12 ms·

The Effects of Noise on Health (2022)

PuppyTailWags 3y ago
I'm always curious: what is the effect of noise on the noise producers? As much as I have a disdain for leafblowers, and as much as I absolutely despise people who play bass-heavy music at night, why don't they suffer the same ill effects and heart issues as the people they subject noise to?
- 1970-01-01 3y ago
  They do?
  - Anechoic 3y ago
    I don't know why you're being downvoted, but you're correct - they do.
    - monktastic1 3y ago
      It's not as simple as "they do" or "they don't." They seem to suffer less, and there are interesting reasons for that. GP is being downvoted because "they do?" is not a particularly helpful response.
- monktastic1 3y ago
  I'm not sure of the answer, but it's generally the case that things affect us much more negatively when we have no control over them and feel at their mercy. I haven't read TFA to see if they controlled for this, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was actually the majority of the problem. Edit: > Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. It would be great to do a study where people learn a technique like meditation to be less "bothered" by noise and see how that affects their biomarkers.
- emerongi 3y ago
  I used to live in an apartment where the upstairs neighbour would just randomly start trampling super hard. If it had been a constant noise - like the cars driving outside - my brain would probably have gotten accustomed to it. It seemed to me like it was agitating because it was at random times, when I wasn't expecting it. When I turn on the bass, I am in control. I can turn it on when I don't have anything important going on and I can always turn it off. That makes the bass enjoyable. If it's somebody else's bass, then I don't know when it starts, when it ends and whether it will interrupt me. That's the source of frustration for me. I'm generally fine with monotonous background noise, as long as it's not too loud. There's probably still some subtle passive effect on my health, but I can live with that.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- coldtea 3y ago
  Who said they don't? That said, one difference is also that they do use their leaf blowers after they wake up first or are in the mood to do it, so they're not disturbing their own sleep or quiet time.
- cesnja 3y ago
  They wear earmuffs and aren't trying to sleep, respectively.
knocknock 3y ago
Any dangers in using a loud White Noise machine? We use it everyday for our baby.
- mpreda 3y ago
  Maybe it would be prudent to set it to less loud pending a definite answer to your question.
- hawski 3y ago
  My kid sleeps with some kind of white/brown noise since being around 2 years old. The child psychologist we went to with, now, the 6 year old recommended us to try to eliminate the noise. She seems to need it to fall asleep, but around midnight it should be easier, but we still have ups and downs with it. The psychologist said that it is a kind of a strain for the nervous system as it is kept being stimulated (at least that's how I understood and tried to translate it to English).
- ttpphd 3y ago
  So long as it is 75 dB SPL or softer in intensity, you should be fine. You may want to consider acclimating your baby to be able to tolerate sleeping without the machine or with the machine at a softer volume. This can help set better sleeping habits in the long term.
- jodi 3y ago
  Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman covered some science behind exposure to white noise during development/using white noise machines with babies in his episode "The Science of Hearing, Balance & Accelerated Learning". Its nuanced, but he says there is some evidence it can be detrimental to a baby's brain/auditory system if used for long periods of time. https://youtu.be/JVRyzYB9JSY?t=3351 https://youtu.be/JVRyzYB9JSY?t=3351
- goodpoint 3y ago
  Whaat?! Don't do it.
tppiotrowski 3y ago
> Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. This is due to stress. I have wondered for a long time how increased education contributes to cardio vascular risk as we are learning things to avoid and when we encounter them cortisol spikes. This could be red meat or sugar or UV rays or lack of sleep or lack of exercise or in this case too much noise etc.
- pen2l 3y ago
  The average homo sapiens about a thousand generations ago faced greater adversity than what almost any of us has faced, particularly in raw nature where predators roamed. What were the cortisol levels like for that average homo sapiens? We were always tribal and social animals, so I wonder if the security from communal living played a very important role in moderating stress and building resilience.
  - ekanes 3y ago
    Sort of. Now your cortisol could spike because of all kinds of things, none of which you can SEE. That's usually called anxiety. Back thousands of generations ago, if you were high on a rock by your cave with a good view, you knew you were safe. Carrying this forward, we humans will have to work on better systems, because it's about to get worse/weirder. Our brains aren't designed to be good at detecting lies visually -- we have mental processes for speech, but visually, what you saw was always real. Now with AI in the mix, it's gonna get... messy.
    - RC_ITR 3y ago
      >if you were high on a rock by your cave with a good view, you knew you were safe. But you also knew that you had to go on the hunt again tomorrow.
      - just-ok 3y ago
        So do you: it’s called a job. And you still have to worry about traffic/accidents, performing well, getting fired or laid off, getting berated by customers/clients/bosses, plus any number of additional anxiety-inducing events. Most of us would probably still take that trade, though: at least sitting all day kills you slowly relative to a mountain lion.
neilv 3y ago
Related: Nearly 20% Adults May Have Misophonia – Significant Negative Responses to Sounds (neurosciencenews.com) 65 points by bookofjoe 29 days ago 98 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35317452 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35317452
jmugan 3y ago
I wonder if when you take affects like this into account if it really is safer to have large machines go "beep beep beep" in a warning that can be heard a kilometer away.
virtualwhys 3y ago
Perhaps a similar study could be done in, say, India. I'm not sure if it's due to their being used to loud/disturbing noise , or if Indians in general have some kind of ongoing inner Zen, but the amount of noise that the general population seems to completely ignore (e.g. a vehicle loudly and continuously honking right behind you as you walk) is really quite impressive. I remember eating dinner at a restaurant in Rishikesh one night in a quiet remote-ish area. There were some workers about to unload a truck, and just in front of them on the restaurant grounds was a multi-generational Indian family all together enjoying their meal. I saw two of the workers casually hurl this big piece of sheet metal onto a metal trailer, resulting in a massive clash of ear piercing noise that the family somehow just ignored, not a head turn of annoyance (as would be typical in the west), just continue the conversation without skipping a beat -- amazing.
- droopyEyelids 3y ago
  India's life expectancy is almost 10% shorter than the USA's (70 vs 77)
  - pfannkuchen 3y ago
