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Noise is all around us

thewalrus.ca

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Re: Noise is all around us

#131

Post by weswilson »

blueridge wrote: post #62
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.

I second the Etymotic's earplugs suggestion. They are really great to have and pretty inexpensive. For around $20 you can get hearing protection that is great for cutting the grass, going to concerts, or just getting some peace and quiet around the house. Plus they're not the cheap disposable kind, so it's not a recurring purchase. You can just toss them in the carrying case and take them where you need them.

Re: Noise is all around us

#132

Post by ricardobayes »

jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

Many "grown-up" countries do care about this. This problem is non-existant in Austria, or Germany for the most part. Roadside police checks consist of decibel metering, which they are trained to use. They will impound the vehicle on the spot if its over the legal limit. Even race tracks have strict sound limits, the scrutineering process has a sound measurement part.

Re: Noise is all around us

#133

Post by lukego »

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…

In Switzerland it's forbidden to make noise on a Sunday. Mowing lawns and such has to be done some other day.

True also of conspicuous work that isn't noisy like hanging washing to dry outdoors.

Re: Noise is all around us

#134

Post by wizofaus »

lukego wrote: post #133
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…

In Switzerland it's forbidden to make noise on a Sunday. Mowing lawns and such has to be done some other day. True also of conspicuous work that isn't noisy like hanging washing to dry outdoors.

Surely that can't include manual mowers? I like the idea though.

Re: Noise is all around us

#135

Post by ricardobayes »

mise_en_place wrote: post #115
RivieraKid wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You missed the point.

You can call out hooliganism or whatever the bad behavior is without making ridiculous claims about how engine noise is somehow illegal. That not only detracts from the point, it makes the poster look sort of ridiculous.

People like you are the real destroyers of communities. You're doing nothing against the guidelines, but arguing "just because" and trolling. Your comments have added nothing of value to the discussion.

Re: Noise is all around us

#136

Post by tombert »

mise_en_place wrote: post #112
jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

Engine noise is due to fuel injection. Not sure how that’s illegal.

Sure but weren't mufflers invented specifically to address this? I think the OP is trying to talk about people who modify or remove mufflers in order to actively make their car louder.

Pretty much every car for the last thirty years has had fuel injection, but most of them aren't very loud.

Re: Noise is all around us

#137

Post by jimmytidey »

ricardobayes wrote: post #132
jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

Many "grown-up" countries do care about this. This problem is non-existant in Austria, or Germany for the most part. Roadside police checks consist of decibel metering, which they are trained to use. They will impound the vehicle on the spot if its over the legal limit. Even race tracks have strict sound limits, the scrutineering process has a sound measurement part.

This makes so much sense. I wish the UK would take the same approach.

Re: Noise is all around us

#138

Post by jimmytidey »

dan-robertson wrote: post #120
jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

I think there’s often a belief that louder motorcycles are safer because cars will be more likely to notice them. Though I think the small cheap engines in scoters or small bikes are loud because making them quieter would be more expensive.

I've heard the safety argument before and I find it astonishing. If you can't drive safely without making a noise audible from miles away, your vehicle isn't fit for the road. However this argument does hint at what bikers are often doing, which is racing on public roads and massively breaking speed limits.

I think modern scooters are also held to strict noise standards, the noisy ones have been made noisy deliberately.

Re: Noise is all around us

#139

Post by mikub »

ricardobayes wrote: post #132
jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

Many "grown-up" countries do care about this. This problem is non-existant in Austria, or Germany for the most part. Roadside police checks consist of decibel metering, which they are trained to use. They will impound the vehicle on the spot if its over the legal limit. Even race tracks have strict sound limits, the scrutineering process has a sound measurement part.

I can tell you this problem does exist(and is getting worse) in germany, and it's terrible. Calling the cops doesn't help, because they really don't care, I mean they even don't care anymore if cars are parking on the sidewalk. I live in a small "town" of around 10.000 people, I really can't imagine how bad it must be in bigger citys.

Re: Noise is all around us

#140

Post by citrin_ru »

dan-robertson wrote: post #120
jimmytidey wrote: post #111

In suburban London and the surrounding countryside, so much of the noise is caused by a handful of motorbikes that have been made deliberately, I think usually illegally, noisy. Stopping noisy vehicles would improve millions of people's lives and moderately upset a few thousand bikers. I have no idea why it isn't a more popular cause. One person doing laps of a built up area in their modified car is likely waking up…

I think there’s often a belief that louder motorcycles are safer because cars will be more likely to notice them. Though I think the small cheap engines in scoters or small bikes are loud because making them quieter would be more expensive.

And yet cyclists don't install loudspeakers so cars would notice them. A motorbike is more visible than a bicycle and can go with the flow speed so unless one drives dangerously it should be safer than cycling even without loud engine.
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