Natural sounds-waves, winds, birdsong - are so soothing that companies sell recordings of them to anxious people seeking a relaxing atmosphere at home or in the car. One reason why “environmental sounds” are big business is that ordinary citizens, especially city dwellers, are bombarded by noise pollution. On the way to work, on the job, and on the way home, the typical urban resident must cope with a continuing barrage of unpleasant sounds.practicalcentre.blogspot.com
The noise levels in an office can be unbearable. From nine to five O’clock, phones and fax machines ring, computer keyboards chatter, intercoms buzz, and copy machines thump back and forth. Every time the receptionists can’t find people, they resort to nerve-shattering public address system. And because the mangers worry about the employees’ morale, they graciously provide the endless droning of canned music. This effectively eliminates any possibility of a moment of blessed silence.
Traveling home from work provides no relief from the noisiness of the office. The ordinary sounds of blaring taxi horns and rumbling buses are occasionally punctuated by the ear-piercing screech of car brakes. Taking a short cut through the park will bring the weary worker face to face with chanting religious cults, freelance musicians, screaming children, and barking dogs. None of these sounds can compare with the large radios many park visitors carry. Each radio blasts out something different, from heavy-meal rock to baseball, at decibel levels so strong that they make eardrums throb in pan. If there are birds singing or wind In the trees, the harried commuter will never hear them.
Even a trip to work at 6 or 7 am isn’t quiet. No matter which route a worker takes, there is bound to be a noisy construction site somewhere along the way. Hard hats will shout from third - story windows to warn their coworkers below before heaving debris out and sending it crashing to earth. Huge front-end loaders will crunch into these piles of rubble and back up, their warning signals letting out loud, jarring beeps. Air hammers begin an earsplitting chorus of rat-at at-tat sounds guarantee to shatter sanity as well as concrete. Before reaching the office, the worker is already completely frazzled.
Noise pollution is as dangerous as any other king of pollution. The endless pressure of noise probably triggers countless nervous breakdowns, vicious arguments, and bouts of depression. And imagine the world problems we could solve, if only the noise stopped long enough to let us think.