    I really wish life expectancy was more granular and included a number with, like, deaths due to risky behavior filtered out. Judging by the internet I get the impression that things like "falling off the top of a train" are much more common there than in some other more risk averse and lower bravado places, and it's hard to tell how much that impacts life expectancy vs other lifestyle and environmental factors.
  - dan-robertson 3y ago
    Those numbers are surprising to me. I would expect a much bigger difference considering the difference in wealth.
- mhb 3y ago
  > a similar study Similar to what? This article is the magazine's feature content editor writing about how he doesn't like loud noise.
bedobi 3y ago
this article about noise really resonates with me (pun intended) in my most recent neighborhoods (newly constructed multi use ones) * my neighbors would have all-night parties * people would revv and race their modded sports cars and hogs up and down driveways and the street (residential culdesac) at all hours of the day and night * teams of leaf blowering maintenance workers walked around during the day * an open air venue opened across the street. they had loud, bass heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake, and drunk people screaming, fighting and loitering past closing time (3am) * a cross fit gym opened across the street. they also played loud, bass heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake, with cargo doors open and trainers and clients screaming and doing intervals in the street (they opened at 5am) * a bbq restaurant opened across the street. it had a vent that released basically unfiltered smog around the clock. it made it impossible to be on the balcony or keep windows open, and it quickly built up a brown, sticky residue on surrounding buildings. EDIT here is a recording of one of the vents https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxNBn5LGkZBCQc9o6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxNBn5LGkZBCQc9o6 note that right above it are the residential balconies and windows of the same building - would you want to live there? + you didn't need to live in that building to get the "benefits", the smog was generously distributed all over the neighborhood and came inside and made the clothes inside your closet smell even if your windows were closed needless to say, it's impossible to function while living in such an environment, so I moved, only to find the new neighborhoods also plagued by the same things. (in case anyone is wondering, this was Broadbeach, Newstead and West End QLD Australia) me I'm a hardcore YIMBY. I want to live in a mixed use urban environment with entertainment, exercise, restaurant and everything you need around. but it becomes impossible if it's 24-7. common sense hours like 08:00-22:00 would be good. oh and breathable air. many residents asked council and state government especially about the hours of operation of the venues (if bars play music until 3 and gyms at 5, when are we supposed to sleep?) and the unfiltered smog coming from the vents (100% hazardous levels, especially since it's all day every day long term), but they said all of it was OK.
- dalmo3 3y ago
  I see so many people leaving NZ for Australia nowadays, and friends ask me if I'm going too. I live 5 min from Wellington CBD, and apart from buses or the occasional construction work it's deafening silence. Anecdotes like this make me feel so lucky.
Jeff_Brown 3y ago
I've heard many times in Colombia that it's customary to accustom babies to noise when they sleep. Also people love their subwoofers here, and partying until dawn. I bought an apartment in a community with a huge fraction of old people to escape that. I've seen people here sleep through experiences I could barely think during. Even my own brain appears to have acclimated somewhat, though. Last week I got some nice noise-canceling headphones, and each time I take them off I'm shocked to realize how noisy the environment is, unless I'm at home. (Actually even at home, when I'm running the air filter, to protect myself from a different kind of pollution ...)
- dahwolf 3y ago
  You forgot to include Colombian smartphone usage: max volume on speaker, then play videos and make phone calls.
sylware 3y ago
And social acceptance? I have been suffering from chronic parastesia... which I can _hear_! Falling to sleep and focus are challenges everyday. No pause, no break, no cease fire.
tayo42 3y ago
I feel like there's some kind do difference with noise tolerance between either culture or class. Hard to say, in the US foreign culture tends to be lower economic class.
- throwaway22032 3y ago
  There's a big connection between any form of externality tolerance and class IME. I don't mind noisy DIY work, older cars polluting, parties on the weekend. It means that I can do them too. As long as it's not preventing people from sleeping on work days I don't see the problem to be honest.
ternaryoperator 3y ago
I've long felt that the truest luxury in today's world is silence.
- slfnflctd 3y ago
  Unfortunately, that luxury is out of reach for people with permanent tinnitus, along with those of us who are hyper-aware of the sounds of our own bodies. I'll likely always prefer some amount of white noise to a totally silent space. A smooth-running fan has regenerative properties for me. Up to certain thresholds, I can turn that fan up to drown out the majority of whatever noise might be going on outside my room or building. It's helpful to be able to disconnect and float in your cocoon, whether for work, play, meditation or sleep.
  - ternaryoperator 3y ago
    I have tinnitus. And I feel that silence id the only true luxury. When I am in an environment that is so quiet that the only thing I hear is the hum of my tinnitus, I feel very much at peace.
- ryanblakeley 3y ago
  That definitely stands out to me about nicer homes. It's amazing to be able to open the windows or be in the garden and only hear wind and animals, and still be near shops and stuff.
JCM9 3y ago
A lot of this boils down to the need for better zoning and stricter controls on what happens where when. Forces today are pulling things in other directions… build houses everywhere, even in places where it makes no sense to build houses. We’re seeing things like former green belts around airports now being turned into housing developments. There were no houses there in large part because of noise. Now developers move in and build big developments there with new residents screaming about how bad the noise is. Can’t make it up.
- RC_ITR 3y ago
  The above is because more desirable places to live have been zoned for no new housing. Stricter zoning isn’t the answer. Looser zoning is.
wantlotsofcurry 3y ago
How do y'all deal with determining what noise levels you'd have to endure when purchasing a new home/renting a new apartment?
- averageValentin 3y ago
  I try to determine where the main sources of noise are and I ask about the insulation of the apartment (double glazing, thickness of the walls, the front door ...) with some experiences you will be able to determine your level of acceptance
albertgt 3y ago
I wear noise cancelling headphones to sleep. When I wake up I feel immensely better, I recommend it!
- pawelduda 3y ago
  What model? Mine wouldn't probably last all night. And I assume you mean earbuds? Do you think there's a meaningful advantage over using quality ear plugs?
- dotancohen 3y ago
  A recent HN thread described how noise cancelling headphones may cause tinnitus. You might want to research that.
- navigate8310 3y ago
  I would like to know more about this. Do you suggest wearing plugs made for music concerts? Or they are completely different?
