WEBVTT - Noise Pollution: Pipe Down, People! 0:00:01.560 --> 0:00:04.760 Welcome to Stuff from the Science Lab from how stuff 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:16.280 works dot com. Hey guys, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:18.040 This is Alice, I don't know if the science editor 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:20.239 at how stuff works dot com. And this is Robert Lamb, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:22.720 science writerer at how stuff works dot com. And uh, 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:27.080 I have to ask, what's the most annoying sound for you? Personally? 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:29.920 Most annoying sound has got to be my dad snoring. 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:34.199 I'm sorry, Dad, but it's sure anyone snoring really, But 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.479 I have this vision of going across the country and 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:40.440 I think we're going on a college tour, and my 0:00:40.520 --> 0:00:42.559 dad and I shared a hotel room and he snored. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.320 He just snored so loudly. And I remember contemplating sleeping 0:00:46.320 --> 0:00:48.800 in the bathtub, although I never did. And this is 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:51.080 really before I got familiar with all the different kinds 0:00:51.080 --> 0:00:55.080 of your plugs out there. Yeah, I want about um, Well, 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.360 I I've had to be around some snoring people before, 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:00.959 such as like I think, and I'm like some sort 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.200 of like youth trip in in high school. I really 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.280 tempted to ask if you're a snore, but I will not. 0:01:05.400 --> 0:01:07.440 I do not think I am a snore. If I 0:01:07.440 --> 0:01:09.640 am a snore, then people that have slept near me 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:13.240 have been just amazingly polite in my entire life. It 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:17.000 would really be a shocking revelation. Um. But but now 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.280 that the noise, probably the noise that annoys me the 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.679 most is anything in a movie theater that's not the 0:01:22.760 --> 0:01:27.000 movie like and I'm actually really like this wine. I 0:01:27.040 --> 0:01:29.080 never go to the theater because I'm just super picky 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:30.840 about this, Like if if I have to hear somebody 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:33.319 eat popcorn, I get kind of irritated, even though people 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.320 are like popcorn is have two I have to Like 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:37.080 people who don't even like popcorn go to the movie 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:38.759 theater and they feel like they have to eat popcorn, 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:40.720 and I'm like, I'm trying to listen to it, like 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:44.160 you know, some heartfelt scene or it's like something really violent, disturbing, 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:48.240 and here's somebody like chomping down or it's nachos and 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:50.960 things like that much. And then there's the whole you know, 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.840 anything else too, like cell phones, chitter chatter. It just 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:57.600 it gets to me. I have to confess. When you 0:01:57.600 --> 0:01:59.480 first asked me if when we were talking about this 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:02.720 podcast with the most annoying sound in the world, was 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:09.399 was thinking about the movie dumb and dumber. Yeah. Anyway, 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.720 So moving on to noise pool. Basically we're talking about 0:02:12.800 --> 0:02:14.960 noise pollution, and a lot of noise pollution, at least 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:17.080 as far as it concerns humans. Does come down to 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.480 sounds that are annoying and disruptive that are allowed. Yeah, 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:24.600 Like I keep thinking back to Um, there's this awesome 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:28.200 segment on this British comedy show called look Around You, 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:33.200 which is a parody of science shows for young people. Um, 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:35.360 so it's great if you get if you get a chance, 0:02:35.720 --> 0:02:37.640 you know, do like a Google or YouTube search on 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:40.560 the name Leonard Hatred and I'll take you right to this. 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.639 This guy's like he comes on the show and he's 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.200 like talking about how this is a fictional character about 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:48.680 how his parents snored when he's a child and they 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.840 lived by Heathrow Airport. Then they moved because it was 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:53.400 too noisy, but they moved into a house that was 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.760 next to Gatwick Airport. Uh. Then he left, he got married, 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:58.440 he moved to the countryside and then they built this 0:02:58.560 --> 0:03:02.360 somebody build an apatoire directly across the street from the house, 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.120 so he had to listen to the sounds of cattle 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:07.000 being slaughtered all the time. And to top that off, 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.320 his wife and the sister in law that lived there 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.600 with him suffered from a condition that caused them to 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:17.320 scream uncontrollably. So he developed this spray called silence with 