Suburban Noise Pollution

[iris lily]

Starting late May, into June, and crescendoing right now, we have illegal fireworks nightly. When they start up I think it is gunfire, but then after a couple of weeks of pop-pop-pops I remember that my neighbors in public housing, while enjoying both activities, tend to light explosives this time of year rather than shoot each other.

We are no longer allowed to complain about the incessant noise on
Nextdoor, not allowed to exchange info about exact  locations of the explosives (to aid policemen) , not allowed to talk about it. Or else our neighbors in public housing get all butthurt.  Last year at least one such post was deleted due to complaints from the neighborhood next to us (feelings were hurt!) and we are now scolded and shamed in other posts for suggesting this noise is problematic.

I guess the fireworks are a fabulous way to celebrate freedoms in this country! Freedom to provide endless noise for months! Freedom to flaunt city ordinance. But most importantly, freedom to use money on explosives while dumbfuck taxpayers like me pay for housing of those who set off the fireworks. That is a good gig if you can get it.

[DreamFIRE]

For my brain, all sound has the same effect -water, a fan, birds chirping, a lawnmower. I don’t know the experience of sleeping happily to natural sounds. No one else here use the headphones?

Are you playing music or something through the headphones?

I'm not, no. I have them on no setting (just the covers themselves) or on the white noise setting (which I don't hear). I love silence, so while they have the option of music, I usually don't take it.

If you're not playing music, then...  How do they do on very low frequency rumble like a train?  How about a subwoofer that's booming?   Does it do well with the birds chirping?  A dog barking?   What about people talking in the office that you don't want to hear?  I've heard they only work well for more steady sounds, like an AC, fan, mower.

How could you not hear white noise?  It makes me think the setting isn't working if you can't hear it.

Active noise cancellation (if done properly) uses a mic to record ambient sounds, and then a speaker to generate equal frequency opposite phase sound waves to cancel it out at the listener's ear.  If the speaker is capable of producing 20 - 20k Hz, that should prevent the listener from hearing stuff from both the low and high frequencies.

But from the post, it sounds like the headphones were supposed to play the white noise to intentionally be heard to help mask out environmental sounds rather than the white noise being played and canceled out by the noise cancellation technology, defeating the purpose of the feature.   If it was the fan that she didn't hear, that would of course make sense, and I wouldn't be asking, but not the white noise that is supposed to be heard in order to serve its purpose of masking other sounds.

[DreamFIRE]

I can't tell you much more than I have, DreamFIRE. I encourage you to buy a pair from a place that offers 100% refund and try them out.

Maybe I will have the chance sometime.  The vast majority of the time, it's pretty peaceful around here, though.  There was a time  maybe 10 years ago that I had a neighbor who had a TV up loud (it sounds like it had a subwoofer) at 5 AM while using a piece of exercise equipment that was causing me to lose an hour of sleep.  Earplugs were useless for those low frequency sounds - it made it worse.  A fan helped.  Fortunately, that only went on for a few months.

[joonifloofeefloo]

But from the post, it sounds like the headphones were supposed to play the white noise to intentionally be heard to help mask out environmental sounds rather than the white noise being played and canceled out by the noise cancellation technology...

Oh, I see! I believe mine do what GuitarStv described (they are active noise-cancellation). Now I understand what you were saying there. Yes, I'm not listening to white noise, but rather to the sound of "sound cancelled".

I'm in a very peaceful place again now too. (It happens to be the opposite of iris lily's situation. I'm in monastic-like public housing, full of peaceful people in a peaceful neighbourhood, though with some noise from the owner-neighbours surrounding.) I find my Bose very helpful for when one owner-neighbour works on the motors of their vehicle collection, or a neighbouring complex gets the weekly mowing/weedwhacking service in, as well as in public centers where I work while I wait for my kid during his classes.

[DreamFIRE]

But from the post, it sounds like the headphones were supposed to play the white noise to intentionally be heard to help mask out environmental sounds rather than the white noise being played and canceled out by the noise cancellation technology...

Oh, I see! I believe mine do what GuitarStv described (they are active noise-cancellation). Now I understand what you were saying there. Yes, I'm not listening to white noise, but rather to the sound of "sound cancelled".

