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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)

#521

Post by greggman3 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #313
greggman3 wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could they maybe turn it down from 10pm to 7am? Or put some lube on the device?

> Could they maybe turn it down from 10pm to 7am? They could, yes, but that depends on how much money the constructors spent. Some will go for the really fancy stuff that the janitor can fully control from their office, with everything relevant (air inlet and outlet temperature, tenant-individual air consumption, CO2 levels, ...) being measured and every tiny little actor (valves, bypasses, flaps) controlled in a car…

Well, regardless, AFAIK it's illegally loud according to the document linked above. So, if I'm correct, regardless of what they have to do and how much it costs they should be required to fix it.

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

#523

Post by tmnvix »

mechanical_bear wrote: post #90
gonehome wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find by far the biggest disruption in US suburbs is lawn equipment. Suburbs are louder than cities imo because there is always a leaf blower, lawn mower, and weedwacker going at all times during the day within 100 yards of you. Often for hours. Moving from Palo Alto to SF things got way quieter.

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!

Years ago there was an unfortunate incident involving the caretaker of the official Australian Prime Minister's residence in Canberra (The Lodge).

At the time John Howard was PM and was setting the controversial precedent of refusing to reside at The Lodge - he instead insisted on living at another government owned residence in Sydney (Kirribilli House).

So. The caretaker died when a tree fell on him while he was using a leaf blower during a storm to clean a property that was not even being used.

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

#524

Post by bigDinosaur »

Tade0 wrote: post #267
bigDinosaur wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I...have walked around the less nice parts of Paris? I'm not sure what your point is. In the less nice parts of Paris, the noisy areas are still mostly the areas with busy roads. It's simply the biggest source of noise pollution in cities and I haven't found anything that comes close. Maybe in specific areas you can find people playing obnoxiously loud music with helicopters buzzing over constantly but that's certain…

Not much a problem in my city, but those which I've been to that are seen as "walkable" and with a "vibrant city life". Essentially all places with considerable tourist traffic. Paris is very densely populated - I'm surprised anyone attempts to drive there, because at these densities and distance between buildings it must be horrible. My point is: it's not that clear cut. Removing cars is what makes places like Paris…

I certainly would agree that Paris isn't an ideal city. My experience has been that cities with 1-2 million inhabitants with reasonable, but not extreme, density (i.e. much denser than suburbia but less dense than Paris) have been the most pleasant.

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

#525

Post by shados »

kdmccormick wrote: post #82
tayo42 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had this "conversation" with my neighbor (it was more like me being yelled at) It kind of blew my mind they didnt care about noise interruptions at all hours and told me its my problem. Like maybe if you got a full night of sleep you wouldn't be so angry? I guess this study supports that. The noise in my current apartment is endless, car alarms, screaming and crying kids along with their loud toys, idling cars, the…

> instruments being practiced As a musician... although I understand that, in the end, instrument practice is still noise, it hurts to see this listed among the rest of your items. Last year, I had to move out of an apartment complex because our neighbors would not tolerate even 30 minutes of practice a day (in spite of the ~2 daily hours of lawn care racket, but whatever) and complained to building management. I get…

The problem is that our hears are hard to shut. Earplugs don't block vibrations, and we need our ears for other things. If you're a parent you need to keep track of your kids, for one. If someone is trying to watch a 1 hour TV show, all of a sudden there's a large window of the day where they might get interrupted and unable to do it. If they work night, they'll be a wreck because they can no longer sleep.

There's no difference between a lawnmower and a piano in that case. The later might even be worse because it's not constant "white" noise (gray noise maybe?).

I lived next door to a piano player, and even though the walls were well insulated and I only heard him play lightly, it drove me mad. Music meant to attract attention. Even with a white noise machine it was incredibly hard to ignore.

Most instruments have electronic versions that you can practice with headphones. Pianos, violin, drums, guitars. For the others you can install an insulated booth, or rent a studio. Some hobbies aren't fit to be done in an apartment building, too. I'd love to play DDR in my apartment, but the downstairs neighbor will kill me. So I don't. Choose your instrument wisely (I used to be into drumming. I just had an electronic one, it was close enough to practice. Not as cool, but hey, compromises have to be made).

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

#526

Post by shados »

Beltalowda wrote: post #121
kdmccormick wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> instruments being practiced As a musician... although I understand that, in the end, instrument practice is still noise, it hurts to see this listed among the rest of your items. Last year, I had to move out of an apartment complex because our neighbors would not tolerate even 30 minutes of practice a day (in spite of the ~2 daily hours of lawn care racket, but whatever) and complained to building management. I get…

I think having control has a lot to do with it; even the most beautiful music is "noise" if you can't control when it starts and stops. Unpredictability also plays a part: it suddenly starts at a random time and okay, so your neighbour is playing loud music (or practising their instrument); is this going to be for 5 minutes? 30 minutes? 2 hours? All night? It's very much a personal thing. My brother once lived above…

> I think having control has a lot to do with it;

Yup. If the neighbor decides to play one of my favorite song ever, I'll still be pissed if I'm trying to watch a TV show.

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

#527

Post by shados »

goodpoint wrote: post #422
jan_Inkepa wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who grew up playing piano, I'm sad that it's incompatible with urban living. I know some cultures are more likely to tolerate it than others, but overall I see it as on the way out.

> it's incompatible with urban living No, it's incompatible with houses with poor sound insulation.

You need a LOT of concrete, dry wall, green glue and mass loaded vinyl to block out a standard piano...

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

#528

Post by shados »

tpm wrote: post #217
dan-robertson wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, if you turn on your tumble dryer after 11pm in Switzerland and your neighbours hear, expect them to call the police.

That's the country of my dreams! Seriously though, people should understand that night is for sleeping and walls do not offer perfect sound insulation. Everything you do can be heard and can disturb someones sleep. I struggle with this all my life.

The problem is that lack of sleep is almost a badge of honor these days. Saying you need sleep makes you sound fussy/weak, when it's virtually as important as needing to drink or breath.

We should be protecting sleep quality like we protect water quality...which I guess considering how bad the water is in certain parts, may not be the best analogy.

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

#529

Post by shados »

lemax wrote: post #227
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…

Noise is also a big part of certain cultures/contexts though. Blanket rules around noise levels could be unfair if they don't provide a venue for noisey folks somewhere . In Brooklyn, for example, there are neighborhoods and entire buildings that revolve around loudness, inhabited by musicians, artists, and boisterous young people who stay up all hours. For example, in the McKibbin lofts in Bushwick, Brooklyn, like m…

Noise should be zoned like construction is (ok, probably better).

Some cities have intricately designed noise ordinances that account for this, but most just have some kind of blanket "After 11pm no more than 50db". Sometimes they'll add "or 5db above ambient".

At my previous place, the noise ordinance was the same if you lived in a residential neighborhood in the middle of nowhere, or in the bustling middle of a commercial district. In lieu of nuances, the city enforcers would just use their own opinions and discretion on enforcement, which generally left people unhappy on both side.

Just have "loud" parts of town and "quiet" parts of town. Then people can live where it suits them. Enforce it appropriately (so if someone live in the loud part and bitch about noise, tell them to move. If someone is loud in the quiet part, fine the shit out of them).

Though generally "quiet" areas get gentrified, and prices rise a lot, because they are far more in demand from people with more money (read: older and/or privileged), so I guess that wouldn't work so well.

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