Bits And Pieces

A World Of Noise

     Does a sudden loud noise have you jumping, your heart pounding and your hands shaky? 

     We live in a world of noise.  A world filled with loud crashes and ear shattering bangs.  We hardly have a moment of honest, soothing quiet.

     Just for fun, sit down with the radio and TV turned off, without noise concocting appliances running and just feel your nerves unwind.  But not for long--was that the phone?  And listen to that plane that just flew low over the house.

     There is really hardly a full minute of absolute silence in any town or city dweller's home.  The refrigerator snaps on and off, buzzing unheard through the greater pitch of night and morning noise when the family is together.

     The basement sump pump gurgles and pounds.  The friendly slush of the washing machine and the hum of the dryer, the bubbling of the pot on the stove or the sizzling of the frying pan are all inside noises that we are so accustomed to we rarely hear them, and pay little attention to this assault on our ears.

     Complete quiet makes us generally nervous and causes our ears to hum.  Evidently we feel more comfortable with a soothing amount of sound hitting our eardrums.

     Now what noises do you consider soothing?  I enjoy the sound of waves hitting a beach, soft gentle rollers, not the storm tossed breakers.  The sound of a bird singing an evening song or the house canary if he doesn't trill on a shrill note.

     The sound of a clock ticking is comforting when you're alone in the house.  The chimes of a grandfather's clock as it marks the fifteen minute intervals of my day.  Organ music played on big pipe organs.  The sound of a big dance orchestra that rhythmically and without blaring stay smoothly together.  The laughter of children or the gurgle of a baby sooths the ear and isn't in the noise category.

     The snap and pop of birch logs in a fireplace on a dark winter night--pleasant to the ear and warming to the heart.  The snap of an apple when you bite it---or the busy, low, buzz of conversation and the tinkling of silverware against plates in that dining room on your evening out for dinner.  Sounds good doesn't it?

     Actually there are few sounds which aren't in the noise category and most cities have a noise abatement committee which tries to get city racket down to a dull roar.

     Medical scientists feel constant noise is hard on the individual.  Ordnances have been passed to stop certain sounds until a specified time.  Construction workers were arrested recently for operating a noisy hoist too early in the morning.

     I recall after we'd spent a vacation in Northern Wisconsin on a quiet lake and slowly unwound for a few weeks--our ears objected to the noise of home when we returned.  The screech of tires as a car turns a corner.  The same noise when the brakes are applied suddenly.  The bang of a door as a child throws himself outside.  The insistent whistle of the teakettle or the clang of the minute-minder.

     Seems as though the things which have us moving faster to shut off are the noisiest.

     Some of the rackets we can't silence like the siren on an ambulance or police car---especially that new, weird sound that they now make that has a driver hitting the curb pronto when that racket goes off behind the car.  The sounds of jets flying low, nosing into your summer conversations.  The barking of a neighbor's dog, or the crying of a child.  All these can't be quieted by the turn of a switch.

     The noises that make you jump suddenly and crawl up your nerves can't be turned off.  Take the noise of dropped dishes or the squeak of chalk on the blackboard or the rubbing of a fingernail along the same board.  The persistent and annoying pop of bubble gum in your youngster's mouth--the noise of someone cracking knuckles or an auto horn.

     To attract attention, you can't beat a loud noise.  We hear often long before we see---our ears are a built-in warning system.  

     As Charles Lamb once said "Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and rural sounds, excel in interest a knock at the door."

     Sounds we need, but noise let's eliminate and soothe our nerves toward a happier less jumpy life.

Written November 5, 1964 

     Arlington Heights along with other Northwest Suburbs of Chicago are on the flight path of planes landing at O'Hare.  Street traffic was constant on the local north-south artery nearby.