Seems like a convincing argument to me for car-free spaces, although honestly I just wish we had stronger social norms against unnecessarily using a car's horn.
At around the same time, the AC in the office developed a constant hum. This drove me nuts.
When I went to my parents' house in the suburbs, I could hear the silence and really, really enjoy it. I realized that basically, during a regular day, I could never get to spend a moment in silence. There would always be some kind of noise: traffic outside my apartment window, metro / bus / traffic during the commute, random people talking / AC hum at the office.
This made me wonder whether all the people that I see around me being constantly angry and "on the edge" might be that way in part because they basically never catch a break. They are constantly under this continuous noise. And I don't think we can really get used to it. I remember a friend said that I'd get used to the noise when I would complain. It's more than 3 years later, and it still annoys to me no end. I may sometimes forget the noise is there, but I think it still has its effect on my stress level. It's not like getting used to lifting weights or something to which the body adapts.
Tokyo despite being one of the densest and busiest cities in first world countries is incredibly clean, quiet, and safe.
The cars that are on the road tend to be quite new, which is a result of a stringent mandatory inspection after a car gets older that makes it more economical to export the car and buy a new one. So cars are typically in excellent repair, with a small economical engine. The driving culture is generally conservative. People don't race each other, compete for the loudest exhaust, roll coal, etc.
No joking: I use to work, sleep, public transport, and every time I want some piece of mind.
Fun thing is, when I am in the city, I like opening the windows in summer and car noises don't bother me much because it's normal and part of the scenery.
But then I am perfectly capable of putting on my pajamas past 10PM, climb down the stairs from the flat to the street, knock on the car's window and ask the driver to turn off the engine because the low humming noise I hear in my bed is driving me insane. It's when the sound is useless and could be easily prevented that I get crazy. Misophonia very much also.
But there's also some speech patterns that get on my nerves in public transport and it's not really (at least most of the time) a lack of consideration from the people though (but it happens way less often).
However, stuff like
- Modified motorcycle that makes an insane amount of noise for no intelligent reasons
- People playing bassy music that resonate across the walls of the entire building (low frequencies)
- Constant pop music everywhere you go
Are seriously getting on my nerves.
I've read about an experiment where increasing the noise level of carhorns on the inside of the car reduced horn usage significantly. Maybe there's some smart way to use tweaks like that in future regulation.
They would then stop the car and actually talk with them, but honking was somehow mandatory
This is a low enough cost that I bet people would use and hold their horn for longer, to show their annoyance in $.
I feel the same way but with the sentence stopping here
Where I live now (Seattle) neither are common but traffic congestion and impatient drivers are. Horns aren’t used for safety, they’re used to communicate crowded aggressive driving.
I agree with GP that for this scenario restricting cars overall is a better solution. The laws on the books certainly apply but they’re only enforceable in a meaningful way if you have traffic cops on every arterial. And that’s not something I think anyone wants.
> I'd even go so far as to posit that the link discussed between noise and heart health is actually via psychological stress, rather than physiological stress.
Why is this even a distinction? The psychological stress leads to the physiological stress impact on heart health.
However, general motor traffic noise - tyres, engines, displaced air - is loud enough to be a serious problem anyway.
I don't know how we solve this. Car dependency is so ingrained in our collective consciousness; is it politically feasible to find a way out?
Noise cameras. Just like a speed camera, but it measures noise levels and issues a ticket in the mail. There's unfortunately a regressive element (some people can't afford to fix their noisy exhaust), but I see no reason not to issue tickets for noise outside of normal hours, e.g. 7am-10pm.
Even then, sometimes I get woken up by the low frequencies of large trucks idling (snow removal operations, mostly). The vibrations are not even felt in my ears but through my entire body.
Have you tried it? Do you consider it would block the loud snoring of a large man?
The website says it's not active noise canceling but noise masking. My ear plugs are masking 38dB and the snoring makes it through. So I am worried that I would end up hearing heavy snoring with a musical background.