  - accrual 3y ago
    I wear earplugs every night. I personally can't imagine wearing actual noise cancelling headphones which would prevent me from moving freely and requiring a charge every night. But good quality earplugs (e.g. from Etymotic, Downbeats, or Loop) make a world of sleep quality difference, especially when paired with a sleep mask.
spacemadness 3y ago
And many America cities flat out refuse to contain construction noise. As someone very sensitive to noise, it strikes me as pure stupidity and barbaric in how we construct buildings and fix our cities with no consideration of its effects. People act like they aren’t effected but most people seem quite out of touch with what actually effects their moods and stress levels.
- decafninja 3y ago
  Many US cities and town permit construction to happen at relatively early hours - like 6 or 7 AM. That’s usually not a problem if you’re a 9-5er. It is a massive problem if you work late shifts. My wife works in the restaurant business and 6 or 7 AM she’s still deep asleep. We had construction near our condo for nearly three years where spring, summer, and fall the jackhammers started at around a little before 7 every weekday. It was brutal for her. That, plus various other issues, lead us to decide our next home is going to be a quiet single family home in a suburb. Yes - a suburb!
NKosmatos 3y ago
A fully detached house, with good soundproof insulation and with a surrounding garden with trees and bushes is the best solution for people wanting a quiet place. I find it strange that in our modern houses the “weak” sound is so difficult to get blocked, whereas the “powerful” light can be easily kept out.
ThatGeoGuy 3y ago
An addendum to the posted article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8 Cities aren't loud; motor vehicles are. Tire noise near heavy stroads and highways are in particular egregious offenders. There's a lot of other points in the comments about some other urban nuisances (leaf blowers, anyone?) but I encourage anyone to walk around (yes, walk) while measuring the ambient noise levels with your smartphone's microphone. It will be extremely obvious where the noise is coming from. This is an often misunderstood part of "the war on cars:" the stress gained from additional constant noise (e.g. like a highway) takes YEARS off our lives. And don't get me started on how loud shops are in North America. For whatever reason they seem to always keep the volume three or four levels above comfortable, making it much harder to have a conversation without shouting at least a little. It wasn't until I started traveling a lot that I started to notice any of this. You can have your quiet part of town, but often you get to your quiet part of town by driving through the noisiest part of town where a good number of people live and work.
- drukenemo 3y ago
  I’d say construction work is a close second offender in any major city with high population density.
  - Arrath 3y ago
    By necessity, unfortunately. Loud diesel engines, jackhammers and rock breakers that require workers to have hearing protection, all anchored by an undercurrent of backup alarms that must pierce the rest of the din and the hearing protection to be audible to the workers.
    - decafninja 3y ago
      Many US cities and towns permit construction to happen at relatively early hours - like 6 or 7 AM. That’s usually not a problem if you’re a 9-5er. It is a massive problem if you work late shifts. My wife works in the restaurant business and 6 or 7 AM she’s still deep asleep. We had construction near our condo for nearly three years where spring, summer, and fall the jackhammers started at around a little before 7 every weekday. It was brutal for her. That, plus various other issues, lead us to decide our next home is going to be a quiet single family home in a suburb. Yes - a suburb!
moremetadata 3y ago
[dead]
wenc 3y ago
My stress levels decreased after getting a pair of AirPods Pro 2. It literally creates a cone of silence around me. I wish there was something similar I could wear during sleep comfortably. I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less restful with them in. I suspect they either make my inside noises more noticeable or block airflow during night time breathing. I guess the other more expensive solution is to move to an apartment facing a courtyard rather than the streets or to get heavy noise blocking curtains. I know Bose used to make noise canceling sleep buds but I’m not sure how well they work. Since they’re discontinued I’m guessing not well.
- jffhn 3y ago
  >I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less restful with them in. Earplugs also tend to cause noise when you move your jaw, or even just slightly move your head. I use Peltor X4A noise reduction earmuffs, with only the top of the head on the cushion when I'm on the side, that's the best I could find (its very dense foam makes it much better than a lot of earmuffs, also it's passive so no need for batteries). You can also combine earmuffs with earplugs, it improves the reduction a little bit (can't do magic with some of the sound going through the body anyway), but you shouldn't need it unless your place is very noisy. Peltor X5A is a bit better but much larger, so with it it's best to lay on the back. With such good protection you might not ear your alarm clock, so instead you might want to use vibrate phone alarm with the phone in your pocket.
  - wenc 3y ago
    I’m a side sleeper and earmuffs press against the side of my head which might not work so well for me but thanks. And good point about the alarm clock — I wear an Apple Watch to bed for sleep monitoring so my alarm is haptic. It works great.
- jallbrit 3y ago
  I am a sensitive sleeper and after waking up from loud sounds and roommates for a while, I got Loop Quiet earplugs (I wear the smallest size), and I’ve been wearing them every night. Occasionally I pull them out during my sleep but they stay in very well and are definitely effective. I sleep much better now. I would recommend them.
mhb 3y ago
I don't like leafblowers and other loud noises either, but isn't this article pretty thin soup? "Stephanie Dutchen is manager of feature content and multimedia in the HMS Office of Communications and External Relations."
DoreenMichele 3y ago
Urban sprawl and deforestation destroy natural carbon absorption reservoirs while removing natural sound buffers... Conversely, certain climate mitigation strategies such as creating green spaces in concrete jungles offer opportunities to muffle noise. Yeah, we need to up our game on making better places and it needs to be a holistic approach. Re the stuff about heart health and noise sensitivity: Magnesium deficiency can cause noise sensitivity. Magnesium is also critical to heart function, specifically the ability to keep the beat. Furthermore, noise causes physical vibrations much like the beat of the heart, which is something you can listen for in a patient. Armies historically marched to the beat of a drum because you can feel the vibrations even if you can't really hear it over the din of war. You can put a baby to sleep by calming yourself and then holding them in your arms. The beat of your heart will not only set the pace for theirs, it will lend their heart some of your energy, making it easier for them and helping them to relax. Given the constructive ways vibrations can impact us, it should be no surprise that vibrations from noise can also negatively impact the heart.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

