Questions on My Mind about the Psychology of Background Noise
- What are the most common man-made noise pollutants and how do they negatively affect wellbeing? The sound of garbage trucks, lawn mowers, and leaf blowers drive me crazy. I wonder what a ranking of the most annoying sounds would look like.
- What are examples of natural noise pollutants?
- What environmental strategies have been used to combat noise pollution?
- What are the health consequences of noise pollution?
- What role does urban planning play in noise pollution mitigation?
- What role does interior design and architecture play in noise pollution mitigation?
- How would long-term immersion in a soundproofed environment impact someone?
- Does exposure to outside noise have any positive benefits similar to having access to a window with a view? For example, I’d imagine that hearing the sound of birds chirping or kids playing would have positive psychological effects.
- What fascinates us about places that echo?
- Why do we enjoy some sounds more than others?
- Where are examples of auditory oases in the world?
- How has noise been used as a weapon?
- How can sound and music help with emotional regulation and other psychological states?
- How is sound design incorporated into cities?
- How is sound design incorporated into spaces for: learning, business, and relaxation?
- What effect does white noise have on our minds?
- How can environmental sound design be used to make people feel more happy, confident, energized, relaxed, motivated, inspired?
- How is silence engineered into our environments?
- How is sound used to influence the psychological development of babies and children?
- How is sound design used to keep us safe?
Noise Pollution
Frequency of sound invention
Vacuums whooshing,
Tennis volleys,
…
What would a database of all the sounds from our surroundings include? How many new sounds would be added each year? How many of the total sounds have we as individuals heard? 90%? 50%? 5%?
There was a 1st time when we heard the sound of a soda can open, weights crash in a gym, and a lion roar.
We’re attuned to new sights in our environments. But how about new sounds? Aside from music, can we discern the last new sound we heard?
https://twitter.com/LamarElimbo/status/1619122182365540353?s=20
How is silence engineered into our environments?
Just learned the quietest place on earth is in an anechoic chamber. A room designed to muffle sounds.
It triggered a memory from when I went in a vocal booth to help my linguistics professor with a study.
Quietest room I'd ever been in & my stomach couldn't have been louder🫠
https://www.orfieldlabs.com/architecture/tour-video-tour-hold
Have you ever taken the chance to contemplate true silence?
If the human ear were any more sensitive, at what point would the outside world be drowned out by the sounds of our own body?
Anechoic chambers: an acoustically isolated room that provides unchanging, guaranteed silence.
Guarding the anechoic chamber are heavy, gray, metal doors. You have to go through three doors to reach the chamber, because it is a room within a room. To make the place silent, several sets of heavy walls insulate the innermost room, stopping outside noise from entering. The chamber is mounted on springs to prevent unwanted vibration from getting into the inner sanctum.
Voyager Golden Records
Sound Space
The Voyager Golden Records were launched into space with sounds selected to portray the diversity of life & culture on Earth.
They were intended for any intelligent alien life form who may find them.
What are the defining sounds that make up your life's soundscape?
