To live in New York means to get habituated to the noise of everyday life here...As a neighborhood becomes more homogenous, and its residents sync their noise patterns, noise complaints tend to go down. This may explain why, controlling for other factors, gentrifying areas of the city display higher levels of noise complaints. City residents stop consciously recognizing noise as novel, and it becomes background, even if their bodies don’t always recognize it as such. — Nautilus
“We all love to hate the noise. And yet sitting in silence, I do not feel as if I’ve found an escape from pain: I have simply traded it for a new variety. Shockingly, I realize I want to trade back.”
Writer Susie Neilson delves into the pros and cons of urban noise pollution, a truly defining factor of living in NYC.
More on Archinect:
Take a listen to the NYT's beautiful sonic portraits of architectural spaces
For nebulous decibel numbers, the Silent Treatment
1 Comment
When I moved into my first apartment in Manhattan, it was near the corner of 6th Avenue and Spring street. This happens to be a stop for the E train, both uptown and downtown.
At first the noise was quite annoying. As time went by, it became a lullaby. Many years later, when I moved away too much quieter area, I missed the hiss, clanging and boarding tones of the trains.
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