I'm always curious: what is the effect of noise on the noise producers? As much as I have a disdain for leafblowers, and as much as I absolutely despise people who play bass-heavy music at night, why don't they suffer the same ill effects and heart issues as the people they subject noise to?

1970-01-01 3y ago
They do?
- Anechoic 3y ago
  I don't know why you're being downvoted, but you're correct - they do.
  - monktastic1 3y ago
    It's not as simple as "they do" or "they don't." They seem to suffer less, and there are interesting reasons for that. GP is being downvoted because "they do?" is not a particularly helpful response.
monktastic1 3y ago
I'm not sure of the answer, but it's generally the case that things affect us much more negatively when we have no control over them and feel at their mercy. I haven't read TFA to see if they controlled for this, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was actually the majority of the problem. Edit: > Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. It would be great to do a study where people learn a technique like meditation to be less "bothered" by noise and see how that affects their biomarkers.
emerongi 3y ago
I used to live in an apartment where the upstairs neighbour would just randomly start trampling super hard. If it had been a constant noise - like the cars driving outside - my brain would probably have gotten accustomed to it. It seemed to me like it was agitating because it was at random times, when I wasn't expecting it. When I turn on the bass, I am in control. I can turn it on when I don't have anything important going on and I can always turn it off. That makes the bass enjoyable. If it's somebody else's bass, then I don't know when it starts, when it ends and whether it will interrupt me. That's the source of frustration for me. I'm generally fine with monotonous background noise, as long as it's not too loud. There's probably still some subtle passive effect on my health, but I can live with that.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
coldtea 3y ago
Who said they don't? That said, one difference is also that they do use their leaf blowers after they wake up first or are in the mood to do it, so they're not disturbing their own sleep or quiet time.
cesnja 3y ago
They wear earmuffs and aren't trying to sleep, respectively.

