this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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Cities aren't neccesarily loud. Cars are loud. 90% of the background noise would dissappear without cars.
The lack of noise during covid confirms this...evenings were super quiet. It was amazing. Now if only we can shut the city's power off a night so we can see the starts again.
also, when there's a snowstorm, it gets so quiet... I love it. although I'm sure its because of the lack of cars on the road AND snow piling up that absorbs sound instead of bouncing it around everywhere
You might feel differently in the middle of winter.
Most of the things they named weren't caused by cars.
Cars are far louder than most of the things on the list, only gunshots, airplanes and construction can even remotely exceed the level of noise pollution produced by a busy roadway.
90% of the things they named weren't cars but in practice if you actually compare cities with tons of cars vs ones with few you'll find that removing cars removes 90% of the noise.
Though It may be that not being bombarded with car noise makes people quieter as well (like how being in a loud crowd makes you want to speak up as well).
If a city was too quiet I'd go from being annoyed at all the noise to being paranoid that I'll be the one being too loud.
And that's why people do less yelling when there aren't cars around. That's why removing cars makes the other stuff quieter.
A lot of the things they name aren't inherently city noises, either, though. I don't live near any concert venues or airports, so I don't hear noise from either of those sources. You could live in the middle of nowhere, but if you live above the local bar, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it's loud on Friday and Saturday nights. Dogs and birds aren't exactly uniquely urban phenomena, and the sound of peoples' shoes on the sidewalk being a major source of noise just strikes me as absurd.
Yeah I don't know where they're coming from if they're not used to birds. I just got an impromptu concert by the wren who lives in my azalea and it was lovely.
Some of the non car things have to be louder because of cars. People yell louder when they have hearing damage from cars. Sirens need to be louder.