{"id":1126,"date":"2019-08-16T09:11:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-16T09:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/randomthoughtsltd.com\/?p=1126"},"modified":"2024-04-06T17:09:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-06T17:09:02","slug":"quiet-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/randomthoughtsltd.com\/?p=1126","title":{"rendered":"Quiet, Please!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

First published in the NASGP Newsletter in August 2019 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noisy environments aren’t a new phenomenon, but we are only now recognising how noise endangers our health.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Royal Opera House orchestra was\nrehearsing Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em>. For more than\nthree hours violist Chris Goldscheider sat in front of twenty brass players\nbelting out Wagner at 90dB. His hearing was permanently damaged. The Opera\nHouse argued that artistic standards took precedence over the risk of acoustic\nshock, but the courts thought otherwise and awarded Goldscheider substantial\ndamages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A musician\u2019s job is to create sound. Rock\nmusicians ramp up the amplifiers and often lose their hearing temporarily after\na particularly loud concert. Many don\u2019t acknowledge the warning. Over time,\neven violinists can lose 6dB of hearing in their left ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many publicans and restaurateurs foster\nsound. They rip out partitions, strip out soft furnishings and turn up the\nmusic.  Chatter turns to shouting and\nthen to screaming, and by the time the sound level is 90dB \u2013 that\u2019s the same as\na pneumatic  drill \u2013 they have created\nthe vibe they think their clientele enjoy. At least that\u2019s what many of them\ntold Action on Hearing Loss. I wonder. You can\u2019t pour your heart out, or even\nchat to your mates, against a wall of sound. When a bartender brings a legal case\nfor acoustic damage, publicans may think again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence is elusive. Over four days, walking\nalong the Thames path from its source to Oxford, we were out of the sound of\ntraffic for just half and hour. Military jets scream over the remote Highlands\nand police helicopters clatter over secluded corners of Regents Park. Libraries\nnow entertain kids singing nursery rhymes, art galleries display video\ninstallations, and the espresso machine thumps and grinds in cafes where people\ngo to read and work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hospital calm? Gone are the days! Machines,\nphones, bleeps, call bells (left unanswered because they\u2019re short-staffed),\ncrashing trolleys, long visiting hours with noisy families . . . the noise\nlevel in ITU can be over 100dB. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise affects patients. A Swedish study found that loud environments triggered more re-admissions. More hypnotics are prescribed. Patients self-discharge to get a good night\u2019s sleep. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe day will come when man will have to fight noise as inexorably as cholera and the plague.\u201d Robert Koch, Nobel prizewinning bacteriologist, 1905<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Noise affects patient care. If staff are distracted\nor unable to clearly hear information or instructions, lives are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noise affects us all. Raised blood\npressure, increased risk of cardiovascular problems, poor sleep and its\nattendant consequences, low birth-weight, obesity, diabetes and cognitive\nimpairment . . . these are some of the consequences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My worst experience of noise was in Santiago\nde Cuba. The ancient, grinding engines of trucks and buses which had long lost\ntheir exhaust silencers woke us at dawn and deafened us until nightfall. We found\nrelief at a cliff-top caf\u00e9. There was a pervasive smell of drains but, like\nmost people, we could put up with pollution better than noise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 2000 years ago Juvenal listed noise\nas one of the seven plagues of Rome (along with high rents and fashionistas). Victorians\nwere assailed by the hawkers\u2019 cries, wooden clogs on the cobbles, clattering\ncarts \u2013 rubber tyres were a late 19th century innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, noise has been weaponised. In Guantanamo it\u2019s been used as an instrument of torture. Holed up in the Vatican nunciature, Panamanian leader General Noriega didn\u2019t surrender until the CIA blared rock music into the building. (You can hear it on YouTube<\/a>). Throughout Latin America, street protestors mount cacerolazos<\/em> \u2013 a cacophony of banging pots and pans. In contrast, some shopping malls broadcast noise too high-pitched for respectable middle-aged shoppers to hear, but sufficiently painful to deter young hooligan loiterers. Playing Beethoven is said to achieve the same end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our valuation of noise is very subjective\nand poorly related to the damage it does, which is determined by its acoustic\nintensity and how long we are exposed to it. The decibel scale is logarithmic,\nso a 70dB sound is ten times more intense than 60dB. The safe exposure time for\na 90dB lawnmower is two hours; for 100dB it is 15 minutes. And we live in an\nenvironment full of 100dB noises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With earbuds you can escape from the\ncacophony of the street into your own soundworld. It isn\u2019t safe, though. That\nconstant exposure is building up damage, and the hair cells can\u2019t tell prog\nrock from Puccini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t just us humans whose lives are\ndisrupted by noise. A blackbird that can\u2019t sing over the ambient noise won\u2019t\nattract a mate. Whales use sonar communication which is disrupted by the noise\nfrom shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike some animals, humans don\u2019t have\n\u2018earlids\u2019. When we lived in caves, we could close our eyes, but we couldn\u2019t\nrisk not hearing danger approaching. So we are programmed to respond to noises.\nIn the modern world we are particularly distressed by sound which is\nunpredictable, or which we feel could be controlled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the 1990 Environmental Protection Act,\nnoise is a \u2018statutory nuisance\u2019. You can measure ambient noise levels using\nphone apps such as Decibel Meter and SoundPrint. So if your neighbour is using\na leaf-blower (110dB) on Sunday, phone your council Noise Team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u2018Sound Advice\u2019, the Health and Safety\nExecutive provides comprehensive practical advice to the music industry \u2013 to concert\nhalls, marching bands, schools \u2013 on the law, venue design, rehearsal and concert\nprogramming, orchestral arrangement, baffles . . . and ear plugs which reduce\nthe intensity but not the appreciation of music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If ambient noise ruins your evening, say\nso. If you find complaining difficult, Action on Hearing Loss\u2019s Speak Easy\ntells you what to say: to the management, on social media and to the press.\nWith enough adverse comments, restaurants will take noise off the menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty years ago little attention was paid\nto food and noise in hospitals, and both were abysmal. Eventually people\nrealised that decent, well-presented meals aided patients\u2019 recovery. Kings\nCollege London\u2019s Hospital Project on Noise, Sound and\nSleep aims to do the same for noise. It starts with listening to the\nsoundscapes and deciding how it can be modified. Rubber corners on trolleys,\nacoustic finishes on surfaces and sound masking are just a start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humans use their ears to tell them where to\nlook, so it is not surprising that we are much more aware of landscapes than\nsoundscapes. It would do us good to actively listen to our sonic environment.\nWe will notice ear-sores and acoustic litter. Aircraft noise, for example. Remember\nthe peace in the spring of 2010 when Eyjafjallaj\u00f6kull filled the air with\nvolcanic ash and planes were grounded? With pressure from governments, doctors\nand audiologists and the public, even planemakers will respond with quieter\naircraft. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Next post: I’ve Seen the Future of General Practice and . . .<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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First published in the NASGP Newsletter in August 2019 Noisy environments aren’t a new phenomenon, but we are only now recognising how noise endangers our health. The Royal Opera House orchestra was rehearsing Die Walk\u00fcre. For more than three hours violist Chris Goldscheider sat in front of twenty brass players belting out Wagner at 90dB. … <\/p>\n

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