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Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

knowablemagazine.org

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Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Normal" suggestions: earmuffs or earplugs; soundproof your bedroom (IIUC certain types of window roller shutters can mitigate noise); move :/ Insane suggestion: record the dump trucks every night (using good microphones - maybe even hire some), build up a compendium of recordings, get a really good speaker and amp setup (absolutely no buzzing/hissing/hum etc), then play the recordings in a loop progressively increas…

> earmuffs or earplugs Spending too much time in hardcore noise insulation can induce tinnitus, which is then pretty likely to stay around forever.

> Spending too much time in hardcore noise insulation can induce tinnitus, which is then pretty likely to stay around forever.

Do you have more information on that? A quick search did not yield any results.

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#322
These comments just reaffirm my decision to live by a state highway intersection and within ear/nose distance of major industrial facilities on the side of a hill in an area where use of jake brakes isn't prohibited.

Noise pollution will kill me a hell of a lot slower than living near people care about these sorts of things. The people who give a fuck about the obsessive lawn guy and his leaf blower or the teenager with his obnoxious exhaust tend to also give a lot of fucks about a lot of other "niceness" things that would cost me a lot of money and frustration to conform to.

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#323
The sharp beeping sound made by trucks backing up, and now also basically any type of construction vehicle when it moves, is in my opinion one of the great examples of a ham-handed solution to addressing a safety issue with no regard for noise pollution. While it is supposed to warn someone in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle, I can after hear these sharp alarm-like sounds over a block away, often inside my apartment with the windows closed, where I obviously am in no danger of this vehicle.

If only a bit if thought had been put into the design of this, such as having a directed sound (a physical bell?) that is clearly audible in the immediate vicinity but does not radiate long distances.

What is most frustrating to me is that it seems there is no one you can complain to, no one you can point to and say please fix this, as it obviously is based on some regulatory requirement. If only those who design these type of noise-making devices would be required to also consider noise pollution.

And don't even get me started on car alarms...

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#324
post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people are incredibly irresponsible when it comes to pets and most countries don't want to invest time into he-said/she-said issues. For dogs in particular, the issue is almost always a lack of attention, a lack of discipline and/or a lack of awareness. People picking up needy family dogs then leaving them alone for 12 hours, anxiety, boredom, letting dogs decide when they are allowed to bark. Worst, dogs are…

> the issue is almost always a lack of attention, a lack of discipline and/or a lack of awareness I'm not sure exactly what sort of regularity you're talking about with barking, but I think this take can be counter-productive. Let's say your neighbor gets a puppy. The puppy at some point will begin barking (because e.g. they will overtire themselves and sometimes need to be confined in order for them to sleep, or the…

When I'm talking about "lack of attention", for context, I'm not talking about puppies having to learn what they can and can't do for attention. I'm talking about grown dogs who very clearly need something having no way to communicate/vent their problems outside of barking or even more destructive ways.

As a more concrete example: my neighbors have two adult dogs. Both are at least partially from a breed which requires a lot of attention from their owner(s) and a lot of space to move. They are known to get extremely rowdy if their needs aren't met. Just recently, the two were separated with one in what I presume to be a relatively dark area and almost no human contact. The one inside would bark very often, for hours on end, with the owners not responding at all. The barking was loud enough to penetrate the walls. They also aren't trained properly at all, barking at anything in sight even if it isn't remotely close to or interested in their territory.

Obviously there are multiple factors at play here. But it's not something you should be doing to a breed of dog which grows extremely attached, set in its ways and needy of its owner. Even if they would learn not to bark in such a neglected state, that's not good for the dog either.

As an aside, I've never had issues with puppies. They don't bark nearly as loud as most poorly trained adult dogs do, and most people are still in the honeymoon phase with their dog at that point.

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#325

The sharp beeping sound made by trucks backing up, and now also basically any type of construction vehicle when it moves, is in my opinion one of the great examples of a ham-handed solution to addressing a safety issue with no regard for noise pollution. While it is supposed to warn someone in the immediate vicinity of the vehicle, I can after hear these sharp alarm-like sounds over a block away, often inside my apar…

Improved reversal sounds have been invented - the classic beep isn't just bad from a noise pollution perspective, it's also an artificial sound that's difficult for people to process and determine its point of origin. There's been a gradual rollout of white-noise reversal beepers, which while they might seem strange are easier for people to locate aurally - as a result they can be played at a lower volume, and even if it was played just as loud is a much less unpleasant tone.