knocknock 3y ago

Any dangers in using a loud White Noise machine? We use it everyday for our baby.

mpreda 3y ago
Maybe it would be prudent to set it to less loud pending a definite answer to your question.
hawski 3y ago
My kid sleeps with some kind of white/brown noise since being around 2 years old. The child psychologist we went to with, now, the 6 year old recommended us to try to eliminate the noise. She seems to need it to fall asleep, but around midnight it should be easier, but we still have ups and downs with it. The psychologist said that it is a kind of a strain for the nervous system as it is kept being stimulated (at least that's how I understood and tried to translate it to English).
ttpphd 3y ago
So long as it is 75 dB SPL or softer in intensity, you should be fine. You may want to consider acclimating your baby to be able to tolerate sleeping without the machine or with the machine at a softer volume. This can help set better sleeping habits in the long term.
jodi 3y ago
Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman covered some science behind exposure to white noise during development/using white noise machines with babies in his episode "The Science of Hearing, Balance & Accelerated Learning". Its nuanced, but he says there is some evidence it can be detrimental to a baby's brain/auditory system if used for long periods of time. https://youtu.be/JVRyzYB9JSY?t=3351 https://youtu.be/JVRyzYB9JSY?t=3351
goodpoint 3y ago
Whaat?! Don't do it.

tppiotrowski 3y ago

> Researchers have found that the more people are bothered by noise, the greater the health risks they face from it. This is due to stress. I have wondered for a long time how increased education contributes to cardio vascular risk as we are learning things to avoid and when we encounter them cortisol spikes. This could be red meat or sugar or UV rays or lack of sleep or lack of exercise or in this case too much noise etc.

pen2l 3y ago
The average homo sapiens about a thousand generations ago faced greater adversity than what almost any of us has faced, particularly in raw nature where predators roamed. What were the cortisol levels like for that average homo sapiens? We were always tribal and social animals, so I wonder if the security from communal living played a very important role in moderating stress and building resilience.
- ekanes 3y ago
  Sort of. Now your cortisol could spike because of all kinds of things, none of which you can SEE. That's usually called anxiety. Back thousands of generations ago, if you were high on a rock by your cave with a good view, you knew you were safe. Carrying this forward, we humans will have to work on better systems, because it's about to get worse/weirder. Our brains aren't designed to be good at detecting lies visually -- we have mental processes for speech, but visually, what you saw was always real. Now with AI in the mix, it's gonna get... messy.
  - RC_ITR 3y ago
    >if you were high on a rock by your cave with a good view, you knew you were safe. But you also knew that you had to go on the hunt again tomorrow.
    - just-ok 3y ago
      So do you: it’s called a job. And you still have to worry about traffic/accidents, performing well, getting fired or laid off, getting berated by customers/clients/bosses, plus any number of additional anxiety-inducing events. Most of us would probably still take that trade, though: at least sitting all day kills you slowly relative to a mountain lion.

