As a professional landscaper, I totally agree with you and 4-cycle models are quieter but heavier than the noisy and smelly 2-cycle versions. While they are a nasty noise maker, no one can rake leaves and debris like they can move it. The simple answer is to ban trees, hedges and Day Lillies for use as ornamentals. A landscapers job would be more efficient, much easier and highly rewarding.
I second the vote! I've often asked my husband...does anyone in our neighborhood own a rake besides us? Sometimes the noise is so great, that I get in my car and head to a quieter spot - open space/forest/library, etc. to distance myself and find some peace, then head back when the decibel levels have hopefully waned!
Fascinating! And so true. I find when I'm in the mountains, it's amazing to just sit and listen to the wind in the pines and the black capped chickadees. I can feel my blood pressure dropping.
I stood in the woods for the minute of silence. I was walking my dog and so I could hear him chew a stick, the wind blow, road noise in the distance a tree snap in the cold, then....the Coyotes started howling waaaayyy to close for comfort!!! We sprinted home! Glad to stop and hear the quietness of the woods....usually. as always, thanks for another great article!!
I started hiking solo more regularly back in 2020. There is a great regional park near my house and if I go back into the canyon far enough, I can escape most of the city noise. Mountain bikers frequent these trails along with horseback riders. I never wear headphones or listen to anything other than my breath when I am out hiking. I love the silence and solitude. One morning, I was out on one of my favorite trails when I heard Joan Jett blasting - "I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby." Here comes a mountain biker blasting his music. Talk about ruining the ambience. 🙄
As a mountain biker, I get extraordinarily annoyed when someone shows up for a ride with a speaker!
I also get annoyed with hikers and walkers wearing headphones who are oblivious to the sounds around them. I always call out "mind if I pass?" but there are more and more people out there on the trails wearing headphones or earbuds who are deaf to their surroundings, or who are yakking away on a phone call, and then act like I'm the jerk for startling them.
I’m an audiologist and love everything about this post. I’m lucky enough to work on a military base with an anechoic chamber (sound proof room) and often go in it, turn the lights out, and hear all the sounds in my body while I take on the challenge Michael beautifully explained.
I also am a strong believer in the power of habituation to non-hazardous noise which means the ability to decrease our stress response to inevitable stressors like background noise in industrialized nations. I wrote an article and challenge on this several months ago:
Hi Kyle, Michael's post, your post and reply make this community super neat! I'm in the military and have tinnitus (thankfully doesn't bother me too much though)-- but, I'm excited to try your strategies to listen to music I dislike for 5 mins per day for a week to increase ability to handle stress
Love it Gavin! Good ol tinnitus makes finding silence both impossible and even more less desirable. Strategies to help remove any amount of bother it may cause to encourage habituation are your best bet. Hit me up if you have any concerns/something changes.
There are few things more relaxing than driving in silence. It's wonderful. Also, I think it's a lot safer because you can actually hear what's going on around you and it improves your awareness.
Do you have a reference or article describing the 12 places your can go in the lower 48 for silence. I’ve heard that Olympia NP and the Boundary Waters are two very quiet spots.
This article helps me feel a bit better about a few of my seemingly odd choices such as sleeping in ear plugs, never having the tv on for background noise or the radio on while driving. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and always wondered if there was something different about me but now I realize I just instinctively crave silence.
I listen to a lot of music with headphones, and obviously that's still noise, and I try to keep it at a "safe" volume, but I wonder, since I live in a city, if it's less stressful to walk around listening to the "noise" of music that I don't find stressful or to walk around without headphones 🤔 In other words, even if music is added "noise", is it better than non-musical noise even at the same decibel level?
Yesterday I played golf with a friend of mine. I recorded a short video of him teeing off on a par 3 (you never know when someone might get an ace). When I rewatched the video later I couldn’t believe how much noise there was. Airplane flying overhead, traffic noise, other golfers. Seek silence. Love it.
I took my son on his first turkey hunt last year, and as we sat in the woods pre-dawn I realized that there was no noise at all - no wind, birds, trucks in the distance, nothing. I pointed it out to him and we had about 2 min of just silence before a bird chirped and the wind blew a little and the world started to wake up. A pretty special moment, glad I noticed and that he got to experience it at age 12. A good reminder to seek out more of that.
