Soon silence will have passed into legend. Man has turned his back on silence. Day after day he invents
machines and devices that increase noise and distract humanity from the essence of life,
contemplation, meditation . . . tooting, howling, screeching, booming, crashing, whistling, grinding, and trilling
bolster his ego. His anxiety subsides. His inhuman void spreads monstrously like a gray vegetation.
--Jean Arp [Hans Arp](1886-1966) Arp on Arp: Poems, Essays, Memories. New York: Viking, 1972, p.231

America is the noisiest country that ever existed. One is waked up in the morning, not by the singing of the nightingale, but by the steam whistle. It is surprising that the sound practical sense of the Americans does not reduce this intolerable noise.
--Oscar Wilde [Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde](1854-1900) Epigrams - Phrases and Philosophies for the Use of the Young. New York: Lamb Publishing Co., 1909, "Impressions of America", p.252, the published version of a lecture Wilde gave for the first time on 24 September 1883 in Wandsworth Town Hall upon his return to England from the former Colony

Chicago Noise Abatement poster, 1942 (details in link below)

Noise is a pollutant. It degrades our environment and our lives in the same way that air and water pollution, food contamination and urban congestion do.

I believe we need to limit unnatural noise around us in the same way we have been reducing smog and river waste and other harmful products of our oversized society.

A positive way to look at what we need is this: we need to develop a new, pervasive notion of the importance of "quality of life" in our communities. Similar to the now-fashionable notion of the importance of "going green", we need to give the relatively small components of a high-quality daily existence much more attention than they now get. We all know the big-ticket items: safety, roads, national defense, education, and, in recent years, air and water quality and attention to global warming. Many other, smaller, issues also affect our daily lives, such as litter, traffic flow, landscaping, quantity of outdoor advertising, parks and other public spaces, and, yes, noise. Communities that pay attention to these types of issues are better places to live, and are probably less prone to violence, crime, and many other social problems.

This is a bare-bones Web site with only a few sections:
    Bad Noise -- a (partial) list of problems needing to be addressed
    How or why did noise become a problem
    Suggested alternatives and solutions
    Evidence and opinions that noise is, indeed, a problem
    Popular Culture references to the noise problem
    Other resources that address the problem

Bad Noise

• backup beeping sounds on large vehicles and construction machinery
• other sounds designed to act as warning (e.g., at street crossings, &c.)
• car and building theft alarms
• automobiles with bad or intentionally modified mufflers
• motorcycles with bad or intentionally modified mufflers
• aircraft, especially helicopters
• construction noise
• amplified personal music or speech
• motorized leaf-blowers, lawn and hedge trimmers, and similar devices
• cellular telephone conversations in public places
• amplified sound at events in public areas (e.g., parks) that are near residential areas
• constant music in public spaces, e.g., malls, building lobbies, theme parks

How did the problem arise?

• in the case of backup beeping, the original concept was an appealing one -- enhance the safety of people in the immediate vicinity of large vehicles -- but was implemented without considering the collateral damage of noise pollution -- the effects on others who would hear the sounds
• in the case of car or other theft alarms, the idea is better than the effect; very high false-alarm rates -- some estimates have them at 90% or more -- cause people to ignore them as nothing more than a nuisance
• automobile and motorcycle noise is a problem because existing laws and regulations are not enforced fully
• radios used in public, amplified speech, cell telephone usage and similar sources of noise are partly the result of personal arrogance and the fact that much of our society lacks a concept of "shared community"
• in general, excessive noise is a problem because it exists -- people get used to it and don't seem to notice it -- and because doing something about it seems an overwhelming task

Government Recognition of the Problem

• Chicago Noise Abatement Program, 1942
• Federal Law (United States of America) [excerpts]
• State and Local Law (California/Los Angeles as an example) [excerpts]

Suggestions for Fixing the Problems

GENERAL PRINCIPLES:

• fairly weigh the pros and cons of Individual Safety against the Public Good; in other words, consider not only the immediate goal (safety), but also the collateral damage (noise pollution)
• if a person is not in danger, s/he shouldn't have to hear the warnings
• when an artificial sound is considered necessary, those requiring it have a responsibility to make every attempt to minimize its impact on the environment before it is made mandatory

  AVAILABLE ALTERNATIVES TO EXISTING NOISE SOURCES:
  

