I am allergic to noise and driven to distraction by extraneous sounds that I'm subjected to either frequently or occasionally. Here are some the sounds that have me gritting my teeth:
Dogs barking
Pneumatic drills
Babies crying
Police, fire engine and ambulance sirens
Helicopters
Hammering
Motorcycles
What do LitNetters find particularly annoying in this regard?
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
Oh yes I feel exactly the same way, I am allergic to noise. To your list I would add:
Children/students*
The TV (I'm thinking about all the ... Mrs N watches, screaming and clapping programmes, horrible)
Ice cream vans (these should be banned, pure sound pollution)
Groups of two or more women talking (or nagging women)
The washing machine
The Hoover
Neighbours who play music (though this only seems to happen when the weather goes above 25C for some reason. Music in public in general)
Oh, also anybody who talks to me when I'm trying to do something else. It just becomes noise.
*With working in a modern comprehensive the noise is still a shock to the system everyday. Students are so loud, screaming and shouting at each other all the time for no reason, seriously you would not believe it.
Last edited by LitNetIsGreat; 10-23-2011 at 02:48 PM.
So basically you're easily distracted and like to blame everyone else
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Not according to this:Originally Posted by TheFifthElement
So basically you're easily distracted and like to blame everyone else
The Noise Abatement Society
Noise is the forgotten pollutant. The hundreds of complaints we receive each week demonstrate it is an invisible killer. Our nation is suffering from an uncontrolled acceleration of noise in today’s society with little effective help to fight it. Imposed excessive noise from sirens, neighbour-noise, train-horns, reversing alarms, traffic, car-stereos, cinema speakers, pubs-clubs, street-noise all contribute to an accumulation of stress related damage to our health.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I don't think many noises bother me, maybe music in the middle of the night. I can easily block everything out. but what does bother me is people, people can be very annoying, don't get me started on people that want to talk to me, now that is an annoying noise.
I hope death is joyful, and I hope I'll never return -Frida Khalo
If I seem insensitive to what you are going through, understand it's the way I am- Mr. Spock
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I didn't realize there was such hatred of so many noises.
Things like construction and babies crying I agree to, but personally I enjoy the myriad of sounds that make of everyday life.
If I am somewhere to get away from "life" - such as in the country, then I get more irritated. But otherwise....noise is a reminder of how busy a world we live in and also how separated we are from each other.
I wrote a poem on a leaf and it blew away...
We took a visit to North Ireland earlier this year for a family wedding. During our stay we took a short trip out on a boat which stopped off on Devenish Island (see below). Not only was this for me the highlight of the break, it was one of the highlights of the year. It was not just because it was such a beautiful little island but because there was no modern pollution at all, no sounds of cars, no fire engines, no noisy neighbours, no ice cream vans, music, none of that, nothing, just the sound of the wind (and rain) and the water. Truly perfect. I could have stayed there for an age.
I also noticed the positive effect that the little island had on everyone of our party (about 10). It was very refreshing and pure. Even in the country it can be hard to get away from the drain of traffic and intrusion, but this little place was just perfect and everyone commented upon it.
(Incidentally Oscar Wilde went to the school in Enniskillen which we saw from the boat trip too.)
http://www.fermanaghlakelands.com/P2...niskillen.aspx
Click on the virtual tour.
Sometimes you don't even realise how annoying and oppressive noise pollution/modern life is until you are away from it at some place like that. For the same reason I'm off to refresh and recharge my batteries out in the Peak District sometime this week. I need to claw back a bit of sanity and clear out the noise.
Last edited by LitNetIsGreat; 10-23-2011 at 05:06 PM.
Neely... I certainly understand your aversion to the noise in school. Those who have never been inside an urban public school building have no idea... and the administration does its best to maintain that ignorance... banning photographs, recordings, video, etc... My wife notices that my voice becomes increasingly loud over the course of the school year... and I have had her tell me any number of times that I am too loud. Over the summer months the volume of my voice decreases until the start of the new school year. I, myself, notice that for the first weeks of school I am struggling to make myself heard over the students, but by this time I can absolutely boom over them when necessary... and can even maintain a solid volume while struggling with a cold... as I am now. perhaps the most difficult affliction for a teacher to deal with is laryngitis.
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I have friends who live in a small Somerset village it the west of England and occasionally I am invited to stay. Now the countryside can be noisy with cocks crowing early morning and tractors and horse riders making their way through the village etc., but on one occasion I went to the village churchyard about noon and stood among the gravestones listening for a sound and was greeted with total silence such as one seldom experiences in everyday life. Obviously one expects the opposite in a city, but the concentration of noise there is often unnecessary and contrary to what a civilised existence should be.
"L'art de la statistique est de tirer des conclusions erronèes a partir de chiffres exacts." Napoléon Bonaparte.
"Je crois que beaucoup de gens sont dans cet état d’esprit: au fond, ils ne sentent pas concernés par l’Histoire. Mais pourtant, de temps à autre, l’Histoire pose sa main sur eux." Michel Houellebecq.
I love quiet. It's very quiet in my home when the windows are closed. All I can hear is the clock ticking, refrigerator running, etc., unless we choose to make noise. There's no traffic close enough to be heard. There's not even dogs barking. We're off the flight paths so there's no air traffic over our area, except for the very occasional single engine plane or helicopter. My bedroom at night is completely quiet, unless there is rain or a thunderstorm. I love to come home to blessed quietness. It's one of my favorite, favorite things about where I live.
I'm curious - how would you define 'noise'?
Want to know what I think about books? Check out https://biisbooks.wordpress.com/
T.V. noise is the bane of my life. I hate commercials and generally, when I watch t.v. I like to keep the sound a low as possible. I'm the t.v. remote Gollum of the house...I need it close by so I can turn down the volume as soon as it gets too loud. I end up fiddling with the sound 85% of the time I spend in front of the t.v.
Other noises that really bug me are:
- the neighbours making D.I.Y noise on a Sunday afternoon when I'm trying to take a nap.
- General open plan noise at work when I really need to concentrate.
- Any loud-ish noises or music in the mornings while I'm still trying to wake up.
- Children screaming in close proximity to me.
- People in the lounge shouting to others in a different room when I'm trying to watch something.
WOW..That woke me up!! Memo to self - do not leave speakers turned up when clicking on links!
I live in a suburban area and the noise of pressure washers and lawn mowers gets right on my nerves in the summer!! Why does someone with a 3m square patch of grass really need the biggest petrol lawnmower in the world???! And why do they need to use it when I am chilling in the garden with a book???
Oh yeah, there's another one lawnmowers, I agree. During the summer on a Sunday it's all you can hear outside, that and music (as people only seem to play music in the summer round my end?). I have a little push mower and you can hardly hear it. It does the job spot on as well. Why don't people with small/medium gardens get one of those instead of those with Spitfire engines?
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