Articles
Documentary Premiering April 15: Watch “Jet Line”
Photo credit: Scott Teresi licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Quiet Coalition received this announcement about a new film, “Jet Line: Voicemails From the Flight Path,” premiering on April 15. This 12-minute documentary film uses 100 voice mails coupled with views of the scenic Vermont countryside to explore how life has been affected by stationing noisy F-35 fighter jets in Burlington.
Those concerned about aircraft noise, especially military aircraft, are encouraged to sign up for the free premier showing, using this EventBrite link.
Jet Line: Voicemails from the Flight Path (Trailer) from Duane Peterson III on Vimeo.
Another reason to get the COVID-19 vaccine
Photo credit: This photo by medipics1066 has been dedicated to the public domain
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The recent suicide of a prominent Texas businessman, reportedly in part because of symptoms of severe tinnitus (ringing in the ears) after recovering from COVID-19 infection, is drawing attention to reports of tinnitus among the consequences of COVID-19 infection.
Preventing tinnitus as a side effect of COVID-19 infection would appear to be yet another reason to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
I got it to protect me and those I come into contact with.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends taking whichever vaccine is available to you first.
(Note: Don’t worry about blood clots from the Astra-Zeneca vaccine in the U.S. It’s not approved for use here yet.)
Debunking the myth that ears adapt to loud volumes
Photo credit: Sound On from Pexels
by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist (Retired)
It’s encouraging to see a recent university news article on the danger of hearing damage from personal listening with earbuds or headphones. Unfortunately, it shares the myth that our ears adapt to loud volumes. It’s true many people with noise-induced hearing damage say they’ve gotten “used to” loud sound. This is because audio doesn’t sound the same after we’ve lost the ability to hear it normally. Developing permanent inner ear and hearing nerve damage isn’t adapting.
Despite what the article says, noise doesn’t damage the eardrums outside of very loud explosive sound events.
The article source’s recommendation to listen at 80 decibels (dB) isn’t safe enough to protect the general public from neurosensory hearing harm. Experts recommend 75 dB average as a safer upper limit for adult listening, and 70 dB average for groups-at-risk, including children. This translates to safer listening at about 50% or less of maximum volume setting for personal audio systems.
As the article states, there are many positives for personal listening users including easily accessible private audio and screening out distracting noise when out and about. But high to full volume listeners need to
Representatives target helicopter noise
Photo credit: Jess Vide from Pexels
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
A while back, I reported on legislation introduced by the New York City Council to amend the city’s administrative code to reduce noise from chartered helicopters. I had noted in that blog that such legislation had been introduced earlier and wondered if the present legislation would indeed be passed.
Now we learn that Representatives Jerry Nadler, Nydia Velazquez, and Carolyn Maloney have reintroduced federal legislation that would “cut down on helicopter traffic and noise pollution by barring nonessential helicopters from flying over New York City.” Sydney Pereira, writing at Gothamist.com, cites the 130% increase in helicopter noise complaints “between October 2019 and October 2020.” We should also note that during the pandemic, noise from overhead helicopters is even more stressful. Congressman Nadler’s statement in citing helicopter crashes and deaths also speaks to the safety issue of helicopter flights.
One hopes that this federal legislation would ease the discomfort of residents in New York and New Jersey who have been complaining for years about these overhead helicopters as well as allow other states, where there has been similar citizen outcry
Fighting noise with noise doesn’t work
Photo credit: Pressmaster from Pexels
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
As the member of the GrowNYC Board with a knowledge of the impacts of noise on health and well-being, I am the one who individuals, especially New Yorkers, turn to for assistance with noise complaints, especially noises emanating from neighbors’ apartments. Thus, when I read Victoria Kim’s Los Angelos Times article on the responses of residents in South Korea who are subjected to neighbor noise, I noted how similar the complaints and responses of the South Korea residents were to those of the New Yorkers with whom I have interacted. Now with people working out of their homes because of COVID, the neighbor noise complaints in South Korea, as in New York City, have increased.
In Kim’s article, she describes that after being exposed to upstairs noise, neighbors have retaliated by imposing noise on these neighbors by thumping the ceiling with a rubber mallet or putting a loud speaker near the ceiling. Some people I have assisted initially responded similarly, especially after talks with the neighbors or managing agents do not reduce the noise. Of course, sometimes neighbor chats and
Drones? You hear them, but can they hear you?
