“Noise is the New Smoking”
PNP WHYY-FM’s “The Pulse” program featured an episode about noise and health in August 2025. You can listen to it as a stream or as a downloadable podcast on several services — or read a text transcript below. MAIKEN SCOTT (host): This is The Pulse — stories about the people and places at the heart of health … Read more
We Cautiously Endorse Matt McDermott for City Council Of the five official candidates in the Ward 2 City Council special election, three of the four Democratic candidates responded to our survey on noise issues and policy. We were disappointed that David Caldwell didn’t respond — despite publicly citing noise as an issue — and could not reach Brown … Read more
In late 2024, Providence City Council member and Environment Committee chair Sue AnderBois (Ward 3) introduced a proposed amendment (47724) to regulate the use of heavily-polluting gas-fueled leafblowers and similar landscaping equipment in the city. The amendment co-sponsors were Council members John Goncalves (Ward 1), Helen Anthony (Ward 2), Miguel Sanchez (Ward 5), Ana Vargas … Read more
In 2023, newly elected Providence Mayor Brett Smiley proposed addressing excessive noise by purchasing hand-held noise meters for Providence Police, which sounded oddly familiar to Noise Project volunteers. The text below is from Providence City Council member Jo-Ann Ryan’s Oct. 2017 News & Notes blog: We asked Mayor Smiley’s office what happened to the noise … Read more
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Noise Report Cards for Boston Neighborhoods By Kevin Hartnett (Boston Globe, Oct. 23, 2016) — Noise is an inconvenience of city living. Could it also hurt your health? Erica Walker, a doctoral student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, set out to help answer that question. For a year, she measured noise … Read more
