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The Sound of Silence: A Noise Map of the U.S.
- hirundo 5y agoThis is almost interchangeable with a light pollution map. E.g. http://www.cleardarksky.com/maps/lp/large_light_pollution_map.html http://www.cleardarksky.com/maps/lp/large_light_pollution_ma... Funny how often human effects on the environment correlate with human population density.
- jimmaswell 5y agoRelevant XKCD as always: https://xkcd.com/1138/ https://xkcd.com/1138/
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- joe-collins 5y agoIt might be more interesting to subtract one data set from the other, showing how much of the noise is human-induced? Perhaps there are some outliers.
- quesera 5y agoAbsent humans, this still applies: > The trend is higher sound levels in wetter areas with more vegetation. This is due to the sounds of wind blowing through vegetation, flowing water, and more animals (especially birds and frogs) vocalizing in more fertile locations.
- shmageggy 5y agoI find those sorts of natural sounds to be way less annoying and offensive than machine-originated sounds, even at equal decibel levels. Perhaps it’s because of a learned/cultural associations, but I’d bet there’s something inherently annoying to most manmade sounds, probably due to the periodic nature of motors, fans, etc. I’d be interested in the above suggested diff map showing (approximately) machine-originated sound levels.
- mdp2021 5y agoOne can already tell you some factors deductively (and verifiedly): it's not the density, it's the presence. Mass is phonoabsorbent; there where you have buildings, you have both noise from the inhabitants and shielding from the constructions. In the open spaces, one single source can pollute for even ten kilometers or five miles of distance, and more. The added effects of natural acoustics can be worsening - barkings bouncing in the echo from valley to valley, starting in front and returning behind etc.
- mdp2021 5y ago> Mass is phonoabsorbent Sorry, I was tired. I meant to write that mass is phono-insulant (stops the passage of noise), not phono-absorbent (would not reflect noise).
- 8bitsrule 5y agoI was noticing the same thing. Equally easy to pick out the major US cities. In the West, anyway ... where the lack of major oceanside cities above San Fran is especially notable. (Why is that?)
- kortilla 5y agoBeing next to the ocean up in the PNW sucks ass. Windy, misty cold for 10 months and then 7 weeks of windy and misty. You get 1 week of pleasant weather spread through the 7.
- KirillPanov 5y agoI tell people the exact same thing to keep them from moving here. It works! ;)
- hattmall 5y agoThat's what I found strange honestly. I don't know why but I always thought the west coast was great weather. But it sucks. Only southern California had ok weather, but even then the beaches weren't great and the water was cold in summer. The farther North it was like borderline miserable weather. I guess the weather comparison trope is based on New York and places that it snows a lot, but so much of the US has a far better climate than the west coast.
- KirillPanov 5y agoDepends on what kind of weather you like. Where I am it never ever gets hot and it gets below freezing maybe two or three nights a year. When it's warm it's never humid (dry summers) and the only time it's humid is when it rains, which happens pretty much all winter. I kinda like that. Nights are cool (55F or below) every night, even in the middle of summer, which makes for comfortable sleeping. The main downside IMO is the short days in the winter, but that's really latitude rather than weather.
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- mnw21cam 5y agoNot completely. Light pollution travels further than noise pollution.
- supperburg 5y agoI drove through Wyoming or someplace like that one time on a less traveled highway and stopped at a gas station. It was flat for as far as the eye could see in all directions and the utter silence that confronted me after stopping the car and getting out was jarring. Absolutely no sound. I remember pausing and taking note of it. Really made an impression on me.
- Cyphase 5y agoI went on a roadtrip once through the southwest US. The utter silence in many places was one of my favorite parts, as well as the many areas with flat scenery to the horizon. I would often stop at a good view – mapped or not – and just enjoy it, whether or not there was a slight wind at the time and place. It really is something to turn off your car, walk to a good spot, and feel for a moment like you might be the last person on Earth.
- scioxo 5y agoIt pains me that noise pollution isn't taken as seriously as other forms of environmental damage when it's the one that most directly impacts (urban) people's quality of life.
- tothrowaway 5y agoThe cars, trucks and motorcycles with booming exhaust pipes are insufferable. I despise hearing them revving by. I feel like I'm crazy for how much it bothers me. But then I read a story about a man shooting a driver who was just revving up and down his street, so I'm not alone. I spent a week in Helsinki, and was blown away by how quiet it was despite being far more dense than my city.