Photo credit:
by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition
In a word: no—they can’t hear you because they make too much noise. So a New Zealand company is developing algorithms to cancel the noise drone helicopters
make so that their own microphones don’t hear it. Unfortunately, you—we–on the ground will still hear them. That’s a problem.
So the same company is also working on ways to build quieter drones. Yes, that can be done too.
But someone–are you listening FAA?–needs to realize that electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVOTL) drones are going to be like a plague of locusts for those of us who live below them. Of course the companies that make eVOTLs, including the robotic drone models, have been very quiet about how much noise they make because that’s a delicate question that could interfere with the buzz of excitement among investors and developers in this emerging market, labelled “Advanced Air Mobility.”
Look–and listen–for them soon in your neighborhood wearing the logos of Google and Amazon Prime and the next new shiny thing.
60% rule is not safe personal listening
Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist (Retired)
Flawed noise risk assessments shared in the media are dangerous for public health. This is the case for a recent Arizona Daily Sun article that recommends a 60/60 rule for personal listening with headphones. This rule suggests that personal listening at 60% maximum volume for no more than 60 minutes a day is safe.
Dr. Daniel Fink and I have reviewed international research showing auditory damage in people listening above 50% maximum volume when using headphones and earbuds. As Dr. Fink told me, “discussing safe personal listening is like discussing safe smoking. There is no safe smoking, and there is no safe listening. There is safer listening, but it’s not safe.” There is auditory risk with an hour a day of loud volume personal listening, just as smoking one cigarette increases the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Listening at 60% of maximum volume setting is not safe for people with normal hearing. Using noise canceling or isolating earbuds or headphones help people listen safer at lower volumes when there’s ambient noise.
To make personal listening safer, go into device settings and turn sound output levels down as much
Quiet testimony: A visit to the Vietnam Memorial
Photo credit: Steven Zucker, Smarthistory co-founder licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition
Hearing is so primal, so instinctive, you’re often unconscious of sounds around you. Until they’re gone.
A monument whose deep silence awakens people is the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. A fitting date to visit is March 29, designated by Congress as National Vietnam Veterans Day.
What’s remarkable is how your ears trigger myriad emotions as you enter it. A long, silent black gash on the landscape below but within view of its opposite–the astonishingly bright and erect Washington Monument. The Vietnam Memorial was controversial from Day 1, as it symbolizes America’s failure and tragic losses in a “war” that lasted 20 long years from November 1, 1955, to May 7, 1975.
What an astonishing contrast between the Washington Monument’s bold and bright symbol of aspiration and the dark trench of despair and failure lined with the names of every one of the 58,209 Americans who died there–without even mentioning the estimated 200,000 to 250,000 Vietnamese dead whose names are not recorded anywhere. For them the silence of absence.
Nine million Americans
Universal design and DeafSpace guidelines
Image credit: Asmaa Hamed Abdel-Maksoud licensed under CC BY 4.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
When I was a boy I was inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s marvelous Guggenheim Museum to want to become an architect. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any talent in drawing or design, and became a doctor instead. But I still like architecture, and have an appreciation for what good design can do for human activities and even the human spirit.
Something I learned as an internist-geriatrician is that built spaces can help people as they age, or require that they move because, for example, they can’t climb stairs or can’t maneuver a wheelchair or walker through a narrow hallway.
Anticipating those problems and designing spaces for them, to allow as many people as possible, with as many abilities and disabilities as possible, to use the built environment, is called Universal Design. I find the Irish National Disability Authority’s explanation of Universal Design easy to understand.
I was aware of articles about Universal Design in the workplace for those with hearing loss, but I wasn’t aware of the DeafSpace design guidelines developed at Gallaudet University until I read an article design for everyone in
Airplanes, helicopters far more annoying than other sources of noise
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
In responding to an Federal Aviation Administration’s study that found airplanes and helicopters are “far more annoying than other sources” of noise, Congressman Thomas Suozzi of New York said the FAA survey “tells us what we already knew loud and clear – our communities are ravaged by aircraft noise.” Suozzi was joined by a group of House lawmakers representing districts where aircraft noise has been a continuous problem for residents, who added that “FAA measures to gauge the effects of aircraft noise have outlived their usefulness.” Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton of D.C. noted that the FAA’s failure to reduce and mitigate noise “shows a lack of willingness to make the necessary improvements.” And Attorney General Karl A Racine of D.C. reminded us that “decades of research has shown that exposure to noise can interfere with children’s ability to learn and harm human health.”
