3 ms·

I'm in the back of my home, on a 4-lane divided city street and with the window facing back open just a crack, I can easily hear the traffic.

cassianoleal 3y ago
I live on a corner of 2 double-track, relatively busy streets. 5th floor. Right now traffic is pretty low, no horns honking, no douchebags with loud mufflers, no sirens. Window open, about 4m away from it at my desk, noise level is 45-55dB. Window closed, 25-27dB. Almost all of it is car noise.
- pandaman 3y ago
  5th floor? Sounds like you already live in high density housing.
  - cassianoleal 3y ago
    High-ish. To the front, where my window faces, there's a small park and then more or less only houses until about as far as the eye can see (a few other buildings but not many, and not quite close. In any case, yes - it's relatively dense and car noise is very high. When I closed the window I could finally hear my tinnitus against the backdrop of near silence. I didn't realise how much the street noise was affecting me either, even though it was constant.
    - pandaman 3y ago
      I don't really see a point in complaining about street noise with open windows/doors. You can close them and if you had not been living in an apartment you could have ones that do not pass a lot of noise. Nobody said there is no street noise, it just does not make to the houses because houses in general have means to mitigate it. Unlike apartments, where, even if you have got windows and doors with any sound insulation, you are still exposed to the noise coming through the walls and also people screaming much closer to your windows and doors. A source of noise 10' away from your window projects 100 times more energy on its surface than a source 100' away.
pandaman 3y ago
>with the window facing back open just a crack That's your problem right there. I figure if I opened the window on the opposite side of the house and there were no wind, birds and insects I could easily hear traffic too. The difference between this and having people behind your wall, floor and ceiling is that you can close the window whenever you want. You cannot do much with the neighbors.

cassianoleal 3y ago

I live on a corner of 2 double-track, relatively busy streets. 5th floor. Right now traffic is pretty low, no horns honking, no douchebags with loud mufflers, no sirens. Window open, about 4m away from it at my desk, noise level is 45-55dB. Window closed, 25-27dB. Almost all of it is car noise.

pandaman 3y ago
5th floor? Sounds like you already live in high density housing.
- cassianoleal 3y ago
  High-ish. To the front, where my window faces, there's a small park and then more or less only houses until about as far as the eye can see (a few other buildings but not many, and not quite close. In any case, yes - it's relatively dense and car noise is very high. When I closed the window I could finally hear my tinnitus against the backdrop of near silence. I didn't realise how much the street noise was affecting me either, even though it was constant.
  - pandaman 3y ago
    I don't really see a point in complaining about street noise with open windows/doors. You can close them and if you had not been living in an apartment you could have ones that do not pass a lot of noise. Nobody said there is no street noise, it just does not make to the houses because houses in general have means to mitigate it. Unlike apartments, where, even if you have got windows and doors with any sound insulation, you are still exposed to the noise coming through the walls and also people screaming much closer to your windows and doors. A source of noise 10' away from your window projects 100 times more energy on its surface than a source 100' away.

pandaman 3y ago

>with the window facing back open just a crack That's your problem right there. I figure if I opened the window on the opposite side of the house and there were no wind, birds and insects I could easily hear traffic too. The difference between this and having people behind your wall, floor and ceiling is that you can close the window whenever you want. You cannot do much with the neighbors.