• white noise (scratch-sound) warnings instead of beeping
• "chirping", bird-like sounds instead of prolonged beeps
• hand-gardening with rakes and brooms, instead of motorized tools
• require aircraft to fly at higher altitudes over inhabited areas
• use light-indicators instead of car horns or other sounds to indicate when car alarms are turned on or off
• Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) alternatives to backup-beeping devices
         [click here for excerpts]

  SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS:
  

• require "environmental impact" studies for backup-beeping devices so that they are designed to be more effective and less intrusive
• modify laws to allow -- even require -- the use of low- or no-sound alternatives to the standard backup-beeping now in use, such as white-noise warning devices (currently in use in Britain and occasionally in the United States); extra persons outside a vehicle signaling the driver when it is safe or not safe to back up; or devices fitted to the backs of large vehicles that apply the brakes when they come in contact with other objects; (all these alternatives, and others, exist and are recognized by regulatory agencies or provided for in law)
• allow regulations and laws to be modified as inventors develop sounds that are less intrusive but still effective; for example, short blips are just as effective as long beeps in getting attention around a danger, and are less noticeable in surrounding areas
• establish an "effectiveness zone" around vehicles, street crossings, or other sources of warning beeping, within which the sound is considered useful or necessary, and outside of which the sound need not be heard; for example, a vehicle moving earth at a construction site, moving less than 10 mph, could be considered a potential hazard to people, say, within 20 feet of the vehicle; there is no need for the beeping to be heard for hundreds of feet in any direction, which is currently often the case
• establish maximum sound levels for various types of vehicles, then require them to comply when they are licensed, or when smog checks are performed; increase enforcement of existing regulations, and stiffen penalties for individuals who intentionally modify their vehicles to make them louder
• design and market "silent alarms" for cars and buildings, and ban the use of any sound in turning a car alarm on or off; the on/off status of a car alarm can be shown with lights, LED indicators or any number of silent ways
• encourage research into the effects of noise on the public, including people who don't seem to mind it (or notice it)
• litigate, and recycle any monetary awards into the work of supporting peace and quiet

Evidence and Opinions about the Problem of Noise

This is not recent: the problem was noticed a long time ago:
• Diagram of City Noise Sources from 1930 government report (click thumbnail to view)
  
• Are we hooked on noise?, Life Magazine, 31 October 1969, p.12

  And so on . . .

• Study Links Traffic Noise and Heart Attack Risk (ABC News [online], 20 June 2012) [local plain-text copy]
• "Quiet Please" -- how to survive in an increasingly noisy Britain (The Guardian, U.K., 22 September 2008)
• " Considering Community Noise Issues Through Comprehensive Planning and Ordinances" (University of Minnesota "Design for Health" PDF document, June 2008)
• "Environmental Noise and Health: The Latest Evidence" (PowerPoint download, posted 2008)
• "Noise Pollution Takes Toll on Health and Happiness" (Washington Post, 5 June 2007)
• "Noise pollution: Non-auditory effects on health" (British Medical Bulletin, Volume 68 Number 1, pp.243-257, 2003) [local copy]
• "The diabolical symphony of the mechanical age: Technology and symbolism of sound in European and North American noise abatement campaigns, 1900-40" (Social Studies of Science, Volume 31 Number 1, pp.37-70, February 2001) [local copy]
• suggested Google search: "evidence that noise is bad for people"
• interesting note: it seems that most "hits" that come up when you do a noise-pollution search are from sources in Britain (UK)

  And, as if all that isn't enough, how's this for "hitting home":

• Aircraft noise makes you fat: Swedish study (The Local: Sweden's News in English, 7 May 2014)
  (warning: contains pictures!) [local copy]

Popular Culture references to the noise problem

• The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, TV Series, "No Noise", 30 October 1953
  Ozzie's (Ozzie Nelson) neighbor and friend, Herb Dunkle (Joseph Kearns),
  introduces Ozzie to a new organization in town, a noise-abatement society.
  The idea is new to Ozzie, and he begins to encourage less noise in his home.
  Neighbor Thorny (Don DeFore) soon gets involved, and they meet with the local
  leaders of the movement, Mr Hopkins (Tom Powers) and Mr Pierce (Francis Pierlot).
  

Other Resources

• Noise Pollution Clearinghouse
• The Right to Quiet Society
• Noise Free America
• Campaigining Against Noise -- web site of Val Weedon MBE, Founder of NOISE NETWORK

[gpjones@usc.edu] -- this site was updated on Monday, 11 December 2022 -- comments and suggestions welcome