The FAA survey that began in 2015 and was reported on in 2021 focused on one impact of aircraft noise – annoyance. While we recognized that noise, including aircraft noise, was far more than annoying six years ago and could be considered hazardous to
NASA is developing a quiet airplane wing to reduce noise pollution
Photo credit: NASA’s Langley Research Center
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This report on NewAtlas discusses NASA research on a quiet airplane wing. The research uses a wind tunnel and a model airplane to determine the effects of new designs on noise.
As the report notes, people usually think of jet engine noise when discussing aircraft noise, but airframe noise is also a problem.
If the Federal Aviation Administration isn’t willing to try to make planes quieter, I’m glad that NASA is stepping up to the plate.
Kathmandu struggles with horn noise
Photo credit: Volker Meyer from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
As reported in The Annapurna Express, noise from horns is a problem in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley. I haven’t been to Nepal, but I think of it as an unspoiled, scenic country in the Himalays with quiet, bucolic mountain communities surrounded by gleaming mountains.
At least in the Kathmandu Valley, I’m wrong.
Noise from vehicle horns continues to be a major problem, despite a “no horns” law passed in 2017. And road traffic noise is also a problem. The noise is loud enough to affect schools and the learning of students inside them.
Nepal isn’t the only country dealing with noise issues. These affect cities and rural areas in most of the world.
But their government agencies seem as disinterested as those in the U.S. about addressing the problem.
The only advice we can offer is that enough citizens complain to their elected representatives about noise, maybe something will be done to make Nepal quieter.
WHO’s first report on hearing promotes H.E.A.R.I.N.G. interventions
by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist (Retired)
The World Health Organization has published the first ever World Report on Hearing. This report shows it’s more cost-effective to invest in prevention and universal health coverage for ear and hearing care than to continue paying rising costs of untreated hearing loss related to impaired learning, social isolation, poor mental health, accidents, dementia, and other health problems. The goal is to drive national public health policy to implement H.E.A.R.I.N.G. interventions by 2030.
The H.E.A.R.I.N.G acronym summarizes key interventions across the lifespan:
- Hearing screening;
- Ear disease management;
- Access to technologies;
- Rehabilitation services;
- Improved communication;
- Noise reduction; and
- Greater community engagement.
The long term benefit is people with ear problems or hearing loss will get the testing, treatment, amplification, or rehabilitation they need at no financial hardship. Disability access will improve with enhanced listening technologies at schools and public venues, closed captioning availability, and sign language services where needed.
Interventions including safer listening education programs will help prevent noise-induced hearing loss from personal listening, entertainment venues like nightclubs, and occupations. A safer listening device manufacturing standard is outlined. The report doesn’t discuss health coverage of hearing protection or tinnitus and hyperacusis care. Interventions don’t address limiting harmful public
Audubon Society reports birdsong was softer during lockdowns
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Audubon Society is probably the world’s leading birding and bird conservation organization, and its widely read magazine is a leading source of information about birds. This article by Daisy Yuhas in the Spring 2021 issue of Audubon Magazine discusses how the quiet of pandemic lockdowns over the last year impacted birdsong.
Many urban dwellers thought birds were singing more loudly because they could hear the birds sing, but research showed that the birds were actually singing more softly. They didn’t have to sing loudly so their songs could be heard over the usual urban din.
The birds were also singing differently. As Yuhas wrote:
The sparrows’ songs were 37 percent softer—much more than anticipated. It’s possible that the birds wanted to avoid standing out to predators. But the songs also featured new characteristics, including frequency changes, that experiments suggested could make birds more attractive to mates and better at defending territories.
Noise pollution affects all living things–insects, birds, small mammals, and humans. We hope that urban planners, elected officials, and noise regulators have learned how important quieter cities are, and will take steps to maintain quiet as the pandemic wanes and normal life returns.