- twiddling 5y ago"Loud pipes save lives" ugh
- lotsofpulp 5y agoIf I was a cop, I would make it my sole mission to ticket each and every one all day long.
- tayo42 5y agoI dont get why police dont take quality of life crimes more seriously like that. Like if you have a noise problem there is no reason to call the police, they won't show up. What are we paying them for? To write up documents for crimes that happen after the fact?
- Inityx 5y agoIt's because the police serve the interests of the owning class, and so prioritize things such as corporate property damage and the ability for workers to get to their jobs.
- Turing_Machine 5y agoWeird that the National Park Service omits Alaska and Hawaii from their maps, especially given that Alaska has national parks that are larger than some entire states. Ah, well.
- jjtheblunt 5y agoMaybe it's just not an issue in either place?
- kortilla 5y agoProbably not in Alaska outside of anc but Oahu is an absolute zoo and has some of the worst traffic I’ve ever experienced. Noise would absolutely be a big issue there.
- MerelyMortal 5y agoThe DoT has a zoom-able noise pollution map that includes Alaska and Hawaii. They used to have a better map but it looks like it was replaced with this one: https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/ https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/
- Pxtl 5y agoRelated: Cities Aren't Loud, Cars are Loud https://youtu.be/CTV-wwszGw8 https://youtu.be/CTV-wwszGw8
- guidedlight 5y agoCorrection. Internal combustion engines are loud.
- vcxy 5y agoIt's been a long time since I watched that video, but I believe he makes the point that actually even electric cars are quite loud at speed. The noise from the tires is substantial.
- andbberger 5y agonah tires are quite loud
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- kortilla 5y agoNo, as someone who used to live next to an expressway (45-50 mph traffic), the problem is 95% tire noise. Modern cars not accelerating make very little noise from the ICE. The tires are like nails on a chalkboard to me after living that way for a 5 years. It cut through my apartment walls and morning rush hour served as a mandatory alarm clock. The only time engines were an issue were people with modded exhaust or people street racing (motorcycles or cars).
- authed 5y agoI guess it doesn't make a lot of sound to grow almonds with imported water...
- DougWebb 5y agoNot surprising that my area, 12 miles from NYC, is one of the noisiest places in the country. A little more surprising is that it's still the noisiest just from natural sources. Luckily, my tinnitus is noisier than both, so it doesn't matter where I live. I can't tell the difference.
- 2-718-281-828 5y ago> A little more surprising is that it's still the noisiest just from natural sources. What natural sources are so loud?
- mmahemoff 5y agoI'd love a "sound overlay" for regular maps such as GMaps. If people knew typical noise levels across the day and across the year, it would change everything about travel bookings and real estate searches. For something that has such a huge impact on wellbeing, it's incredible how little attention it gets, from governments to individuals.
- cheschire 5y agoThis is pretty close to what you're looking for, assuming you're in the US. https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/ https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/ Also for those interested in the data side: https://data-usdot.opendata.arcgis.com/ https://data-usdot.opendata.arcgis.com/
- w-ll 5y agoI find it interesting but not surprising how you can pretty much plot air ports and the in/out routes from this heat map. Also interesting things like Whiteman AFB, from the recent stealth bomber post, shows nothing.
- Anechoic 5y agoAlso interesting things like Whiteman AFB, from the recent stealth bomber post, shows nothing Those maps are generated by publicly available data (traffic, railway schedules, etc). In the case of airports/airbases, the data are generated with radar flight tracks. Military flight track data are often redacted (presumably because they can leak aircraft performance data) so it's not surprising that modeled noise from stealth aircraft was not calculated.
- kzrdude 5y agoThe default view doesn't show rail traffic, which also seems to add a lot of heat to the map. I haven't quite understood what the map is based on, but it says 24-hr LAeq - is this a 24-hour average or 24-hour max?
- isx726552 5y agoSee also the “One Square Inch of Silence” project, which identified and placed a marker signifying what it calls “very possibly the quietest place in the United States”: https://onesquareinch.org/ https://onesquareinch.org/ There are even audio recordings on the website which indicate the area is actually far from “silent”, but perhaps as close as possible to being absent if any sounds of human civilization.
- shrimpx 5y agoThis map and the light pollution map are virtually identical to the population density map. It’s a cool map but the data isn’t surprising at all.