neilv 3y ago

Related: Nearly 20% Adults May Have Misophonia – Significant Negative Responses to Sounds (neurosciencenews.com) 65 points by bookofjoe 29 days ago 98 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35317452 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35317452

jmugan 3y ago

I wonder if when you take affects like this into account if it really is safer to have large machines go "beep beep beep" in a warning that can be heard a kilometer away.

virtualwhys 3y ago

Perhaps a similar study could be done in, say, India. I'm not sure if it's due to their being used to loud/disturbing noise , or if Indians in general have some kind of ongoing inner Zen, but the amount of noise that the general population seems to completely ignore (e.g. a vehicle loudly and continuously honking right behind you as you walk) is really quite impressive. I remember eating dinner at a restaurant in Rishikesh one night in a quiet remote-ish area. There were some workers about to unload a truck, and just in front of them on the restaurant grounds was a multi-generational Indian family all together enjoying their meal. I saw two of the workers casually hurl this big piece of sheet metal onto a metal trailer, resulting in a massive clash of ear piercing noise that the family somehow just ignored, not a head turn of annoyance (as would be typical in the west), just continue the conversation without skipping a beat -- amazing.

droopyEyelids 3y ago
India's life expectancy is almost 10% shorter than the USA's (70 vs 77)
- pfannkuchen 3y ago
  I really wish life expectancy was more granular and included a number with, like, deaths due to risky behavior filtered out. Judging by the internet I get the impression that things like "falling off the top of a train" are much more common there than in some other more risk averse and lower bravado places, and it's hard to tell how much that impacts life expectancy vs other lifestyle and environmental factors.
- dan-robertson 3y ago
  Those numbers are surprising to me. I would expect a much bigger difference considering the difference in wealth.
mhb 3y ago
> a similar study Similar to what? This article is the magazine's feature content editor writing about how he doesn't like loud noise.

bedobi 3y ago

this article about noise really resonates with me (pun intended) in my most recent neighborhoods (newly constructed multi use ones) * my neighbors would have all-night parties * people would revv and race their modded sports cars and hogs up and down driveways and the street (residential culdesac) at all hours of the day and night * teams of leaf blowering maintenance workers walked around during the day * an open air venue opened across the street. they had loud, bass heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake, and drunk people screaming, fighting and loitering past closing time (3am) * a cross fit gym opened across the street. they also played loud, bass heavy music that made the walls and furniture shake, with cargo doors open and trainers and clients screaming and doing intervals in the street (they opened at 5am) * a bbq restaurant opened across the street. it had a vent that released basically unfiltered smog around the clock. it made it impossible to be on the balcony or keep windows open, and it quickly built up a brown, sticky residue on surrounding buildings. EDIT here is a recording of one of the vents https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxNBn5LGkZBCQc9o6 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gxNBn5LGkZBCQc9o6 note that right above it are the residential balconies and windows of the same building - would you want to live there? + you didn't need to live in that building to get the "benefits", the smog was generously distributed all over the neighborhood and came inside and made the clothes inside your closet smell even if your windows were closed needless to say, it's impossible to function while living in such an environment, so I moved, only to find the new neighborhoods also plagued by the same things. (in case anyone is wondering, this was Broadbeach, Newstead and West End QLD Australia) me I'm a hardcore YIMBY. I want to live in a mixed use urban environment with entertainment, exercise, restaurant and everything you need around. but it becomes impossible if it's 24-7. common sense hours like 08:00-22:00 would be good. oh and breathable air. many residents asked council and state government especially about the hours of operation of the venues (if bars play music until 3 and gyms at 5, when are we supposed to sleep?) and the unfiltered smog coming from the vents (100% hazardous levels, especially since it's all day every day long term), but they said all of it was OK.

dalmo3 3y ago
I see so many people leaving NZ for Australia nowadays, and friends ask me if I'm going too. I live 5 min from Wellington CBD, and apart from buses or the occasional construction work it's deafening silence. Anecdotes like this make me feel so lucky.

