There's this guy on YouTube that travelled to india and one thing stood out to me was the non-stop honking of cars and bikes. Just endless forever. What a nightmare!

I wonder what that does to a population. How does anyone think??

https://youtu.be/IFUIdcrgW6M?si=o6LkXK4MyS-PL7m-&t=661

This it the most immediate and obvious change in any Chinese city now, they are practically silent. All electric cars means you can actually have a conversation with someone while walking through crowded downtown areas, and you never realize how much of a difference it makes until you experience it.

Of course, noise on sidewalks is important and annoying. But to a German who is used to good (sealed) German windows, French and Spanish cities, just to name some, are just a pain.

Be it in hotel rooms or regular homes, almost nowhere the windows are sealed. Just pressing gently on the window (more pressure on the sealing) reduces the moped noises by 30-50%.

Manhattan recently got congestion pricing and it’s noticeably more enjoyable because of this, even indoors.

Yes, this was very noticeable during covid lockdowns too.

I believe https://carto.bruitparif.fr/ represents 2022 levels, but my French is very rusty and I suspect that historical data review is more readily available to a speaker of it. Perhaps that site has lockdown data as a layer somewhere?

Agreed. The difference is stunning.