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Noise is all around us

thewalrus.ca

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Re: Noise is all around us

#61

Post by alamortsubite »

soulofmischief wrote: post #34
bm3719 wrote: post #6

I think of ambient silence as the most valuable sound of all. Think about what it'd cost you to get freedom from your neighbor's lawnmower, traffic, sirens, construction, dogs barking, and the rest of the mindless noise that involuntarily assaults the average person's brain all day. You might think you can move out to the country, but most of the homes you might buy still have plenty of it. Neighbors will have bigger…

I've lived in both the city and the sticks and I can tell you that out in the sticks, you don't hear your neighbor's tractor. In general the ambient noise is far, far less and on many days idyllic. In my case the most egregious sound was the morning braying of the neighbor's donkey, which never lasted long.

In my case, I live in the sticks and I heard my neighbor's tractor all day today. It's not all that often I do, but believe me when he's working the fields the machine is very audible. I don't mind it much- he's being productive and that's great (and as I write this, he's wrapped up for the day and I'm listening to a wood thrush and the sound of the creek as it runs over the rocks, both of which are very soothing). The one noise that's deeply annoying here carries much further than any tractor- it's the yokels and their seemingly unlimited supply of ammo.

Re: Noise is all around us

#62

Post by blueridge »

fwlr wrote: post #32

Big fan of quiet. My home environment sits at about 30dB as measured by NIOSH’s sound level monitoring app, 32 during fridge cycle, 35dB when I have air conditioning running. In previous places I wasn’t able to control external noise as much and I had to use earplugs to focus; I tried half a dozen and found Etymotic’s earplugs to be by far the best (they claim to designed to reduce sound by approximately 20dB at all…

Thanks for the earplug recommendation—just purchased! I have to bring earplugs to the movies now. Maybe it's me, but the audio in some movies is so absurdly loud that I want to just get up and walk out.

Re: Noise is all around us

#63

Post by tornato7 »

runeb wrote: post #30
jmugan wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised that we tolerate so much unnecessary noise. We let people fly helicopters around and run leaf blowers. We even allow trucks to go beep beep beep and alert everyone within a kilometer that they are backing up, even though we have rearview cameras, like it's everyone else's responsibility to scurry out of their way.

As someone with tinnitus and hyperacusis I think about this often. A bus or truck dumping its air brakes right next to you, incredibly loud sirens, squeaky breaks that pierce the soul. I feel fairly certain you could make the case that many sounds we have grown to just accept in society are in fact at dangerous decibel levels.

There are ordinary household activities that reach dangerous decibel levels too. Stacking ceramic dishes, slamming the toilet seat, vacuuming in a tight space, etc.

You will actually find that doing every day chores is much more pleasurable with hearing protection.

Re: Noise is all around us

#64

Post by speakspokespok »

Turskarama wrote: post #10
lstamour wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re trucks beeping - that’s partly legal responsibility isn’t it? I mean, we have had the ability for trucks to beep as they back up for far longer than we have had the ability for them to realistically have functioning rear view cameras. And since the normal expectation is that vehicles go forward, it makes sense to alert when doing something unexpected, like backing up. And so the laws we have mandate and expect bee…

More modern trucks use white noise instead of a beep anyway, it's both much easier to tell direction from a broad spectrum sound, and significantly less annoying at the same time.

That's interesting. After watching the video I realized that yes the white noise style of backup sound is fairly common on trucks here in the US but never thought about why. Actually, now that I think about it the local garbage trucks use it. You definitely know where the sound is coming from, and it's loud and it gets your attention.

For the last several years I've been living in Mexico, after living in Seattle for many years, and I'm still struck by how much quieter it is here. Playing of loud music is actually far more common here, especially at night, and jake braking is a thing too but none of it's annoying. There's no noise ordinances that I know of. Even still the noise level is generally far lower than even a quiet day back in the States. Right now it's Sunday afternoon and man it feels like a quiet Sunday afternoon. No complaints.

Re: Noise is all around us

#65

Post by throwaway675309 »

jmugan wrote: post #7

I'm always surprised that we tolerate so much unnecessary noise. We let people fly helicopters around and run leaf blowers. We even allow trucks to go beep beep beep and alert everyone within a kilometer that they are backing up, even though we have rearview cameras, like it's everyone else's responsibility to scurry out of their way.

At least this type of noise is more of a side effect and not the purported goal of the device. Contrast that with subwoofers which over 12in should just be illegal in apartments...

Re: Noise is all around us

#66

Post by Turskarama »

eertami wrote: post #53
Turskarama wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At any speed you'd do on a road, even on suburban back roads tyre noise can match or exceed engine noise.

You didn't specify a speed, so I'm curious how fast are your suburban back roads? I've seen signs from the US that show 40mph speed limits on purely residential back streets which is already faster than I can drive on literally any street within my city. Residential roads here are max 30km/h (18mph) but also often 20km/h (12mph). Slow enough that the EVs should produce less noise, even though both produce tire noise.

40km/h where I am. Below that is only seen in shared traffic areas (basically pedestrian areas where cars are allowed to pass through).

Re: Noise is all around us

#68

Post by presentation »

Simulacra wrote: post #17

Silence is a privilege. Several colleagues live in Los Angeles and New York City. It is always noisy outside there, day and night, not just our zoom calls. It makes me very thankful that I live in a quiet neighborhood.

Cities don’t have to be noisy, Tokyo is delightfully quiet and I hear that many European cities are too.

Re: Noise is all around us

#69

Post by earthling8118 »

soulofmischief wrote: post #34
bm3719 wrote: post #6

I think of ambient silence as the most valuable sound of all. Think about what it'd cost you to get freedom from your neighbor's lawnmower, traffic, sirens, construction, dogs barking, and the rest of the mindless noise that involuntarily assaults the average person's brain all day. You might think you can move out to the country, but most of the homes you might buy still have plenty of it. Neighbors will have bigger…

I've lived in both the city and the sticks and I can tell you that out in the sticks, you don't hear your neighbor's tractor. In general the ambient noise is far, far less and on many days idyllic. In my case the most egregious sound was the morning braying of the neighbor's donkey, which never lasted long.

Maybe you can't hear the tractor but that doesn't stop you from hearing cars on the racetrack well over 20 miles away. There are plenty of noises to be heard

Re: Noise is all around us

#70

Post by wrp »

bm3719 wrote: post #6

I think of ambient silence as the most valuable sound of all. Think about what it'd cost you to get freedom from your neighbor's lawnmower, traffic, sirens, construction, dogs barking, and the rest of the mindless noise that involuntarily assaults the average person's brain all day. You might think you can move out to the country, but most of the homes you might buy still have plenty of it. Neighbors will have bigger…

Rural living can be noisier than the suburbs. It depends on density, agriculture type, presence of commercial activity, etc. Where noise ordinances exist, they are generally more lenient outside city limits. In the USA, getting action against a noise nuisance is extremely difficult.

The quietest living experience I've had over the past decade has been a modern high-rise apartment in Korea. Between-unit noise insulation is good. If you are in a low-traffic area and high enough to be away from incidental street noise, you can have true silence most of the time. The only real threat to your peace is if you get clog dancers living above you.

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