Of course it'll probably be many years before old-school beepers are phased out.

Tom Scott video for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa28lIGuxq8

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those still produce noise when you press the keys. Source: a friend can't practice after 8 because it bothers his downstairs neighbours.

Whoa. That building must be paper thin then. I know they produce sound (we had one), but that's still worlds apart from having someone practice a piece way over their heads days on end.

No, it's a german building, so brick walls, etc.

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#327

This is one of the things I struggle with the most in life. I feel like most people don't seem to care about noise pollution and zero care is put into designing living spaces or cities to minimize it. I've moved into apartments and nearly cried because I realized that there was some noise pollution that wasn't apparent when I visited it (e.g. a water boiler that ran constantly at night, road noise during the day, etc…

People are so unbelievably disrespectful with noise in the US. Peaceful hike? Here's Katy Perry crackling out of my iPhone at full blast! Luxury apartment at $4k a month? No insulation between units, and the guy above you comes home at 2am and never takes his shoes off. Small country street? Here comes Chad with his straight-piped civic with the muffler removed!

Glad to know I'm not alone: noise affects me disproportionately (both positive and negative -- good music is bliss to me) and the US definitely feels like the wild west when it comes to noise control

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We call them "DJs without headphones" in Poland. They're [1] obnoxious in public transport. Now, I often considered speaking up, but figured out that if they're such a retard to do this, they probably won't listen and it could end up badly. [1] Or maybe had been, seems they're on decline. Albeit when powerful BT speakers were all the rage (like JBL Flip), they were overused in public spaces as well.

> I often considered speaking up, but If you have to "slap"¹ someone, and you will have to least you live in the desert, you will have to learn how to do it and to do it properly - effectively, proportionately, optimally. If you don't, then it's downfall in your quality of live and everyone else, and the environment and property value. It's the foundation of civilization to pull each other up towards civilized behavi…

I don't get the "slap" reference.

To be honest, my hesitation is based on the number of local news articles that surface every so often. There's an alarmingly high number of Google results when you search for "zwrócił uwagę pobili" (he made a remark, they have beaten him) [0]

This may be in general a cultural factor. Even in non-violent contexts some people just do not want to be told what to do. I think Sarmatism [1] echoes to this day in many layers of the society in the form of ill-understood "freedom" [2]

Now, I may be selling Polish society short, most people are reasonably polite and the above are deviations, not the norm. But these deviations are still visible.

[0] https://www.google.com/search?q=zwr%C3%B3ci%C5%82+uwag%C4%99...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarmatism

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Liberty#Proverb

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#329
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

vehicles are make noise with the engine and wheels, so light electric vehicles are super quiet, but heavy vehicles tend to be loud regardless when moving fast

Electric cars are certainly far from silent, and somewhere at the high end of city speeds they are hard to distinguish from other cars because most of the sound comes from the tires. But subjectively I don't mind the tire noise nearly as much as the sound of an accelerating petrol engine.

When I’m walking next to a busy road (which the only two multiuse pathways near me are next to), it’s quite loud and most of the noise is tire noise. (To the point where you have to shout to have a conversation with someone walking with you.) Those trails would be much more pleasant without the cars there, electric or not.

Re: Sounding the alarm: How noise hurts the heart (2021)

#330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, I joined the tinnitus bandwagon in the beginning of the pandemic. I was locked up at home and neighbouring dogs wouldn't shut up all day, so I resorted to earplugs and here I am now. Surprisingly I met at least 5 other people with the same problem recently, and they were all told by doctors that it was due to stress and not earplugs/headphones. I call it BS.

Of all of the years as a DJ using headphones in loud settings, all of the concerts, all of the events with loud amplified sound systems, etc, I was able to avoid tinnitus. It wasn't until I was driving and was t-boned in my side of the car with a side impact airbag going off. I walked away from the car with nothing more than a few scratches from flying glass, this lovely ringing in the ear, and this lousy t-shirt.

As a concert attender I probably recall the event that was the most likely cause which gave me tinnitus. It was an EDM concert where the front speakers sounded very 'rough' and also the stupid decision on my (& my friends) part to stay as close in the front as possible, for more than 1 hour. I think close impacts from airwaves (crashes, staying close to speakers, etc) are the most popular cause, as listening 'responsibly' on headphones did not gave me tinnitus before, nor did my usual edm concert attendance (excepting obviously the following couple of days). The eardrum can recover but once it's been 'cracked' remedies are very rare (if they exist at all, haven't researched).
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