Oh, I see.  When you said the white noise setting the first time, I thought you meant it played white noise to help mask out other sounds (sort of like what I am doing) rather than being a noise cancellation setting to mask out white noise.  When I looked at the manual on the Bose site, it made no mention of that setting.  It says off, and two noise cancellations settings which aren't referred to with "white noise" in the description.  That must be a change with the newer model.

[joonifloofeefloo]

Oh, I see.  When you said the white noise setting the first time, I thought you meant it played white noise to help mask out other sounds (sort of like what I am doing) rather than being a noise cancellation setting to mask out white noise.  When I looked at the manual on the Bose site, it made no mention of that setting.  It says off, and two noise cancellations settings which aren't referred to with "white noise" in the description.  That must be a change with the newer model.

No, it was me that said it wrong. i.e., I shouldn't have said "white noise". I should have said "active noise cancellation." It was my error, my misspeaking in the first place.

[DreamFIRE]

Oh, I see.  When you said the white noise setting the first time, I thought you meant it played white noise to help mask out other sounds (sort of like what I am doing) rather than being a noise cancellation setting to mask out white noise.  When I looked at the manual on the Bose site, it made no mention of that setting.  It says off, and two noise cancellations settings which aren't referred to with "white noise" in the description.  That must be a change with the newer model.

No, it was me that said it wrong. i.e., I shouldn't have said "white noise". I should have said "active noise cancellation." It was my error, my misspeaking in the first place.

Ahhh... gotcha.  Thanks.

[BlueMR2]

I'll be happy when Summer is over and the neighborhood kids go back to school.  All the yelling and screaming and running around stilling going on after 9 pm when I'm trying to sleep so I can go to work.  I don't complain about it though because they don't complain about me firing up my motorcycle at 6 am to go to work (which has to be annoying because it's really old and therefore carbureted, taking several minutes of roaring at 4500 RPMs choke on to warm up before I can idle it down and ride)…

If you want quiet, you need to go rural and get a BUNCH of your own property.  Suburbs are definitely an improvement over the urban din though as the concentration of population is lower, but are not a complete solution.

[AccountingForLife]

I recently moved from a huge metropolitan spot in the US to the suburbs of New Jersey, and I'm very happy with this decision except for one major dilemma: My days are constantly disrupted by some dullard in my neighborhood that is running a leaf blower, piloting a zero turn mower, or finding some other way to care for their lawn in the loudest possible way.

Whether I'm trying to read, watch 'The Crown', or take a nap, I'm constantly disrupted by the 'REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE' of some god-awful small engine. This goes on for all daylight hours now that spring has sprung. Besides their reliance on this awful machines (or their contracting of lawn care companies who use them), my neighbors all seem swell. I'm the new guy in the neighborhood and I'm worried about starting some unnecessary trouble by trying to tell my neighbors to ditch all these machines.

Do I:

Approach them and and try to bring up the fact that I own an electric lawn mower and trimmer and am completely satisfied with both the job they do and the fact that I can have a conversation with my wife while mowing the lawn?

Try and push for a local ordinance to curb the use of gas-powered lawn equipment and/or encourage the use of battery powered alternatives?

Put in my earplugs and push on?

My entire neighborhood is small, 1/4 acre lots that were divided up and built in the 1950's. I don't understand how someone could spend an hour running a leaf blower to get the grass clippings off of their driveway. It takes me 5 minutes with a push broom.

Sell your house and move to the country.

[RetiredAt63]

I recently moved from a huge metropolitan spot in the US to the suburbs of New Jersey, and I'm very happy with this decision except for one major dilemma: My days are constantly disrupted by some dullard in my neighborhood that is running a leaf blower, piloting a zero turn mower, or finding some other way to care for their lawn in the loudest possible way.

Whether I'm trying to read, watch 'The Crown', or take a nap, I'm constantly disrupted by the 'REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE' of some god-awful small engine. This goes on for all daylight hours now that spring has sprung. Besides their reliance on this awful machines (or their contracting of lawn care companies who use them), my neighbors all seem swell. I'm the new guy in the neighborhood and I'm worried about starting some unnecessary trouble by trying to tell my neighbors to ditch all these machines.

Do I:

Approach them and and try to bring up the fact that I own an electric lawn mower and trimmer and am completely satisfied with both the job they do and the fact that I can have a conversation with my wife while mowing the lawn?

