The Noise about Noise

The roar of traffic, the squeal of brakes, the clickety-clack of typewriters, the pounding of machinery. We live and work among it all. It disturbs sleep, frays tempers, reduces working efficiency and does an unknown amount of actual physical harm. Noise has become the curse of modern civilization. But because it is theresponsibility of nobody, because it is the by-product of almost every human activity, because being deaf is an affliction which fails to rouse human pity, the problem of controlling and limitingnoise has been neglected.

The hazard is not recognized, even by the people subjected to noise. The noise is an unwanted and useless by-product, but one which is difficult and costly to remove. The noise the jet aircraft flying into London Airport makes is unpleasant enough for those who work at the airport, but even more so for those who live round about. The nuisance could be reduced by moving the airport to some remote part of the country, but this would inconvenience air travellers and cost a great deal. It is a matter of economic conflictbetween the public, largely disorganized but suffering a nuisance, and industry attempting to compete.

How much do people who live around noisy airports or near noisy factories really suffer? "There are a few notorious streets near the airport," said a Hounslow estate agent, 'where prices are £500 or £600 below what you'd expect.

Only in the past few years, since the multiplication of the motor-cars and strident-voiced jets has the public conscience been aroused. All over the world, communities are beginning to demand control of the onslaught on their ears. Rome and Paris banned the motor horn. American motor manufacturers have agreed to limit the noise made by their cars. And the Port of New York Authority led the rest of the world in devising regulations to limit the quite unbearable noise of big jets taking off from International Airport.