- exegete 5y agoIt might be the scale that’s important though. An energy consumption map would be similar to population density but the scale probably changes over time (more energy efficient devices, etc). Also it would be interesting to see outliers - what areas don’t scale with population as much and why (policies, etc)?
- lettergram 5y agoI think it’s important to differentiate (as this website does) the human made noise from the natural. I love being in the woods / fields / lakes. Fishing, hunting, hiking, etc. when you’re out there for a while you realize how much noise there really is. I wish everyone could / would take a few days a month and just spend it in the the natural world. I feel revived after spending a day or two listening to the leaves blowing. As some have pointed out here, going back to civilization is hard. The noise doesn’t necessarily bother me on a conscious level, but it eats my focus and drains me throughout the day. Almost creating a tension, just from the constant sounds and being alert.
- BitAstronaut 5y agoMy partner works for the Forest Service and went to Colorado State University where they have what is called a Listening Lab.. pretty cool stuff. https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/soundandlightecologyteam/listening-lab/ https://sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu/soundandlightecologyte... > The Colorado State University Listening Lab was established in 2013 as a collaboration with the Natural Sounds & Night Skies Division of the National Park Service. The primary goal of the lab is to aid in the preservation and understanding of natural soundscapes by providing a resource to efficiently analyze the thousands of hours of acoustic data collected each year within parks, allowing park officials and scientists to promptly employ effective soundscape management decisions where needed. > The lab typically employs 5 to 10 well-trained undergraduate student listeners to analyze the acoustic data that our NPS Scientists & Research Associates record within national parks around the country. Many of our student listeners are also enrolled in the University Honors Program and use their time in the lab to complete their honors theses. These students have moved beyond basic data analysis and have explored how noise affects the natural world to produce the following theses:
- mdp2021 5y ago> [Natural] noise ... I love [it ...] out there [...] you realize how much noise there really is It's because you are healthy. After an indigestion of artificial noise, even natural noise becomes an issue, unbearable. If you "break" after the "artificial" (more, "unnatural"), you will be compromised for the natural.
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- sitkack 5y agoPaging Gordon Hempton https://www.soundtracker.com/ https://www.soundtracker.com/
- fersho311 5y agoIs there a similar map for light pollution? I’m excited Ben trying to find a good place around me to look at the stars at night, just got into stargazing.
- gibspaulding 5y agoThis one is nice: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info https://www.lightpollutionmap.info https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26915536 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26915536
- fersho311 5y agoThank you
- srl 5y agoI've used https://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#4/39.00/-98.00 https://darksitefinder.com/maps/world.html#4/39.00/-98.00
- fersho311 5y agoThank you
- i13e 5y agoTo all those suffering from noise pollution: go to the hardware store and buy foam weatherstripping for your doors and windows in your room experiencing the noise pollution. Door sweeps, white noise machines, and earplugs also help significantly. Cheap, easy, and high ROI. Other than that buy IEMs, for noise reduction I recommend the Etymotic ER2SE or the Sony WF-1000XM4 if you want wireless noise cancelling IEMs
- mdp2021 5y ago> earplugs Can be unhealthy. Earmuffs seem to be as effective and, while you can still get damaged (risk of suction), it's difficult. Issue: earplugs and earmuffs are designed to reduce noise, not to cancel it - to facilitate that you don't get damage from a bang but can still faintly but clearly hear your colleague calling "watch out". And, reduction in background noise amplifies the impactive - not in absolute but in relative amplitude, not in vibrational strength but in presence.
- genewitch 5y agoI can't use noise cancelling headphones, at least on-ear and over-ear. I've never liked earbuds/IEM, so I never test them. However, active earmuffs are amazing. I had my favorite pair finally give out, they had FM radio and an aux jack, but we're not active. It was fun to run a chipper and listen to a podcast, for instance. For things I want hearing protection I have 4 choices now. The industry standard earplugs, which are foam that you roll and insert - Howard Leight, passive cans style muffs - generic, generic aviator style muffs with active microphones, and a fancy pair of Howard Leight active muffs. The active ones are amazing. I can't believe I waited so long. I live someplace so quiet now that I have to run fans or I can't sleep. The silence feels like a huge weight. When there's a widespread power outage I barely get any sleep, for example. I don't know that I could ever live near a thoroughfare ever again, for any amount of money.
- tomerbd 5y agoWhat is "active earmuffs"?
