... might be time to look for some alternatives.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#266
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same reaction (physical) to a screaming kid. It has made raising my baby incredibly difficult (especially the first year). Mentally, I understand that it's just a crying baby and that's what they do, but physically I was shutting down - body tensing, a surge of extremely stressful energy rushing through my body and ultimately being left unable to function. My wife thought I was nuts and was just faking it.…

I don't know about the paralysis but I once read an internet fact that stated our brains are innately wired to react to babies and children's screams in order to ward off potential threats to our retirement plans.

I believe it. I work in an environment that many people would consider stress inducing; I engage in amateur combat sports; however, when my six month old loses it, I absolutely get an immediate pulse raising stress reaction.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#267

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.

Which make and model do you have?

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#268

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…

As someone who lives in an apartment building close to several bars, a simple white noise app did wonders for my sleep. I just leave it on a mix of sounds I find soothing, and it hides most of the noise that would keep me awake.

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#269

In NYC the screeching of the subway trains at the station is easily loud enough to be physically painful to my ears. Especially in underground local stations where you have a local train arriving + express trains rolling past. That can be 90-100 decibels (equivalent to a jet engine taking off 300m away). Restaurants here are regularly 70-90 decibels. Equivalent to the noise of a blender next to you. Everything in the…

What decibel meter are you using to get those readings? Seems insane that the loudest restaurant is equivalent to a jet engine taking off.

I am in a restaurant now, a midsize place doing brunch, and my Apple Watch is recording 80 decibels. It would be louder if I were at a table but I’m off to the side at the bar.

I enjoyed this article, albeit it’s from 2012: “Working or Playing Indoors, New Yorkers Face an Unabated Roar” (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/20/nyregion/in-new-york-city...)

For more reading, there are articles for various cities linked at the bottom of this NIH page:

https://www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/have-you-heard/noise-l...

Re: Everything Is Getting Louder

#270

I have 3M PELTOR X5A Ear Muffs. I use them all the time, from getting a snooze while my car charges, to working in louder than necessary cafes, to getting decent if slightly uncomfortable sleep in a hotel. They're $31 delivered from Amazon. It amused the hell out of me that I had to click through an agreement saying I was a profession. I am a professional. Since these are 31db ear muffs, they're heavier than somethin…

> to working in louder than necessary cafes The loudness of cafes is necessary, at least to the business owner. Across the world, even in countries where cafes used to be peaceful places for reading and long conversations, owners have increasingly preferred to blast loud music and remove sound-dampening. The constant din has a subconscious effect on customers, leading them to leave the establishment after they finish…

Sufficient but not necessary (I do understand that running a profitable food establishment is extremely difficult).

Establishments also do the following to encourage turnover:

- Buy uncomfortable tables/chairs

- Set higher prices for sitting down at a table vs standing at the bar (or eating in vs takeaway)

- Not bring you the dessert menu, hoping you'll get up and leave

Loud music is cheap, easy and proven, so I can see why it's popular

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