Try and push for a local ordinance to curb the use of gas-powered lawn equipment and/or encourage the use of battery powered alternatives?

Put in my earplugs and push on?

My entire neighborhood is small, 1/4 acre lots that were divided up and built in the 1950's. I don't understand how someone could spend an hour running a leaf blower to get the grass clippings off of their driveway. It takes me 5 minutes with a push broom.

Sell your house and move to the country.

Lots of us have pointed out the country can be noisy too.

[sokoloff]

I'm the new guy in the neighborhood and I'm worried about starting some unnecessary trouble by trying to tell my neighbors to ditch all these machines.

Do I:

Approach them and and try to bring up the fact that I own an electric lawn mower and trimmer and am completely satisfied with both the job they do and the fact that I can have a conversation with my wife while mowing the lawn?

Try and push for a local ordinance to curb the use of gas-powered lawn equipment and/or encourage the use of battery powered alternatives?

Put in my earplugs and push on?

My entire neighborhood is small, 1/4 acre lots that were divided up and built in the 1950's. I don't understand how someone could spend an hour running a leaf blower to get the grass clippings off of their driveway. It takes me 5 minutes with a push broom.

Sell your house and move to the country.

Lots of us have pointed out the country can be noisy too.

Yes, but the type of person who just moved into a neighborhood and whose possible solution set to a neighbor mowing their lawn includes suggesting that the neighbor change equipment for the poster's benefit or worse, agitating for an ordinance to force others to comply with their personal choice, is perhaps not well suited for suburban living. Let them have their arguments with the birds and frogs.

[RetiredAt63]

I'm the new guy in the neighborhood and I'm worried about starting some unnecessary trouble by trying to tell my neighbors to ditch all these machines.

Do I:

Approach them and and try to bring up the fact that I own an electric lawn mower and trimmer and am completely satisfied with both the job they do and the fact that I can have a conversation with my wife while mowing the lawn?

Try and push for a local ordinance to curb the use of gas-powered lawn equipment and/or encourage the use of battery powered alternatives?

Put in my earplugs and push on?

My entire neighborhood is small, 1/4 acre lots that were divided up and built in the 1950's. I don't understand how someone could spend an hour running a leaf blower to get the grass clippings off of their driveway. It takes me 5 minutes with a push broom.

Sell your house and move to the country.

Lots of us have pointed out the country can be noisy too.

Yes, but the type of person who just moved into a neighborhood and whose possible solution set to a neighbor mowing their lawn includes suggesting that the neighbor change equipment for the poster's benefit or worse, agitating for an ordinance to force others to comply with their personal choice, is perhaps not well suited for suburban living. Let them have their arguments with the birds and frogs.

And the farmers.  And the ATVers and snowmobilers.   In cottage country, with the boaters.  And in season, with the hunters.

[DreamFIRE]

I'm the new guy in the neighborhood and I'm worried about starting some unnecessary trouble by trying to tell my neighbors to ditch all these machines.

Do I:

Approach them and and try to bring up the fact that I own an electric lawn mower and trimmer and am completely satisfied with both the job they do and the fact that I can have a conversation with my wife while mowing the lawn?

Try and push for a local ordinance to curb the use of gas-powered lawn equipment and/or encourage the use of battery powered alternatives?

Put in my earplugs and push on?

My entire neighborhood is small, 1/4 acre lots that were divided up and built in the 1950's. I don't understand how someone could spend an hour running a leaf blower to get the grass clippings off of their driveway. It takes me 5 minutes with a push broom.

Sell your house and move to the country.

Lots of us have pointed out the country can be noisy too.

Yes, but the type of person who just moved into a neighborhood and whose possible solution set to a neighbor mowing their lawn includes suggesting that the neighbor change equipment for the poster's benefit or worse, agitating for an ordinance to force others to comply with their personal choice, is perhaps not well suited for suburban living. Let them have their arguments with the birds and frogs.

I spent many years living at two different country residences with no next door neighbors.  It was definitely more peaceful than my fairly peaceful suburbian life.  I was never bothered by birds and frogs, and I still have plenty of birds in the suburb.  The privacy in the country is a big plus also.  The farmers' fields sit quiet the vast majority of the time, unless you want to count the rustling of the leaves in the breeze.  Today, was another new noise.  My neighbor had hired a service to come over and pressure wash his concrete patio, so there was an engine running for that.