NEW YORK, Aug 20 \u2014 Tim Mulligan moved to central Manhattan so he could be closer to work and avoid a daily ordeal on the rattling, screeching subway, just one part of the urban noisescape that tests New Yorkers every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven with your earbuds in, turned all the way up, you can\u2019t hear anything for the whole commute, and you\u2019re ruining your ears at that level,\u201d said Mulligan, a US Marines veteran who lives with PTSD.<\/p>\n
At his home close to New York\u2019s tourist hub Times Square, Mulligan has sealed his windows with high-density soundproof foam, draped them with double thick curtains and invested in earplugs to sleep.<\/p>\n
On the street he has resorted to noise-cancelling headphones, and he prefers bikes to the subway for getting around.<\/p>\n
New Yorkers and visitors to the megacity of 8.5 million people are bombarded with blaring sirens, loud locals, raucous bars and car horns almost constantly.<\/p>\n
A city-wide hotline received 750,000 noise complaints in 2024, the most commonly complained about quality of life issue.<\/p>\n
The city that never sleeps, perhaps because it can\u2019t, is one of the few built up US areas with a noise code regulating sound from vehicles, construction, businesses, and recreation.<\/p>\n
It has even installed cameras with sensors to detect and penalise violators.<\/p>\n
Nine-in-ten New Yorkers are at risk of hearing loss from daily exposure to noise levels exceeding 70 decibels, the healthy average, a Columbia University study conducted between 2010 and 2012 found.<\/p>\n
The report\u2019s author, professor Richard Neitzel, is now leading the first national study on noise in which 200,000 volunteers wear smart watches to track sound levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like somewhere around one-in-four Americans are exposed to noise levels that could hurt their hearing over the long term,\u201d said Neitzel, a professor at the University of Michigan.<\/p>\n
\u2018You can\u2019t undo it\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Among young people aged 18 to 25, the primary source of excess noise exposure comes from headphones.<\/p>\n Overall, more people are exposed to high levels of environmental noise than to noise from their headphones, Neitzel added.<\/p>\n Although the percentage of the population exposed to noise is similar to those exposed to air pollution, acoustic issues are not prioritized by residents and officials like air quality is, Neitzel said.<\/p>\n There is clear evidence that excess noise is linked to poor sleep, cardiovascular issues, depression, cognitive decline, premature births and poor academic performance.<\/p>\n Tinnitus, a permanent ringing in the ear affecting three out of 20 study participants, is increasingly prevalent.<\/p>\n Loud music is even used to promote increased consumption, said Shane Newman, who manages a popular Mexican restaurant in Manhattan\u2019s trendy Hudson Yards development.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a drink in the music, it feels like a nice vibe and… they end up staying longer,\u201d he told AFP.<\/p>\n Audiologist Michele DiStefano said the effects of noise on well-being have \u201cnot really been studied well enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe longer you have the exposure, and the higher the level, the (greater) degree of hearing loss you\u2019ll have\u201d \u2014 particularly for young people, she warned.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce it does affect your hearing, you can\u2019t undo it, but you can actually prevent it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s really a push to educate the younger generations on how you don\u2019t have to just have really loud noise at a concert \u2014 it can be cumulative.\u201d \u2014 AFP\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK, Aug 20 \u2014 Tim Mulligan moved to central Manhattan so he could be closer to work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[126871,728,126872,126870,53782,70,126869,126873,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-361112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-columbia-university-study","9":"tag-environment","10":"tag-hearing-loss-risk","11":"tag-noise-pollution-new-york","12":"tag-noise-cancelling-headphones","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-tim-mulligan-manhattan","15":"tag-times-square-soundproofing","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115064737972023074","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}