From Robert Checchio, Dunellen, New Jersey, US
The realisation that different kinds of noises affect different people in different ways struck a chord with me. In my work with a small non-profit that advocated for small airports, it was common for a homeowner who lived close to such an airport to be extremely bothered by the sound of a small plane flying nearby, yet apparently oblivious to the sound of a neighbour’s lawnmower creating noise of far higher decibels. It seems that familiar noises (lawnmowers) don’t elicit the same response that a powered leaf blower might, even if the noise profiles are largely identical. Furthermore, the familiarity of a noise (especially one that might be occasionally created by the individual) also creates some sort of “noise insensitivity”(23 August, p 27).