Jeff_Brown 3y ago

I've heard many times in Colombia that it's customary to accustom babies to noise when they sleep. Also people love their subwoofers here, and partying until dawn. I bought an apartment in a community with a huge fraction of old people to escape that. I've seen people here sleep through experiences I could barely think during. Even my own brain appears to have acclimated somewhat, though. Last week I got some nice noise-canceling headphones, and each time I take them off I'm shocked to realize how noisy the environment is, unless I'm at home. (Actually even at home, when I'm running the air filter, to protect myself from a different kind of pollution ...)

dahwolf 3y ago
You forgot to include Colombian smartphone usage: max volume on speaker, then play videos and make phone calls.

sylware 3y ago

And social acceptance? I have been suffering from chronic parastesia... which I can _hear_! Falling to sleep and focus are challenges everyday. No pause, no break, no cease fire.

tayo42 3y ago

I feel like there's some kind do difference with noise tolerance between either culture or class. Hard to say, in the US foreign culture tends to be lower economic class.

throwaway22032 3y ago
There's a big connection between any form of externality tolerance and class IME. I don't mind noisy DIY work, older cars polluting, parties on the weekend. It means that I can do them too. As long as it's not preventing people from sleeping on work days I don't see the problem to be honest.

ternaryoperator 3y ago

I've long felt that the truest luxury in today's world is silence.

slfnflctd 3y ago
Unfortunately, that luxury is out of reach for people with permanent tinnitus, along with those of us who are hyper-aware of the sounds of our own bodies. I'll likely always prefer some amount of white noise to a totally silent space. A smooth-running fan has regenerative properties for me. Up to certain thresholds, I can turn that fan up to drown out the majority of whatever noise might be going on outside my room or building. It's helpful to be able to disconnect and float in your cocoon, whether for work, play, meditation or sleep.
- ternaryoperator 3y ago
  I have tinnitus. And I feel that silence id the only true luxury. When I am in an environment that is so quiet that the only thing I hear is the hum of my tinnitus, I feel very much at peace.
ryanblakeley 3y ago
That definitely stands out to me about nicer homes. It's amazing to be able to open the windows or be in the garden and only hear wind and animals, and still be near shops and stuff.

JCM9 3y ago

A lot of this boils down to the need for better zoning and stricter controls on what happens where when. Forces today are pulling things in other directions… build houses everywhere, even in places where it makes no sense to build houses. We’re seeing things like former green belts around airports now being turned into housing developments. There were no houses there in large part because of noise. Now developers move in and build big developments there with new residents screaming about how bad the noise is. Can’t make it up.

RC_ITR 3y ago
The above is because more desirable places to live have been zoned for no new housing. Stricter zoning isn’t the answer. Looser zoning is.

wantlotsofcurry 3y ago

How do y'all deal with determining what noise levels you'd have to endure when purchasing a new home/renting a new apartment?

averageValentin 3y ago
I try to determine where the main sources of noise are and I ask about the insulation of the apartment (double glazing, thickness of the walls, the front door ...) with some experiences you will be able to determine your level of acceptance

albertgt 3y ago

I wear noise cancelling headphones to sleep. When I wake up I feel immensely better, I recommend it!

pawelduda 3y ago
What model? Mine wouldn't probably last all night. And I assume you mean earbuds? Do you think there's a meaningful advantage over using quality ear plugs?
dotancohen 3y ago
A recent HN thread described how noise cancelling headphones may cause tinnitus. You might want to research that.
navigate8310 3y ago
I would like to know more about this. Do you suggest wearing plugs made for music concerts? Or they are completely different?
- accrual 3y ago
  I wear earplugs every night. I personally can't imagine wearing actual noise cancelling headphones which would prevent me from moving freely and requiring a charge every night. But good quality earplugs (e.g. from Etymotic, Downbeats, or Loop) make a world of sleep quality difference, especially when paired with a sleep mask.

spacemadness 3y ago

And many America cities flat out refuse to contain construction noise. As someone very sensitive to noise, it strikes me as pure stupidity and barbaric in how we construct buildings and fix our cities with no consideration of its effects. People act like they aren’t effected but most people seem quite out of touch with what actually effects their moods and stress levels.

decafninja 3y ago
Many US cities and town permit construction to happen at relatively early hours - like 6 or 7 AM. That’s usually not a problem if you’re a 9-5er. It is a massive problem if you work late shifts. My wife works in the restaurant business and 6 or 7 AM she’s still deep asleep. We had construction near our condo for nearly three years where spring, summer, and fall the jackhammers started at around a little before 7 every weekday. It was brutal for her. That, plus various other issues, lead us to decide our next home is going to be a quiet single family home in a suburb. Yes - a suburb!

NKosmatos 3y ago

A fully detached house, with good soundproof insulation and with a surrounding garden with trees and bushes is the best solution for people wanting a quiet place. I find it strange that in our modern houses the “weak” sound is so difficult to get blocked, whereas the “powerful” light can be easily kept out.