Humans bring noise to Mars
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
Am I surprised to read that NASA’s Mars rover, when it landed on Mars, brought “grinding, clanking, banging” to this planet? The answer is a resounding “No.” After all, having brought noise pollution to planet Earth in huge abundance, wouldn’t it follow that humans might very likely bring forth this pollutant to the planets that they will be exploring?
The vehicle, named Perseverance, that traveled along Mars’ surface, was sent to search for rocks that would be brought back to Earth for testing “for signs of past life.” However, the vehicle itself recorded the sounds it produced on Mars which consisted of “high-pitched scratching noise.” Interestingly, an engineer on the rover team stated, “If I heard these sounds driving my car, I’d pull over and call for a tow.” This article also lets us know that a helicopter will shortly fly over Mars. May I assume this will also impose noise pollution on the planet?
I recently learned that NASA is working on a quiet wing to reduce aircraft noise pollution. Thus, NASA is well aware of the adverse impacts of aircraft noise on the
How noise pollution is harming your health
Photo credit: Kathryn Archibald from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This 31-slide deck from MSN Lifestyle reviews how noise pollution is harming your health.
One might quibble with how some of the facts are presented, but overall the information is scientifically accurate.
Noise pollution, defined as unwanted sound in the environment, harms your health, and many of the slides explain how.
The pandemic is making birds more musical
Photo credit: Ashithosh U from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
There have been many reports about how urban quiet caused by pandemic lockdowns allowed city dwellers to appreciate birds and their songs.
This report in Salon about a Spanish study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, found that Spanish city birds, like pigeons and starlings, quickly changed their patters of behavior in response to the pandemic quiet. Using citizen science, with Spaniards reporting their observations of bird behavior, the researchers found that birds were much more detectable, especially during early morning hours. Salon concluded that the pandemic quiet made the birds more musical.
And that’s a good thing for birds and for the people who can hear them, now that the cities are quieter.
Could quiet “Skybrators” replace wind turbines?
Photo courtesy of Vortex Bladeless
by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition
If you thought gigantic “farms” of wind turbines and solar-cells were the state of the art in alternative energy, think again. Jillian Ambrose in The Guardian discusses several quieter and more space-efficient alternatives for converting wind energy into electricity.
The alternative shown in this video is reminiscent of the way hair cells in our ears wiggle and dance to convert mechanical energy (vibration) from sound into electrical impulses, that are then transmitted to the brain for analysis:
But the “Skybrator” is also reminiscent of something you might find salaciously funny. Hence the nickname, Skybrator.
Nice to see a sense of humor in the alternative energy arena! Several other alternatives are also discussed. Since they’re attracting capital investment, this is a sign that the huge scale of alternative energy farms could be significantly reduced—a good thing. And less noise is always welcome!
Recreational vehicles create noise problems in Moab
Photo credit: LuceroPhotos licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This report from the Moab Sun News discusses the problem of off-road vehicle noise there. As a city dweller who prefers to hike rather than ride in the wilderness, I had to look up the difference between a UTV, ATV, and OHV. From one link, I learned that “an ATV (all-terrain vehicle) is also known as “quad” or “four wheeler” and is meant for single-riders. A utility task vehicle (UTV) tends to be beefier and allows for “side-by-side” riding, which is why some simply call it a “side by side” or “SXS” for short.” From another, I learned that an OHV is an off-highway vehicle built by an automobile manufacturer, e.g., 4×4 vehicles that you might see advertised on television, fording streams or climbing muddy roads. Fortunately, I have never encountered any of these hiking in Europe or the Canadian Rockies, except seeing some UTVs on farms that we hiked near. These were clearly used for farm work, not for recreational riding on trails.
Moab is located in eastern Utah,
Noise policy should protect wildlife, too
Photo credit: Sid Mosdell licensed under CC BY 2.0
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
The COVID pandemic has given people an opportunity to reflect on how the noises of urban life impact on the wildlife population of cities. At one time, according to Peter Fisher, Independent Australia, before cities were inundated with sounds from power tools, road traffic, waste collecting vehicles, and auto beeps, residents in Melbourne, Australia were able to awaken each morning and enjoy the “enchanting ‘ting ting’ of the bell bird.” Not only were these beautiful bird sounds enjoyable to the human ear but birds use their calls to maintain territories and attract mates. Yes, bird calls are important to the successful breeding of birds. Yet, how concerned have urban dwellers been in protecting the birds that have chosen to settle in urban environments?