While overall I’m in support of more silence (especially if my kids can stop making so much noise!), I believe silence can come with its own issues. For example, silence at night is scary, whether in a dark home or in the woods. Context matters, I guess. I grew up and lived in NYC for years. I embraced the noise and sounds. I never tried to block it out. It made me appreciate hiking upstate all the more when I could get some relative silence. Now about those leaf blowers and lawn mowers… 😂
I want to start be saying I love the silence but we have evolved as a species by adapting and overcoming numerous things. Is noise pollution just another step in that evolution. People who have to have white noise to feel comfortable might just be the front edge of that evolution
I started deep-diving into the 12 places in the lower US where you can go and not hear another human. I knew about Boundary Waters in Minnesota. I learned the person who made the list, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, won't disclose most locations to protect them. Makes sense I guess.
I'm just about to head to a park for hiking and just read this. I was looking forward to finishing listening to an interview, but I'm resolved to spend at least 15 minutes just walking in silence.
I was lucky to be born in one of the areas of the US that is on the list of 10 quietest places (we live on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in MN). I moved my family back many year ago (after I left for college/work). I actually struggle to be in cities because of how loud, bright, and smelly they are. I remember the first time I flew into LA I was in disbelief how many people describe it as paradise when all I could see was the layer of smog covering the whole city.
The most silence I've experienced has been on frozen lakes in the wilderness just after a fresh snowfall. The only things you hear are the sounds your own body makes. Maybe an occasional chickadee. I wouldn't have it any other way. I can get that experience of silence even at our house. My oldest son now lives in the DC area, and he comes home several times a year just to escape the pervasive stress that occurs from the sensor overload of living in such a large urban area.
We're also a tourist area (exactly for this reason) and often people who come for the first time feel suffocated by the level of silence and darkness that exists when they were born and lived their entire lives in a city. They almost can't believe how star-filled the night sky can be and that it's so quiet that a single airplane sounds incredibly loud.
FWIW, if I were president my first order of business would be to ban gas-powered leaf blowers. They're the bane of my existence. Lol.
As a professional landscaper, I totally agree with you and 4-cycle models are quieter but heavier than the noisy and smelly 2-cycle versions. While they are a nasty noise maker, no one can rake leaves and debris like they can move it. The simple answer is to ban trees, hedges and Day Lillies for use as ornamentals. A landscapers job would be more efficient, much easier and highly rewarding.
I second the vote! I've often asked my husband...does anyone in our neighborhood own a rake besides us? Sometimes the noise is so great, that I get in my car and head to a quieter spot - open space/forest/library, etc. to distance myself and find some peace, then head back when the decibel levels have hopefully waned!
Yes! And I’ll vote for you. :)
Good to see we haven't forgotten about this!! Listening to them outside my office right now, and I'll be listening to them all day. :)
Fascinating! And so true. I find when I'm in the mountains, it's amazing to just sit and listen to the wind in the pines and the black capped chickadees. I can feel my blood pressure dropping.
I can relate. Different types of trees have a unique sound in the wind. Very few would ever notice.
My favorite sound is soft wind through bamboo. So relaxing. Evergreen trees come in close second.
I stood in the woods for the minute of silence. I was walking my dog and so I could hear him chew a stick, the wind blow, road noise in the distance a tree snap in the cold, then....the Coyotes started howling waaaayyy to close for comfort!!! We sprinted home! Glad to stop and hear the quietness of the woods....usually. as always, thanks for another great article!!
I started hiking solo more regularly back in 2020. There is a great regional park near my house and if I go back into the canyon far enough, I can escape most of the city noise. Mountain bikers frequent these trails along with horseback riders. I never wear headphones or listen to anything other than my breath when I am out hiking. I love the silence and solitude. One morning, I was out on one of my favorite trails when I heard Joan Jett blasting - "I love rock and roll. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby." Here comes a mountain biker blasting his music. Talk about ruining the ambience. 🙄
As a mountain biker, I get extraordinarily annoyed when someone shows up for a ride with a speaker!
I also get annoyed with hikers and walkers wearing headphones who are oblivious to the sounds around them. I always call out "mind if I pass?" but there are more and more people out there on the trails wearing headphones or earbuds who are deaf to their surroundings, or who are yakking away on a phone call, and then act like I'm the jerk for startling them.
I’m an audiologist and love everything about this post. I’m lucky enough to work on a military base with an anechoic chamber (sound proof room) and often go in it, turn the lights out, and hear all the sounds in my body while I take on the challenge Michael beautifully explained.
I also am a strong believer in the power of habituation to non-hazardous noise which means the ability to decrease our stress response to inevitable stressors like background noise in industrialized nations. I wrote an article and challenge on this several months ago:
https://open.substack.com/pub/kyleshepard10/p/intentional-stress-challenge-noise?r=1cn3fa&utm_medium=ios
Great stuff as always Michael!
