📘 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.

Discussion

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers! Right. So much noise you made in your answers. If a place is noise-free, it doesn't have any noise. I don't think there are any noise-free places in the world today, dear listener.

R: I'm trying to think. Like...

M: Maybe at the bottom of the ocean?

R: No. There are whales at the bottom of the ocean as well. And volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

M: And they go... Like this, whales in the ocean.

R: Maybe. Please never do that again.

M: You don't like my whale noises?

R: I feel like we could be spending our time in other ways than making real noises. That is my diplomatic answer.

M: Even if there is only one person in a room, they make all sorts of noise. So one person? They. Or he or she makes all sorts of noise. Like, I don't know, coughing, doing things with their nose. Scratching. Noise could be reduced or noise levels could be reduced to the bare minimum. Okay? So reduce the noise to the bare minimum in certain places. For example, in recording studios. Yeah? And what do you call such walls? Like noises or free walls or soundproof walls?

R: I think they're soundproofed, or they have soundproofing installed or they're insulated from sound in some way. I don't know the technical words for them.

M: Yeah, for example, like in recording studios or in libraries. Also quiet carriages on trains. Ooh, there are special places on trains?

R: There are in my country? I don't know about yours.

M: Oh, really? Wow, so it's just kind of like marked? Like it's like quiet carriages?

R: Yeah, you're not supposed to have your phone on and things like that. Although how well that works I have no idea.

M: Can you have kids there?

R: If you wanted to, but they would also have to be quiet too, I think.

M: Yeah, you see? In Scotland, we have quiet carriages. Carriages? Like, you know, like rooms on trains. Or not like, no, like you mean like carriage, like a wagon? Yeah?

R: Yeah. Like the car, the train car.

M: So where everyone sits? Not just like your private place?

R: No, no, there's like rows of seats and everything.

M: And Rory told us like the sheer volume of people. So just the volume of people, just like the number of people, like too many people,

R: There's just so many people, it's insane.

M: And then all the traffic we have now, so it's too noisy everywhere. And you say there is so much noise. So noise is uncountable. So there is so much noise everywhere.

R: Or so many noises everywhere.

M: Special laws should be introduced to regulate noise levels in cities. And we speak about noise levels. Like higher noise levels, or lower white noise levels. So what did we think about laws, and regulations?

R: Well, I don't think you could control every single kind of noise. But you could say, you know, for example, don't make a racket after 11 o'clock at night and before six o'clock in the morning, I think that's the law in my country at least.

M: Yeah, make a noise or... Like make noise or make a racket. Like a loud noise.

R: Or you curb the noise. That means you control it.

M: Oh, curb the noise levels, control the noise levels.

R: Bring it down, excite yourself down.

M: And a curfew should be introduced. So a curfew? Some periods of time when you don't make noise. So a curfew might help to curb the noise levels. So introducing a certain period of time when you are not allowed to make any noise could help to reduce the noise levels or to curb. Curb the noise levels. Sometimes it's not allowed to make noise in religious places like churches, for example, cathedrals. So people are forbidden to make noise in religious places. So you just can't do this. Right? Well, because you are supposed to be like you should be respectful. I should respect this religion, please. Yeah. So you should control the level of noise. Your noise. Yeah? You should show some self-discipline. Switch off your phone. What do we say about this flight mode? What do you do?

R: Turn on flight mode or activate flight mode. That's what I would say, anyway.

M: Activate flight mode.

R: Or use flight mode.

M: Numinous. Band nine vocabulary.

R: Oh, that's just something connected to the divine, which is like another way of saying something godly.

M: Okay, give us another example.

R: Well, you have a sense of the numinous in the church if no one's making that much noise.

M: The numinous mysteries of Mozart and Schumann and Beethoven. Yeah, something like, something having a deep spiritual, religious quality. And another word is cav... What, Rory?

R: Oh, cavorting. Yeah. Cavorting around is just engaging in silly and loud behaviour, like rude behaviour in a place where you're not supposed to. So children running around in church would be one example. You're not supposed to do that.

M: Yeah, cause like a verb to cavort means to jump, move around in a playful way. Okay? It's kind of like children cavorting in the swimming pool. They were kind of like... And then a very strange question. Should children be forbidden from making any noise? Like come on, they're children.

R: I know.

M: Just come on.

R: I love that question. I was like really?

M: Just like, can you stop children from being children? Just what? And then just Rory laughed. Because it's a crazy question. It's a ridiculous question, dear listener.

R: Just forbid them to make noise. Just put a gag on them or something.

M: Yeah, kind of a gag, if you put something in the mouth like they can't speak. And you say that this is unrealistic. Okay? This is not possible.

R: Just a little bit.

M: It's not easy to curb that useful energy. Again, curb? Reduce. Right? And Rory used the word exuberance here.

R: But that's just like useful energy that they have.

M: Like remember this like boisterous children? Energetic, moving around. So exuberance, is the quality of feeling energetic. Like children have their youthful exuberance. So children should be encouraged to be respectful. So we should teach children to be respectful, respect things, and have some self-control, right? In certain places.

R: Ideally,

M: I think a very good example is when you're on a plane, you fly to, I don't know, the Maldives. And then like, a classical story is we have a small baby or a child crying. And everyone is like rolling their eyes like, oh, my god.

R: Yeah.

M: Will this baby stop? So yeah.

R: When will this baby stop?

M: Yeah, when? Noise pollution, if there is too much noise in a city, we say that noise pollution is a problem. And it's damaging to health. Noise pollution is damaging to their environment. So it's bad to the environment. And we can't get away from that. So we can't actually escape noise pollution. And maybe we can feel it's okay, but the micro level damage, like we don't feel it.

R: The stuff that we cannot see because it's so small.

M: But it builds up over time. So it's kind of like it's there and damage is added up together. So it builds up over time, and it is damaging to our health. To what exactly? To our...

R: Well, I suppose the most obvious example would be it's damaging to your ear or ears.

M: Modern technology or the latest technology has contributed to increasing noise levels. So something increases noise levels. And we are talking about car transport. And what did you mean when you said, we can pump up the volume?

R: You can bring the volume very high. And indeed you can with all kinds of technologies like speakers, for example.

M: To reduce noise pollution, we can tell people to pipe down.

R: You could. That's a joke, by the way. If you tell someone to pipe down, it's like telling them to shut up. So I was just joking.

M: So kind of reduce their noise.

R: Yeah.

M: Where else can we use pipe down?

R: Well, when we go back to that part two answer that I gave before. I wanted to tell the children to pipe down, but I didn't. If the neighbours make a lot of noise, you could ask them nicely to pipe down.

M: To kind of like to keep it down.

R: To shush.

M: Shush. People could use different soundproofing methods, and absorption methods, so certain things which absorb, absorb noise. So kind of like, soundproof panels, for example. Like in recording studios, having rugs or curtains. I don't know, rugs on the walls to break up the sound waves. Kind of to make their home soundproof. Or just people should have the decency to recognize when to shut up.

R: Yes. People should have the decency or people should have the decency, but they rarely do. But when they do, it would do the trick.

M: Yep. It kind of helps reduce the noise level. Yeah?

R: But hopefully our grammar and vocabulary have done the trick in this episode.

M: Thank you for listening! And we'll get back to you in the next episode, okay? Bye!

R: Bye!

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