Some of the comments here mention the noisiness of modern sprawling western-style developed cities and speculate that it's probably worse than the noise of the

Some of the comments here mention the noisiness of modern sprawling western-style developed cities and speculate that it's probably worse than the noise of the middle ages would have been. I don't personally know the deep past, but i'd beg to differ. In many modern latin american towns and smaller cities, the sheer cacophony of people, animals, street hawkers, sellers, churches and social events is its own world of constant shifting sounds in a way that compares only to the most central, densely commercial parts of the largest North American cities. You'd think that some largish, say, American or Canadian city's traffic, construction and commercial activity would be louder than that of some small densely packed developing world towns, but you'd often be very wrong. It's not just the scope of it in these compact, crowded places, it's the sheer blazing variety too. I wouldn't at all be surprised if a medieval city of twisting lanes between jam-packed buildings surrounded by a great thick wall were the same, despite there being no cars or modern gas-powered and electronic machines of any kind..