This is fantastic. What a cool job. Those anechoic chambers are incredible. I've never been in one—I'm jealous you have access to one.
Thanks for the link.
If you ever find yourself in Southern Maryland, a tour of our human performance labs is all yours brother!
Hi Kyle, Michael's post, your post and reply make this community super neat! I'm in the military and have tinnitus (thankfully doesn't bother me too much though)-- but, I'm excited to try your strategies to listen to music I dislike for 5 mins per day for a week to increase ability to handle stress
Love it Gavin! Good ol tinnitus makes finding silence both impossible and even more less desirable. Strategies to help remove any amount of bother it may cause to encourage habituation are your best bet. Hit me up if you have any concerns/something changes.
There are few things more relaxing than driving in silence. It's wonderful. Also, I think it's a lot safer because you can actually hear what's going on around you and it improves your awareness.
Do you have a reference or article describing the 12 places your can go in the lower 48 for silence. I’ve heard that Olympia NP and the Boundary Waters are two very quiet spots.
Ryan, this link doesn't have more info than you already stated, but seems like Gordon Hempton prefers to keep most of the list secret (to keep them quiet): https://www.theinertia.com/environment/there-are-only-12-quiet-places-left-in-the-u-s-and-this-man-will-only-tell-us-3-of-them/
Nice! I did a little googling and found that article too. Definitely a couple places I’d love to visit.
This article helps me feel a bit better about a few of my seemingly odd choices such as sleeping in ear plugs, never having the tv on for background noise or the radio on while driving. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years and always wondered if there was something different about me but now I realize I just instinctively crave silence.
I listen to a lot of music with headphones, and obviously that's still noise, and I try to keep it at a "safe" volume, but I wonder, since I live in a city, if it's less stressful to walk around listening to the "noise" of music that I don't find stressful or to walk around without headphones 🤔 In other words, even if music is added "noise", is it better than non-musical noise even at the same decibel level?
Yesterday I played golf with a friend of mine. I recorded a short video of him teeing off on a par 3 (you never know when someone might get an ace). When I rewatched the video later I couldn’t believe how much noise there was. Airplane flying overhead, traffic noise, other golfers. Seek silence. Love it.
So true. And once you notice it, you can't un-notice it.
I took my son on his first turkey hunt last year, and as we sat in the woods pre-dawn I realized that there was no noise at all - no wind, birds, trucks in the distance, nothing. I pointed it out to him and we had about 2 min of just silence before a bird chirped and the wind blew a little and the world started to wake up. A pretty special moment, glad I noticed and that he got to experience it at age 12. A good reminder to seek out more of that.
While overall I’m in support of more silence (especially if my kids can stop making so much noise!), I believe silence can come with its own issues. For example, silence at night is scary, whether in a dark home or in the woods. Context matters, I guess. I grew up and lived in NYC for years. I embraced the noise and sounds. I never tried to block it out. It made me appreciate hiking upstate all the more when I could get some relative silence. Now about those leaf blowers and lawn mowers… 😂
I want to start be saying I love the silence but we have evolved as a species by adapting and overcoming numerous things. Is noise pollution just another step in that evolution. People who have to have white noise to feel comfortable might just be the front edge of that evolution
I started deep-diving into the 12 places in the lower US where you can go and not hear another human. I knew about Boundary Waters in Minnesota. I learned the person who made the list, acoustic ecologist Gordon Hempton, won't disclose most locations to protect them. Makes sense I guess.
Another is in Washington State. I'm not sure of the rest because, yes, he doesn't advertise them.
I'm just about to head to a park for hiking and just read this. I was looking forward to finishing listening to an interview, but I'm resolved to spend at least 15 minutes just walking in silence.
I was lucky to be born in one of the areas of the US that is on the list of 10 quietest places (we live on the edge of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in MN). I moved my family back many year ago (after I left for college/work). I actually struggle to be in cities because of how loud, bright, and smelly they are. I remember the first time I flew into LA I was in disbelief how many people describe it as paradise when all I could see was the layer of smog covering the whole city.
The most silence I've experienced has been on frozen lakes in the wilderness just after a fresh snowfall. The only things you hear are the sounds your own body makes. Maybe an occasional chickadee. I wouldn't have it any other way. I can get that experience of silence even at our house. My oldest son now lives in the DC area, and he comes home several times a year just to escape the pervasive stress that occurs from the sensor overload of living in such a large urban area.
We're also a tourist area (exactly for this reason) and often people who come for the first time feel suffocated by the level of silence and darkness that exists when they were born and lived their entire lives in a city. They almost can't believe how star-filled the night sky can be and that it's so quiet that a single airplane sounds incredibly loud.