- harrydehal 5y agoFor Americans, there is also an [interactive] traffic noise map from US DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics: https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/ https://maps.dot.gov/BTS/NationalTransportationNoiseMap/
- 0x38B 5y ago> across the country I guess Alaska didn’t make the cut. The woods and their quiet are never far away here. While cross country skiing, I often stop to listen to the wind and take in the mountains. After living in a metropolis where noise was a constant, I appreciate the peace and calm of nature, far from cars and planes and other human noise-makers.
- 4oh9do 5y agoIs there a way to map this data to a map which shows US states/cities so it is a bit easier to tell what's what?
- f35throwaway 5y agoMy house is pretty quiet, except on occasion a jet or two flies overhead at around 1000 feet. They used to fly the FA-18, but have recently transitioned to the F-35. I believe, from personal experience, that the F-35 is quite a bit louder. I've seen inconsistent reports on the web though. They're doing construction on a bunch of new houses closer to the base. The planes fly lower than 1000 feet there. Part of the new development's area is deemed uninhabitable because of the bases noise study. So they put commercial developments (restaurants, shops, etc.) in that area. I don't want to sound like a NIMBY, and I think building housing is more important, but it was interesting seeing how sound studies and regulation works. Also looking to see if the future residents will be complaining about the noise.
- kubafu 5y agoI often have this thought of how different the world sounded when combustion engines (cars, motorcycles, planes, tractors, etc) weren't ubiquitous. I happily grew up in the 80s in a place (communist Poland, so rather small car ownership) with very little artificial noise, but that is gone now. How was it hundreds of years ago?
- spockz 5y agoI’m not sure whether the clatter of (ironed) hooves on cobblestone combined with the carriage wheels on stone plus the grind of the axles was so much quieter. It’s just that there are so many more sources of sound around us within our daily habitat that it is hard too escape it. Even in our relatively quiet city life (no heavy industry) people already seem adapted that they have trouble sleeping in our country side where it is relatively dark and quiet.
- kubafu 5y agoI think you are right, it probably wasn't. Since people are good at adapting then "new normal" for them is the noisy world. On the other hand, a place I currently live in, almost no one keeps horses, cows, chickens etc, anymore, which are audible. Only a handful of dogs which love to bark. When every household was a private farm it had to be much louder around here! It's not as simple as I thought.
- pkdpic 5y agoThis is a really reassuring resource for those times when it feels like the walls are closing in. I will say though after living in the middle of the desert for the better part of a decade the silence (more mental / social than literal) did start to make me crazy. Not like manic or anxious crazy but more out of sync with the world of the living and the bearing on time. It was tempting but luckily I needed to find more stable work. Oddly now that I'm back in a dense urban area its quieter in a lot of ways too in terms of barking dogs and generally loud neighbors. Much denser but different etiquette maybe. Its an interesting phenomena that Ive observed pretty consistently. That said the comments here seem to be more centered on wilderness silence not urban vs rural silence. But it got me thinking.
- fortran77 5y agoI get odd looks, but for large parts of the day at the office I wear 3M hearing protectors like this: https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/p/d/b00037383/ https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en_GB/p/d/b00037383/ I just like _quiet_ and there are so many things around that make noise.
- joshspankit 5y agoIf you attach a “headphone” cable the odd looks will practically go away
- Daub 5y agoOne abiding memory I have is visiting a desert in the Middle East. Sitting on top of a hill, looking over the flat landscape, there was no evidence of human habitation as far as the eye could see. More remarkable was the complete silence…, no wind, no sound of birds… nothing at all. The overwhelming impression was that I was in the middle of a huge stage. Sublime.
- joshspankit 5y agoAnyone else notice this? > Also, it is not feasible for NSNSD to collect samples at all park sites within a reasonable time. Therefore, NSNSD created a geospatial model that predicts soundscapes in parks across the nation. Doesn’t that defeat the intent of measuring?
- h2odragon 5y agoCicada not included. I live in one of the quietest places available in the southeast. When I got into towns the pressure of the people sounds is noticeable. Even if Im there early when its actually quiet and everybody's asleep, its a different environment where your heartbeat echos too loud and the mice move quietly instead of rustling the leaves. Its not that quiet in the woods, as others have said, its just a different set of noises and a different feel and extent to how they propagate. My wife can't tell a difference between the coyotes singing close to us or a mile away down the valley. With the exception of the pine plantations. Big patches of pine can get spooky quiet; they muffle sound well, coat the ground with needles that dont say much, and few things really party there. Woodpeckers punctuate the afternoon.