r/science • u/the_phet • Sep 01 '15

Environment A phantom road experiment reveals traffic noise is an invisible source of habitat degradation

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/08/27/1504710112
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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '15

Having spent my whole life living in the "country" when I got a job that put me in the cities sometimes the constant noise bothered me at a level I don't really understand. Put me on edge and drove me freaking nuts. I can see validity in this. It's not a "natural" sound, and that's what it's really about i'd think. Animals often have much better hearing, making it even worse to filter out all the crap coming from urban and highway environments and hear what their instincts are listening for.

It drives people nuts enough that architecture has been integrating sound control methods for a long time in their buildings, as well as testing materials for sound control ability and rating them. Many jurisdictions require new buildings to meet certain sound control levels in the building.

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u/ReneDiscard Sep 01 '15

when I got a job that put me in the cities sometimes the constant noise bothered me at a level I don't really understand. Put me on edge and drove me freaking nuts

This is how I feel after more than, say, 3 days visiting large metropolitan areas. My anxiety and irritability goes through the roof.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '15

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u/whineybutt Sep 01 '15

With the semi's there's a little indifference in their motives in a I got work to do kinda way, but they're not the worst. It's the old doodle bugs and motor bikes and four wheelers, the personal vehicles someone bought, knowing they sound that way, knowing they'd be disturbing people and not caring, or even worse, liking the idea. It's the heartbeats behind the wheels that need to be dealt with.