> Anything loud/penetrating enough to be heard by workers in the immediate area will also be heard by non-workers a great distance away. Yes except not all noi

> Anything loud/penetrating enough to be heard by workers in the immediate area will also be heard by non-workers a great distance away. Yes except not all noises are created equal. A white noise is very different from a single frequency noise and much less disturbing. After all many people even use white noise to block other type of aggravating noises. Here in Montréal all snow removal vehicles are equipped with a white noise backup alarm. It's snowing a lot in winter, so you have huge snow plows that might back up at any time in the middle of an intersection with pedestrians with earphones not paying attention, and I can say first hand that you cannot miss that noise when it's nearby. While at the same time when they are removing snow one block away from my place, you can still hear it but it doesn't prevent you from sleeping. This type of backing alarm has been approved as safe on construction sites by many places. In Canada at least its very commonly used. e.g: https://www.heavyequipmentguide.ca/article/24957/backup-alarm-being-replaced-more-frequently-with-white-noise-by-bc-businesses https://www.heavyequipmentguide.ca/article/24957/backup-alar...