That'd cut down on a lot of noise right there.

Why are motorcycles so loud, and why is that legal?

What about emergency vehicles? The sirens tend to be pure tones (e.g. non-directional so it's very hard to tell where they're coming from until they're quite close), and obscenely loud in all directions. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to direct them towards the front of the vehicle only?

Pasadena, California, on a busy intersection. The psychology behind honking horns is baffling to me here.

So I have these on during the day time: ear plugs and noise canceling ear muffs (not both at once).

http://www.amazon.com/Laser-Lite-Earplugs-Cords-200/dp/B0007XJOLG/ref=pd_bbs_4?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1214358523&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-Professional-Canceling-Earmuff-H10A/dp/B00009LI4K/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1214358575&sr=8-2

The air conditioner is nice because it provides white noise that drowns out the cars and leaf blowers and Harleys and Bass Bazookas and sirens and...

Oh hell, I just need to move.

This is a pet issue with me as I've spent the better part of two years dealing with noisy upstair neighbors. Two pairs. Both renters. The first was a rowdy crew of constructions guys given to loud stomping, slamming doors, blaring music, and general noises so loud my dining room chandelier literally shook every night. Of course they went to bed late and got up at 5am to make the whole experience a total delight for me and my girlfriend. We tried to handle it in a civilized and diplomatic way. Being nice did nothing, letters from the home owners association did nothing. By the time I sued them they had left.

The tenants up there now are not as bad but they like to go at it around 1 am several times a week with the woman literally screaming at the top of her lungs for several minutes. It seems she enjoys the rough stuff. Again, politely talking to them and sending civil letters did nothing. Finally I broke down and called the police. Something I didn't want to have to do. So far they have stopped but we'll see how it continues to play out.

Frankly, it just seems like most people don't give two shits about their fellow neighbors. I feel like peaceful enjoyment of one's home is paramount in finding happiness. Home is where one should be able to retreat and reenergize. To meditate and find solace if need be. When your home becomes a place to avoid, life as you know it becomes unbearable.

I'm not surprised to hear that physical problems follow sustained levels of loud noise. Everytime I get awoken to the couple from above my blood pressure races and all I can think of is how I would like to exact revenge. That's not a good place to be in one's head, and I have better things to do. I totally get where a guy would lose it like the guy who attacked the car alarm. It shouldn't be so hard to get a little peace, but more and more I'm finding it really is.

Our cities and suburbs are so loud that the birds are not only singing louder, they are changing pitch, timing and duration of songs. It is so extreme that it looks like we are witnessing species separation between rural and urban/suburban songbirds.

Since almost all of the noise is due to motor vehicles, maybe if McCain gets elected to Bush's third term he can help triple the cost of gasoline again and we might get some peace and quiet.

I live in Alexandria, VA near Washington DC, near the Pentagon and its infinite supply of low-flying, circling helicopters. The helicopters stop all conversation if the windows are open. I have taken my complaint to Senator Warner to no avail. Then there are the irritating beeps of people locking their doors and of course the ubiquitous car alarms. These things only annoy people; no one comes out to rescue their car! The car owners don't seem to come out at all! I don't condone the guy breaking and entering to stop an alarm but I can sure see what drove him there.

This article inspired me to look into local noise ordinances here.

And if I can bring up another aspect not addressed specifically--there seem to be some people who are just not comfortable being quiet. They are always yakking on a cell phone or making their own private noise pollution with their ipods.

Interesting about birds being louder in urban areas--they are certainly loud around us but that is one sound I love!

I don't know what the standard is for other states, but in California, some psycho legislators (no doubt friends of business) thought it was perfectly reasonable to allow construction crews to start work at 7 a.m., even on Saturdays! As if the constant pounding and grinding that early weren't bad enough, your sleep on that weekend morning is ruined even sooner as the construction vehicles rumble down the road a good twenty minutes before the start time. A new law needs to be passed making it illegal to start any earlier than 8 am on weekdays and 9 am on Saturdays.

This article arrived just in time for the 4th of July, which my chaos-vector neighbors down the hill started celebrating tonight. They will continue celebrating until they run out of cherry bombs and bottle rockets. Last year we were awakened on July 12th by what sounded like a mortar attack in our back garden. These particular neighbors also enjoy tuning their muffler-free motorcycles at 7 am on Sundays and letting their 5 dogs (2 dachshunds and 3 dobes) bark while their masters scream obscenity-laced, yet somehow ineffectual commands. The barking and screaming alternates in a kind of chorus-and-verse effect which can go on for hours.

We got new windows, which help soundproof the house to some extent. However, if it is a nice day and I want the windows open, you can count on the dogs being out in the yard and in excellent voice. Unfortunately there are no noise ordinances here in the quiet, tree-lined suburbs.

One of the reasons I don't like to travel is that although I request the quietest room available, I am invariably housed next to a family of door-slammers on their way to a Colicky Baby World Congress. At one establishment, at 10 pm, I tried to keep track of the number of times the children ran in and out of the next room into a room across the hall. It was easy: they slammed each of the doors in turn, once a minute for an hour and a half. The slamming even shook the bed. The parents never said a word. The hotel did nothing though I called the front desk several times. Yes, I think my blood pressure might have been a tad elevated....

Perhaps my next trip I will try a monastic guesthouse where they keep the Grand Silence at night. There is a reason cloistered religious usually live such long lives--they don't have dobes or car alarms shrieking under their windows. And they know how to close doors quietly.