The words and phrases below are all related to noise and its adverse health effects.
If you have suggestions for other terms should be included here, please contact us.
A-weighting — Acoustic measurements focused on the upper mid-range frequencies common to human speech. It arose from occupational health and safety concerns that workplace-induced hearing loss that impedes verbal communication represents a potential compensation claim. A-weighted decibels (dBA) are one of three approaches to noise measurement used in the Noise Project’s sound-monitoring initiative. (See also “C-weighting” below.)
Anthropophonic — Relating to sound made by humans, as opposed to that made by animals or natural phenomena. In most cases, the former obscures the latter.
“Boy racers” — A British term for the small cohort of young men who speed around UK cities in cars with modified exhaust systems, making excessive noise and otherwise threatening public safety (see “decibel masculinity” below). Providence’s variant tend to be more focused on noise than speed.
C-weighting (dBC) — Acoustic measurement with less de-emphasis on lower-frequency (i.e., bass) sound at the bottom end of the audio spectrum, such as that produced by internal-combustion engines (e.g., in motor vehicles and gas-fueled leafblowers) and subwoofer speakers, in contrast to A-weighting. It‘s much closer to “Z-weighted” decibels, which are actually unweighted measurements.
Low-frequency sound waves travel farther than higher-frequency waves, including through solid materials such as building walls, and thus are more disruptive in urban soundscapes. Most sources register higher in C-weighted decibels than A-weighted ones in the Noise Project’s sound-monitoring initiative, though the measurements tend to converge as the sound-pressure level (volume) increases.
Decibel (dB) — The common metric for how loud a sound is. It is a logarithmic (exponential) rather than linear scale, which means it increases at an escalating rate, and so relatively small numerical differences are perceived as substantially different volume levels.
Municipal regulations and enforcement procedures often prescribe measurements in “A-weighted” decibels (see definition above) that focus on the upper mid-range frequencies of human speech, which de-emphasizes other frequency ranges, especially more intrusive lower-frequency bass.
Decibel masculinity — The performative and anti-social idea of male identity in which sound levels are seen as a demonstration of how masculine a man is. This results in some (especially younger) men competing, both figuratively and literally, to see who can make the loudest noise, usually with the use of a vehicle engine or over-amplified audio equipment such as loudspeakers.1
Deterrence — The idea that a negative response to a person’s behavior will discourage them from repeating it. Thus, fining those who violate city noise ordinances is not intended merely to punish such actions, but rather to prevent future violations. Conversely, an absence of consequences for excessive noise communicates that people are allowed, encouraged, or even entitled to generate more of it (see “noise impunity” below).
NIMBY (acronym for “Noise In Most Backyards” or “Noise In My Bedroom Year-round”) — Originally associated with some homeowner efforts to impede non-profit social services and public housing on the grounds that it would lower adjacent property values, that idea has since been co-opted by the for-profit development sector as a way to dismiss resident concerns about excessive noise from lucrative commercial ventures such as bars, restaurants, and performance spaces.2
Noise — Sound at an excessive volume level that 1) compels people to change their behavior and / or 2) adversely affects them physiologically.3 Exposure to excessive noise can be measured by objective criteria such as decibels, blood-pressure level, or hearing loss, and cannot be avoided through psycho-social adaptation (i.e., acculturation, etc). In other words, even people who think they’ve adapted to or are unbothered by noise are still adversely affected by it.
Noise bullying — Threatening those who object to being exposed to deliberately excessive and unhealthy noise with violence or other forms of retaliation. Some theorize that this is actually the real motivation for transgressive noise: to provoke a confrontation that allows the bully to demonstrate his power (see also “decibel masculinity”).
Noise denialism — Dismissing objections to excessive sound levels by asserting that it does not adversely affect human health, contrary to more than a half century of research, because the denier either likes the noise, supports those who make it, and / or has lived in the area longer than those raising noise concerns. Often accompanied by accusations those who object to it are overly sensitive, unfamiliar with urban life, or have an ulterior motive such as gentrification or racism.
Noise entitlement — The self-serving belief that one has a “right” to make noise excessive noise based on one’s personal identity, such as being a member of a certain group, or the duration of one’s residence in an area (i.e., “We grew up here, so we get to decide how loud it should be”), in defiance of local and / or state sound limits. The act of flouting noise limits is often tied to self-identity.
Noise impunity — In the absence of enforcement or other consequences for making excessive noise, the idea that someone can be as loud as they want, whenever and wherever they want.
Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) — The permanent diminution of aural acuity caused to damage to the inner ear from exposure to excessive sound levels. The gradual hearing loss over time that most people associate with simply getting older is actually due to the cumulative exposure to noise over one’s lifetime: significant noise-induced hearing loss in the elderly is not a natural occurrence.
”Noise tax” — Direct financial costs to people who are exposed to excessive noise in order to avoid or reduce their exposure to it. Examples include higher costs to buy or rent housing in quieter areas, utility costs associated with being forced to keep windows closed in warm weather (e.g., air-conditioning, fans) and / or to drown out noise (including during the winter), and noise barriers such as personal earplugs, heavier drapes, multi-pane windows, air sealing, etc.
Indirect costs associated with noise include healthcare resulting from the adverse health effects of excessive noise, lower valuations on property in excessively loud areas, lost revenue for businesses in louder areas, actual municipal and state taxes to fund noise enforcement activities, and loss of tax revenue from lower real-estate valuations and commercial activities.
Ototoxic — A fancy adjective that means harmful to a person’s ears and / or their hearing.
Sleep deprivation — Preventing others from getting the minimum hours of sleep that humans require to maintain basic health, generally recognized as 6 to 8 hours per night. (Sleep deprivation has historically been used as a torture technique, because it seriously impairs victims without leaving any marks.) Recent scientific research has tied numerous adverse health effects to being deprived of sufficient sleep.
Z-weighted — An inaptly named way of referring to acoustic measurements that are actually not weighted, i.e., just raw sound-level data. Contrasts with both A-weighted and C-weighted data.
_______________
1 The “masculine overcompensation thesis” is the idea that men react to perceived threats to their masculinity by making extreme performances of it, such as revving vehicle engines, installing modified mufflers, etc. (See “Overdoing Gender: A Test of the Masculine Overcompensation Thesis,” American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 118, No. 4)
2 The biggest examples of the original definition of NIMBY are actually the commercial property developers and venue owners themselves, because they generally don’t live near the excessively loud enterprises they create, and thus aren’t affected by the noise and other adverse conditions they expose neighboring residents to — leading to yet another (and far more accurate) definition of NIMBYism: “Not Imposed on Me, But on You.”
3 The official definition of noise is “unwanted and / or harmful sound.” The first descriptor is certainly accurate in the social sense of noise, but ‘want‘ introduces a subjective element — i.e., personal preference for a particular sound (i.e., music one doesn’t like) — whether or not it’s excessively loud. This opens the door to unresolvable disputes about who wants to hear it and who doesn’t. The word “harmful” is a far more useful determinant of noise, as it relies on measurable sound levels and their physiological effects, such as high blood-pressure, cortisol levels, etc.