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

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

#351

Post by lowercased »

imglorp wrote: post #343
andersco wrote: post #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 apar…

For me it's yard equipment. Mowers, blowers, weeders, chainsaws, chippers etc. are usually not muffled or so high powered you can hear them for miles away. It's air and noise pollution. Electric equipment might replace some of it soon but not all. I love heavily wooded suburbs, but logically speaking it's not efficient and not sustainable compared to more centralized housing, for many reasons. Just on the noise front…

We live in a small subdivision. Around half acre lots - very flat. We have a lawn service, and they use riding mowers and are done in ~20 minutes. We have neighbors either side. One is retired. The other has a flex schedule. They both love doing outdoor stuff, like... riding mowers. Each take ~2 hours to do their lawn. This is their enjoyment. It's like a vacation for them. Sitting on a loud engine, driving around... smiling happily the whole time. One will sometimes leave his mower running next to our window while he goes in to use the bathroom.

They stretch this out and.. it's just horrible. I'm often away from the house, but my wife sometimes can't get away at home (they'll start in the middle of her cooking, for example). It bothers our pets - they'll be hiding under the beds for hours.

I get it - mow the grass. But... it really doesn't need to be 3+ hrs. One neighbor mowed for 2 hrs on Thursday. SUNDAY AFTERNOON he mowed for another hour. The grass was not longer. He just likes riding a mower. Next to our window. Then... edger/blowing. Another 30 minutes, and again... leave it propped up facing our window - running - to go in and get a drink. I'm not even sure how/why it's possible to have an edger running without a human holding it.

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

#352

Post by amelius »

seattle_spring wrote: post #29
drstewart wrote: post #2

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!

> People are so unbelievably disrespectful with noise in the US.

People from the US even speak louder :)

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

#353

Post by moduspol »

sicromoft wrote: post #201
mechanical_bear wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fucking loathe leaf blowers. I can tell what day of the week it is by which neighbor is going for an hour or two straight with the leaf blower. Get a damn rake!

Leaf blowers are the worst. Several cities in CA have banned them. I don't know why more haven't followed suit. There's a myth that groundskeeping is more costly without them, but the city of LA reported that costs didn't significantly increase after banning them.[1] [1] https://www.dailybreeze.com/2018/08/21/redondo-beach-bans-le...

> There's a myth that groundskeeping is more costly without them

A... myth? Have you ever used a rake, and a leaf blower? How about for many hours?

If there's no change in costs when switching between the two, it's getting hidden or absorbed somewhere. It takes substantially less time and effort to use a leaf blower than a rake for the vast majority of tasks that call for either.

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

#354

Post by micromacrofoot »

andersco wrote: post #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 apar…

I was just thinking about car alarms this morning as I was listening to a mockingbird mimic one… I’ve actually started hearing the stereotypical car alarm siren noises dramatically less lately, it seems these days the vast majority just use the car horn, which isn’t great, but has improved things.

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

#355

Post by Reason077 »

lowercased wrote: post #351
imglorp wrote: post #343

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's yard equipment. Mowers, blowers, weeders, chainsaws, chippers etc. are usually not muffled or so high powered you can hear them for miles away. It's air and noise pollution. Electric equipment might replace some of it soon but not all. I love heavily wooded suburbs, but logically speaking it's not efficient and not sustainable compared to more centralized housing, for many reasons. Just on the noise front…

We live in a small subdivision. Around half acre lots - very flat. We have a lawn service, and they use riding mowers and are done in ~20 minutes. We have neighbors either side. One is retired. The other has a flex schedule. They both love doing outdoor stuff, like... riding mowers. Each take ~2 hours to do their lawn. This is their enjoyment . It's like a vacation for them. Sitting on a loud engine, driving around..…

At least mowers and other garden tools will all be quiet and electric, some day. Most of the new ones for sale already are.

It’s an air pollution issue too. Emissions from the old ones aren’t really regulated and many of them really stink!

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

#356

Post by skizm »

This is why airpod pros or similar noise cancelling headphones are worth their weight in gold. After having them in a city environment for more than a week, I realized I'd gladly pay north of $1k for them. If I lose them I will instantly go into a physical Apple store and buy a new pair so I'm not without them for even a day. I can't go back to the normal city noise levels every again. I don't even have music or anything playing most of the time. They also serve the dual purpose of avoiding talking with strangers or panhandlers.

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

#357

Post by javert »

JohnHaugeland wrote: post #342
javert wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i got these Bose QuietComfort noise cancelling earbuds, and they are like magic, cancelling out bass noise from nearby outdoor stereos. i can't believe how well they work. I live by the beach where people play loud music---the concrete walls do OK for the midrange and treble noises, but not the bass.

The person you're replying to is talking about feeling in their body, not hearing in their ears.

I see what you're saying, but I think that's too narrow of a reading of his comment, but it doesn't really matter.

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

#358

Post by oauea »

saila wrote: post #181
oauea wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do yourself a favor and get some earplugs

Earplugs do essentially nothing to stop low frequency sounds. I can block out a lot of noise with white/pink/brown noise, but the only thing that will stop sounds you can feel , whether it’s an idling truck or a sound system cranked up, is substantial mass and/or decoupling from the source.

You say that, but it helped my sleep tremendously

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

#359

Post by stackbutterflow »

mechanical_bear wrote: post #108
zabzonk wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> dog crate sorry, what is that?

A little home for your dog within your home. It helps them feel secure and that they have a space that is their own.

Only Americans do that: https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/hbpyvk/til_t...

Personally I can't imagine loving an animal and putting it in a cage at the same time.

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

#360

Post by boredumb »

It's hard to take noise pollution seriously when you so much as read the comments here after reading and agreeing with much of the article. Yes I believe living under an airport to be detrimental to anyone's sanity, but yet it devolves quickly into an agoraphobic hand wringing competition going from city sirens, to cars in general, to the neighbors dog barking sporadically. There are prices to pay for living in city centers, suburbs versus living in the woods away from society entirely. We exchange a tranquil peace of living in a shack in Montana vs living in SF/NYC/etc/etc and making more money and all the conveniences that come with living in these cities. What I gather out of a lot of HN comments about noise pollution is a spectrum of desire to be isolated from humans while living in metropolitan areas all the way to being upset that the neighbors kid drives a shitty car or they hate the sounds of animals fighting and barking.
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