The answer provided by Fisher is that local urban noise policy is set up to protect the health and well-being of humans, not wildlife. He notes correctly that noise can impact adversely on our mental and physical health including poorer reading comprehension and attention in children, and
What you can do to preserve your hearing in your 40s
Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Channel News Asia lifestyle site provides sound advice on what people in mid-life can do to preserve their hearing.
There’s nothing really new, but the article highlights the fact that hearing loss may first become apparent in mid-life, and that protecting one’s ears from loud noise can help preserve good hearing.
And whatever age you are, there is one simple rule to remember: if it sounds too loud, it is too loud. Leave the space or protect your hearing.
It’s ok for children at play to be noisy
Photo credit: Alexander Dummer from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Quiet Coalition’s Arline Bronzaft, PhD, recently wrote about a website in Japan that allows people to report noisy locations, including noisy children. Dr. Bronzaft has a lot of experience with noise complaints, having served five New York City mayors and on the GrowNYC board as the pointperson dealing with noise issues.
This article by Katherine Martinko on Treehugger tells us that it’s okay for playing children to be noisy.
I agree. I always liked the sound of children playing, especially when they are outside, during the daytime hours.
As Martinko writes, many of her older neighbors in a small Ontario town find the sound of children playing to be music to their ears. The difference between her experience, and that of urban dwellers in Japan or New York City apartments, may be the proximity of the noise source and the hours during which the noise occurs.
That said, a neighbor’s children banging their blocks on the floor in the apartment above mine probably wouldn’t be music to my ears or anyone else’s ears.
Frog noise-canceling headphones
Photo credit: Froggydarb licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist (Retired)
Ever had trouble understanding what somebody was saying in a noisy background? Frogs have a similar problem hearing mating calls when all the pond frogs are chorusing. Using 15 years of data from the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, researchers discovered frogs have a built-in solution: their lungs act like noice-cancelling headphones to hone in on calls from same-species suitors.
There are natural differences in vocal frequencies between species. When frogs inflate their lungs, it cuts eardrum sensitivity across specific pitch ranges. This makes it easier to hear mating calls from their species while screening out calls by other frogs.
The scientists believe this physical mechanism of spectral contrast enhancement is similar to how noise-cancelling headphones work. It’s also similar to signal processing algorithms in hearing aids or cochlear implants where sound outside the main speech range is filtered out to lower noise interference.
One day humans will be back to gathering in groups, and having trouble understanding spoken conversations when there’s too much ambient environmental noise. Too bad we can’t inflate our lungs to cancel noise instead of waiting on decision makers to take
How to protect yourself from noise-induced hearing loss
Photo credit: vxla licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
This post on the Digital Trends site discusses how to protect yourself from noise-induced hearing loss. As the article notes, NIHL is insidious in its onset, and predictable in its course.
I disagree with one statement, however. Namely, the author compares NIHL to cancer. The difference is that some cancers can be cured, but NIHL can’t be cured. It can only be treated, currently with amplification devices.
Preventing NIHL is simple: if it sounds loud, it is too loud.
And your hearing is at risk.
Japanese website focusing on noisy children criticized
Photo credit: Máximo from Pexels
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition
Over the past thirty years, many New Yorkers have contacted me at GrowNYC to assist with their noise complaints. A large number of these complaints deal with neighbor to neighbor noise intrusions, with some complaints focused on children running and playing around in upstairs apartments on non-carpeted floors. Complaints about noisy children have increased during the pandemic because people are now working at home and are much disturbed by the upstairs “noisy” children. Though many parents of young children allow their children to play during the day, such play often ceases at dinner time when neighbors are returning from work. With the pandemic, however, residents working at home are hearing children playing during the day and they want such noises to stop.
I have also received some complaints from residents living in private homes about noisy children playing in their backyards but these have been few over the years. Complaints about loud music from parked cars outside apartment buildings have increased during the pandemic but the people playing the music are not children. Also there have been complaints over the