Terminology and ERSAs*

Below is a list of terms related to noise and its adverse health effects, along with some frequently-refuted simplistic assertions (FRSAs) that denialists make to dismiss inconvenient facts and others’ concerns about them. If you have suggestions for other terminology or FRSAs we should add, please contact us.

A-weighting — Tailoring audio measurements to focus on the mid-range frequencies used in human speech. It derives from occupational health and safety, because the inability to understand speech represents a compensatable workplace injury. A-weighted decibels are abbreviated dB(A).

Boy racer — A UK term for young men who make excessive noise and otherwise threaten public safety by speeding around British cities in sports cars with modified exhaust systems.

C-weighting — An alternative to A-weighting that emphasizes lower-frequency (bass) sounds at the bottom of the audio spectrum, such as those produced by internal-combustion engines and subwoofer speakers, and those potentially more reflective of urban soundscapes.

Decibel (dB) — A common metric for sound energy. It is measured on a logarithmic (not linear) scale, which means an increase of just 10 decibels is effectively perceived by people as being twice the volume level. Often “weighted” in government regulations and enforcement procedures to approximate the sound range of the human ear, though that is not always how sound is perceived.

Decibel masculinity — A dysfunctional, performative notion of male identity whereby the louder a man is, the more masculine he is. This results in some (especially younger) men in Providence competing, both figuratively and literally, to see who can make the most noise.

NIMBY (“Noise in my bedroom, yo!”) — This acronym was originally associated with homeowners who impeded efforts to provide social services or housing on the basis that it would lower property values, but was later appropriated by the for-profit development sector to dismiss residents’ concerns about excessive noise from commercial venues (whose builders / owners don’t live near them and aren’t affected by the consequences). This plays out as, “Not in my backyard, but in yours.”

Noise — Sound at a level that 1) compels people or animals to change their behavior and / or 2) adversely affects them physiologically.1 Exposure can be measured by objective criteria such as decibels, blood-pressure level, or hearing loss, and cannot be avoided through psycho-social adaptation.

Noise bullying — Threatening those who object to being exposed to deliberately excessive noise with violence or other forms of retaliation.

Noise denialism — The claim that excessive noise is not adverse to human health, despite decades of research to the contrary, because the denier likes it, supports those who make it, dislikes those who object to it, and / or has lived in the area longer than the latter. Often accompanied by unsubstantiated claims that the denier, those making the noise, or everyone is immune to the adverse health effects of excessive noise.

Noise entitlement — The sense that someone has a self-assigned “right” to make noise that exceeds local and / or state sound limits, often falsely based on one’s personal identity, such as a member of 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”).

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 old age is actually due to one’s cumulative lifetime exposure to noise: noise-induced hearing loss in the elderly

Ototoxic — A fancy adjective that means bad for the ears or 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. It has historically been used as a torture technique because it seriously harms victims without leaving any marks. One of the most damaging effects of excessive noise is depriving those nearby of sufficient rest.


Frequently-Refuted Simplistic Assertions (FRSAs)

Cities are noisy” — A recursive and self-fulfilling rationalization for creating, exacerbating, and / or defending excessive noise in urban areas, by citing the use of a completely variable condition (volume level) in an invariable manner (loud) as its own justification for doing so: In other words, “Cities are loud / because we make them loud / because cities are loud.”

This is akin to throwing garbage in the street because ”cities are polluted” (ensuring they remain that way, and encouraging other people to pollute them) or assaulting people because “cities are dangerous.” For obvious reasons, however, we don’t accept such behavior or absurd rationales for it, any more than we tolerate racism on the grounds that “people are racist” (though some are).

Noise is a cultural construct — The deflective claim that what constitutes excessive noise is based entirely on one’s self-identity as a member of an identity group, rather than by its decibel level. Effectively, this means that no sound (not matter how loud) can ever be deemed noise — and, by extension, can and must be allowed and even defended — if members of group X are making it and / or others are willing to endure it on that basis, often for socio-political reasons rather than preference.

This has been extended to the corollary claim that certain groups require sound to be at excessive sound levels, and that anyone who objects to the volume is impugning them. It is also inverted so that those who object to excessive volume levels on physiological ground are dismissed as simply expressing their own culturally-determined preferences, rather than objective and documented health concerns.

Noise doesn’t affect us” — Noise denialists often rationalize excessive sound levels by claiming (without any evidence) that a self-identified cohort of people is not physically affected by noise, due to their recurrent exposure to and / or enjoyment of it. This is actually a form of psycho-social conditioning, whereby unhealthy noise levels are socially normalized, such that people exposed to them (particularly at an early age) come to identify with and defend them as acceptable or even desirable (see “Stockholm Syndrome”). In fact, the physiological effects of excessive sound levels are well documented, and unaltered by repeated exposure, ideology, or efforts to actively ignore them.

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1 The official definition is “unwanted and / or harmful sound.” The first descriptor is certainly accurate in the social sense of noise, but the word “unwanted” introduces a subjective element — i.e., one’s personal preference for a particular sound (such as music one doesn’t like) — whether it’s excessively loud or not. This opens the door to unresolvable disputes about who wants to hear it and who doesn’t. The latter adjective is a far more useful determinant of noise, since it relies on measurable sound levels.