📘 Part 3: Noise

This episode's vocabulary

The bare minimum (phrase) - the least possible amount.

Carriage (noun) - a vehicle with four wheels that is usually pulled by horses and was used mainly in the past.

Attendant (adj.) - coming with a stated thing or resulting from it.

Curfew (noun) - a rule that everyone must stay at home between particular times, usually at night, especially during a war or a period of political trouble.

To curb (verb) - to control or limit something that is not wanted.

Divine (adj.) - connected with a god, or like a god,

Numinous (adj.) - having a deep spiritual (= religious) quality or connection.

To cavort (verb) - to dance around, having a noisy good time.

Exuberance (noun) - the quality of feeling energetic, or the behaviour of someone who feels this way.

To pipe down (phrasal verb) - to stop talking or making unnecessary noise.

Soundproofing (noun) - special material put in a room or building in order to prevent sound from passing out of or into it, or the act of putting in this material.

Questions and Answers

M: What kinds of places should be noise-free?

R: Is that even possible? I mean, even if one person is in a room, they make all sorts of noise just existing there, don't they? However, I suppose it could be reduced to the bare minimum in places for a reasonable amount of quiet as expected. So, libraries and quiet carriages on trains where people are supposed to be able to relax.

M: Why can it be hard to find quiet places in cities?

R: Well, the sheer volume of people for starters probably prevents that. You can't have that many people living under each other and expect it to be like the countryside, can you? Between that and all the attendant traffic and what have you. There's no wonder there's so much noise there, actually.

M: Some people think that there should be laws to regulate noise levels in cities. What do you think?

R: Well, within reason, why not? I mean, you can't just have people making all kinds of sounds when most people would usually be relaxing or sleeping, can you? So with that in mind, some loose sort of curfews might help curb noise levels. And that might be useful.

M: Why are people forbidden to make noise in religious places?

R: You're supposed to be respectful, aren't you? So controlling the level of noise and showing some self-discipline would lend itself to that sort of expectation. I mean, people are trying to connect to the divine or something numinous in those places. So if you start cavorting around in there, it's going to upset people. It would upset me.

M: Should young children be strictly forbidden from making any noise?

R: I think that might be a slightly unrealistic expectation to have, don't you? It's not easy to curb that youthful exuberance they have. So they should probably be encouraged to be respectful, like I said before, and have some self-control when it's needed. That seems like it might work better.

M: How does noise pollution compare to other types of pollution?

R: Well, it's damaging to health and the environment. Not much getting away from that. I suppose the cause and the effects are less immediately obvious, though. For example, you can't see sound waves or any of the micro-level damage they might do to buildings or living things until that builds up over time, which is difficult when you're trying to identify what the problem actually is.

M: How has modern technology contributed to increasing noise levels?

R: Well, there are more things moving around to create noise these days. Where we can pump up the volume from about a million different sources. So I suppose those are two ways that it could have, could have contributed to that.

M: And what things do you mean? For example.

R: Well, like cars, for example, or if we think about just different ways to move things. Cars, planes, trucks, and all the means of transportation that we have are supported by modern technology. So those are the things that moved around. And if we talk about pumping up the volume, well, anything with a speaker and a volume setting device and software would be instrumental in this. So if we think about music or people's various devices that are always going off.

M: What measures can individuals take to reduce noise pollution in their community?

R: Telling people to pipe down? Nah, they could use various soundproofing and absorption methods like having rugs and curtains to break up the sound waves in their homes. Aside from that, just having the decency to recognize when people might not appreciate a whole ton of noise being pumped into the air would probably do the trick. It's better to think ahead in these situations rather than in the moment.