ThatGeoGuy 3y ago

An addendum to the posted article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTV-wwszGw8 Cities aren't loud; motor vehicles are. Tire noise near heavy stroads and highways are in particular egregious offenders. There's a lot of other points in the comments about some other urban nuisances (leaf blowers, anyone?) but I encourage anyone to walk around (yes, walk) while measuring the ambient noise levels with your smartphone's microphone. It will be extremely obvious where the noise is coming from. This is an often misunderstood part of "the war on cars:" the stress gained from additional constant noise (e.g. like a highway) takes YEARS off our lives. And don't get me started on how loud shops are in North America. For whatever reason they seem to always keep the volume three or four levels above comfortable, making it much harder to have a conversation without shouting at least a little. It wasn't until I started traveling a lot that I started to notice any of this. You can have your quiet part of town, but often you get to your quiet part of town by driving through the noisiest part of town where a good number of people live and work.

drukenemo 3y ago
I’d say construction work is a close second offender in any major city with high population density.
- Arrath 3y ago
  By necessity, unfortunately. Loud diesel engines, jackhammers and rock breakers that require workers to have hearing protection, all anchored by an undercurrent of backup alarms that must pierce the rest of the din and the hearing protection to be audible to the workers.
  - decafninja 3y ago
    Many US cities and towns permit construction to happen at relatively early hours - like 6 or 7 AM. That’s usually not a problem if you’re a 9-5er. It is a massive problem if you work late shifts. My wife works in the restaurant business and 6 or 7 AM she’s still deep asleep. We had construction near our condo for nearly three years where spring, summer, and fall the jackhammers started at around a little before 7 every weekday. It was brutal for her. That, plus various other issues, lead us to decide our next home is going to be a quiet single family home in a suburb. Yes - a suburb!

moremetadata 3y ago

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wenc 3y ago

My stress levels decreased after getting a pair of AirPods Pro 2. It literally creates a cone of silence around me. I wish there was something similar I could wear during sleep comfortably. I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less restful with them in. I suspect they either make my inside noises more noticeable or block airflow during night time breathing. I guess the other more expensive solution is to move to an apartment facing a courtyard rather than the streets or to get heavy noise blocking curtains. I know Bose used to make noise canceling sleep buds but I’m not sure how well they work. Since they’re discontinued I’m guessing not well.

jffhn 3y ago
>I tried earplugs but somehow my sleep is less restful with them in. Earplugs also tend to cause noise when you move your jaw, or even just slightly move your head. I use Peltor X4A noise reduction earmuffs, with only the top of the head on the cushion when I'm on the side, that's the best I could find (its very dense foam makes it much better than a lot of earmuffs, also it's passive so no need for batteries). You can also combine earmuffs with earplugs, it improves the reduction a little bit (can't do magic with some of the sound going through the body anyway), but you shouldn't need it unless your place is very noisy. Peltor X5A is a bit better but much larger, so with it it's best to lay on the back. With such good protection you might not ear your alarm clock, so instead you might want to use vibrate phone alarm with the phone in your pocket.
- wenc 3y ago
  I’m a side sleeper and earmuffs press against the side of my head which might not work so well for me but thanks. And good point about the alarm clock — I wear an Apple Watch to bed for sleep monitoring so my alarm is haptic. It works great.
jallbrit 3y ago
I am a sensitive sleeper and after waking up from loud sounds and roommates for a while, I got Loop Quiet earplugs (I wear the smallest size), and I’ve been wearing them every night. Occasionally I pull them out during my sleep but they stay in very well and are definitely effective. I sleep much better now. I would recommend them.

mhb 3y ago

I don't like leafblowers and other loud noises either, but isn't this article pretty thin soup? "Stephanie Dutchen is manager of feature content and multimedia in the HMS Office of Communications and External Relations."

DoreenMichele 3y ago

Urban sprawl and deforestation destroy natural carbon absorption reservoirs while removing natural sound buffers... Conversely, certain climate mitigation strategies such as creating green spaces in concrete jungles offer opportunities to muffle noise. Yeah, we need to up our game on making better places and it needs to be a holistic approach. Re the stuff about heart health and noise sensitivity: Magnesium deficiency can cause noise sensitivity. Magnesium is also critical to heart function, specifically the ability to keep the beat. Furthermore, noise causes physical vibrations much like the beat of the heart, which is something you can listen for in a patient. Armies historically marched to the beat of a drum because you can feel the vibrations even if you can't really hear it over the din of war. You can put a baby to sleep by calming yourself and then holding them in your arms. The beat of your heart will not only set the pace for theirs, it will lend their heart some of your energy, making it easier for them and helping them to relax. Given the constructive ways vibrations can impact us, it should be no surprise that vibrations from noise can also negatively impact the heart.

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