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Noise is all around us

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Re: Noise is all around us

#101

Post by brewdad »

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.

I live about 2 miles from a regional airport. Normal flight patterns mean I rarely hear planes flying in or out. Occasionally, when the winds require a different pattern I’ll hear a 20 seater jet.

Air shows. Ugh. Nothing but the loudest, most obnoxious airplanes ever made circling over my house for 4 days straight. At least we’re done for 2023. Time to figure out when next year’s show is so I can be out of town.

Re: Noise is all around us

#102

Post by enugu »

There is a yoga kriya I learnt called "Dura Shravana"(Far Hearing) which is meant to help one zone out of the surrounding sounds and maintain focus. What one does is to place attention on the farthest sound from one's self then successively move to closer sounds in order culminating in the sound of one's breathing. And then, mentally recall the sounds in order. (For example, ambient background subtle sounds, car on road, bird outside window, neighbours door, the fridge, the breath). With practice, surrounding sounds dont affect you. If someone is interested, I can send a link to a teaching video. It is meant to be practiced after doing the alternate nostril pranayama as it enhances the effects of the pranayama.

Re: Noise is all around us

#103

Post by seszett »

gpm wrote: post #52
GuB-42 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends, rolling noise is more important at high speed, but engine noise is more important at slow speeds. If you are next to a highway, it probably won't make a difference, but if you live in a city with a lot of slow traffic, it will. Also, mopeds, even unmodified ones are way too loud, especially for the speed they are going.

For sufficiently low speeds, yes. The crossover point is not high. Something like 30km/h . Edit: Source https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Propulsion-noise-the-tyr...

30 km/h is the maximum speed allowed in many cities (and a growing number of them) and even in cities where 50 km/h is allowed, the average speed is apparently around 30 km/h when traffic is minimal (in France, according to [0]) and 15 km/h otherwise. I think it's safe to say that electric cars reduce noise in cities, in fact I can observe it every day myself from my house.

[0] https://www.francetvinfo.fr/replay-radio/le-vrai-du-faux/une...

Re: Noise is all around us

#104

Post by qup »

megablast wrote: post #85
state_less wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The quietest place I've ever experienced is out on the ocean, after a calm, anchored on the great Bahamas bank. A stillness came over us as we shut the engine off and listened to the vast nothing.

I live on a boat in a river next to the botanic gardens. Such a quiet place. I am not sure I can move back on land. Cars. Lawn mowers. Ugh.

My dad's house is next to a lake, I could never live there. Bass boats are constantly passing at full throttle, even before dawn.

Re: Noise is all around us

#105

Post by runeb »

tornato7 wrote: post #63
runeb wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Agreed, dish stacking physically hurts! There is a fine balance though, as with hyperacusis wearing hearing protection can make the problem worse as your sensitivity to sound can increase. Also makes the tinnitus seem worse. I will admit to putting in my custom earplugs when I unload the dish washer, however.

Re: Noise is all around us

#106

Post by scruple »

cableshaft wrote: post #75

I'll probably never have proper quiet again, as since 2019 I've got permanent Tinnitus in one ear. I can ignore it sometimes, and I can sometimes cover it up a bit with ambient noise like waves or out in nature, but it's always there. Not sure what caused it. Predates Covid so it's not that. Might have been working in an open office that always had 4-6 conversations going and I had play music on headphones loud enoug…

I drove over a mountain pass at 6,000 feet yesterday twice. Last night, after getting home, I say down to read and there was a noise in my right ear. It sounded digital in nature and was repeating. It was unnerving, I couldn't concentrate at all once I perceived it. My kids have a white noise device that they sleep with, so I commandeered it so that I could read a bit longer. That helped, but it was still there when I went to bed. It took me 30+ minutes to fall asleep, again it was very distracting.

Today, I woke up with a lot of pressure in my right ear and nothing I did helped. The sound was gone, however, so I was thankful for that much. The pressure lasted until dinner.

Tinnitus frightens me a bit. I'm sure that I'll be dealing with it eventually and I don't know how people can get along with it for years or decades without going completely mad.

Re: Noise is all around us

#107

Post by [deleted] »

blueridge wrote: post #60

Hans Magnus Enzensberger, The Future of Luxury (1998): Attention. This, too, is a scarce commodity, with all the media competing bitterly for a piece. Watching the melee of money and politics, sports and art, technology, and advertising, leaves little attention leftover. Only the person who turns his back on these overbearing claims on his attention and turns off the roar of the channels can decide for himself what i…

[deleted]

Re: Noise is all around us

#108

Post by yshklarov »

enugu wrote: post #102

There is a yoga kriya I learnt called "Dura Shravana"(Far Hearing) which is meant to help one zone out of the surrounding sounds and maintain focus. What one does is to place attention on the farthest sound from one's self then successively move to closer sounds in order culminating in the sound of one's breathing. And then, mentally recall the sounds in order. (For example, ambient background subtle sounds, car on r…

I'd love to see the teaching video!

Re: Noise is all around us

#109

Post by shrx »

gpm wrote: post #52
GuB-42 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends, rolling noise is more important at high speed, but engine noise is more important at slow speeds. If you are next to a highway, it probably won't make a difference, but if you live in a city with a lot of slow traffic, it will. Also, mopeds, even unmodified ones are way too loud, especially for the speed they are going.

For sufficiently low speeds, yes. The crossover point is not high. Something like 30km/h . Edit: Source https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Propulsion-noise-the-tyr...

That's why electric cars are required to emit an artificial noise when driving under 30 km/h to alert the visually impaired pedestrians. The Renault Zoe car makes a very strange noise, almost like an alien flying saucer from a 60s movie.

Re: Noise is all around us

#110

Post by toadi »

I never live without noise. Not thanks to what is around me but due to tinnitus.

It is just background noise for me. But have friends where they are more disturbed by it...

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