
Physical and emotional benefits of turning down the noise
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When I bought my retirement home years ago, I considered many things, but one of the things that I didn't pay too much attention to was the level of noise in the area. To my delight I later discovered that my neighborhood is very quiet. I didn't realize how much background noise had been present in my former abodes until it wasn't there. I live on an island where there is only one main road and I live near the end of it; therefore, there is almost no traffic noise. When I leave the island, I notice the constant drone of traffic noise that I was totally oblivious to before.
Wow, this article and comments below had me in a reverie here, tracing the sound environments of my life back to childhood - each distinctly different! Thinking about it, truly, I came to appreciate them all, "even" NYC, with its non-stop traffic & sirens. It was the sound of home! :) Though perhaps nothing beat the sound of living on a river, hearing the lapping of water each morning and evening. I'm sorry, did I say I came to appreciate the sounds in all the places I've lived? There are three sounds that DRIVE ME CRAZY: the deafening sound of power lawn tools (leaf blowers & weed whackers, with gagging exhaust, to boot); generators (which also create a *really annoying* vibration felt well beyond the offending property); and the incessant barking of a chained-up dog punctuated with pathetic yelps when reaching the end of its tether. Ironically, it was only moving to semi-rural New England where, Spring through Fall, all three are now part of daily living. It's only quiet at night... when (not to change the subject but) stadium lighting at shopping plazas and auto dealers casts a milky pall across an otherwise awesome night sky.
Oh, I feel your pain! Isn't it sad that when you politely ask a neighbor to tone it down, they purposely make MORE noise just to tick you off?? How did this country become so uncivilized? Too many people living too closely together and too much stress overall have created so many problems! I hope you can find another place to live (if that is an option for you) or pray the family above you will be evicted if they are causing THAT much noise. Can your landlord do anything about the noise? (Then you may have to deal with more retaliation!) Good luck to you in dealing with your noise issue and inconsiderate neighbors.
As it turned out our former neighbor's boy has ADHD and even failed the first grade (how do you fail the first grade??). Not sure about their daughter, but they both fought a lot as siblings do. The parents were in denial at first, I think. Most kids are loud IF they are allowed to get away with being loud. I really notice this in restaurants especially. Yet I know families who have beautifully-behaved children who are NOT noisy or disruptive. It's all how they are raised from the start. The case I speak of is quite sad actually. Nice family, but a bit misguided.
One of the worst types of noise, for me, is living next door to screaming children who are naturally LOUD all the time, and who belong to parents who allow them to remain out of control. In suburbia where homes can often be close together this situation can become a nightmare. I speak from experience. My nerves were totally shot from the constant noise next door. It never ended. Once we relocated to another city, we found peace and quiet in an older wooded neighborhood where wildlife was abundant. It was the worst 5 years of my life living next door to noisy neighbors and screaming children in a new development. Never again.
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