The Need for Silence in a Noisy World By Mike MooreIt is quite evident that we are living in one terribly noisy world and it seems to be getting worse every day. Everywhere we go we are accosted by loud, unwanted sound. When we enter elevators, malls and restaurants we are engulfed by musak. I recently had lunch at a popular restaurant and found
background music so loud that it interfered with normal conversation and enjoyment of my lunch. When I asked waitress if she could turn music off, or at least down, she said, " I don't think we can." Surely we as a people are still in charge of volume controls.
When you add lawnmowers, snow blowers, leaf blowers, jack hammers, jet engines, transport trucks, and horns and buzzers of all types and descriptions you have a wall of constant noise and irritation. Even when watching a television program at a reasonable volume level you are blown out of your chair when a commercial comes on at decibel level of a jet.
We seem to have created a cultural acceptance of our noisy world in spite of fact that it is making us ill physically and psychologically. We can't seem to live without background sound. We have friends who turn on television moment they awaken in morning and leave it on all day. The house is just too quiet if it isn't on. Former highschool students of mine used to tell me that first thing they did on arriving home after school was turn on their CD player as loudly as would be tolerated by their parents.
Cornell University recently conducted a study to determine impact of noise on employees in an open area office space where people are constantly exposed to fax machines, telephones, office chatter, shredding machines, etc. Test results revealed that workers in an open area had high levels of adrenalin in their urine. Adrenalin is released by body when under stress. It prepares us for fight or flight. When these employees were compared to those in self contained office spaces results were startling. People in a quiet, self contained work area did not have same high levels of adrenalin in their urine. They were much more relaxed and less stressed.
A puzzle, demanding attention and concentration, was given to both groups of employees. The open area group was found to be less diligent in solution of puzzle becoming easily frustrated and giving up much earlier than group from quiet office. The study also found that workers from quiet office slept better at night, had better digestion, were much less irritable at home and felt better at end of their workday than employees from open concept office. Noise does seem to effect focus, productivity and general physical and psychological well being. Noise tends to increase stress levels which in turn can result in increased frustration, anger and strained interpersonal relationships. We must begin to establish a friendship with silence.