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.840 a P and if he would spray it onto his ears, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.280 and he admitted that it contained quote liquid skin, So 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:26.080 we'd spray it on and it would just like cause 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.480 skin to temporarily grow over his ears, so he couldn't 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:31.600 hear anything. He just had a solid ear structure, just 0:03:31.600 --> 0:03:34.040 a solid like fleshy knob for an ear. Yeah, no 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:36.920 nifty ear canal all that stuff gone. It's pretty grass, Yeah, 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:40.400 pretty gross. Mr Hatred. So so yeah, let's talk about 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:45.000 um about noises and how how these different noises and 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.720 different levels of noise affect human health. Let's take it 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.160 down and let's break it down to decibels. All right, 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:56.560 So near total silence, you're gonna have zero decibles gone on. Yeah, 0:03:56.640 --> 0:04:02.480 here's an example, got it all right? Next, Well, we're assuming, 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:06.520 I mean, we're assuming that listeners are listening to us. Well, 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.760 I assume that I demand it. Actually, if you don't 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:11.480 have time to like listen to us, and like a 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:14.080 closed environment, and then come on, what are you in 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:16.400 your car? Pull over? What are you doing? Now? We 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:19.520 have a whisper, so give us a whisper. I don't 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.960 think I've ever heard you whisper. Give us a whisper. Hey, guys, 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.080 thanks for listening to the podcast. That that would be 0:04:25.200 --> 0:04:28.720 kind of a whisper. Right, so running roughly around fifteen decibels. 0:04:29.080 --> 0:04:31.039 And then we get into a normal conversation, right like 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.760 we're having now, and that's what So sometimes we get excited, 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:37.320 so it escalates a little, but like just normal conversation, 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:44.800 that will be sixty decipls. Okay, vacuum cleaner, Yeah, that's 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:46.200 going to be what do you think you're robotic? The 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.360 vacuum cleaner does probably around seventy decibles? Is it loud? 0:04:49.360 --> 0:04:51.280 I would think it might be a little it's a 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.440 little quieter, but the roomboat tends I don't know, it's 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:56.320 still you can't sleep with it running, you know, it 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.320 still sounds like a vacuum cleaner. Doubtless there is somebody 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.240 who does sleep with their vacuum cleaner running, maybe like 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:04.880 it's a time saver. Well, I mean, I guess by 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:07.919 nature is supervise it and actually I would be a 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.159 little you know, hesitant to let that thing have free 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:16.320 run of the house. So your average passenger car going 0:05:16.320 --> 0:05:23.360 sixty that's going to be about seventy seven decibles. Yep, 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:27.120 somebody hanks a horn, you've got a hundred and ten decibles, 0:05:27.320 --> 0:05:29.280 all right, So we're ratching up the levels. So now 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:34.400 we're heading to a rock concert. What do we got now, 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:39.680 hundred and twenty decibels fire off a gun or a 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:46.200 light of firecracker hundred and forty deciples. And if you're 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.640 you know, within close proximity to a jet taking off, 0:05:53.560 --> 0:05:56.000 you're looking at a hundred and fifty decibles and a 0:05:56.080 --> 0:06:00.560 ruptured ear drum. That's great. So yeah, that the basically 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:05.000 breaks down to any sound above eighty five decibels can 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.280 cause hearing loss, and the loss is related to both 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.640 the power of the sound um and the length of 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:13.680 exposure and like the proximity to it, you know. So 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:15.680 it's like, you know, it's a difference between having your 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.800 head next to a jackhammer, hearing a jackhammer, you know, 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:21.800 across the street, and having to work in like a 0:06:21.920 --> 0:06:24.880 you know, a sandwich shop next to the jackhammer all 0:06:24.960 --> 0:06:28.080 day long, right, which is why. Um, you know, agencies 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.920 like osha I regulate a noise exposure on the job. Um. 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:33.800 So as an example of this, if you have to 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:35.560 raise your voice to be heard, you're probably dealing with 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:38.040 noise of about eighty five decibles. Yeah. So ye, I 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:39.440 think back to the last time you were at a 0:06:39.560 --> 0:06:44.520 at a club or at a rock concert, etcetera. You 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.120 were if you were having a shout to be heard, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:48.839 then you know you were in a pretty noisy environment. Yeah. 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:52.080 And when you're talking about eight hours of about ninety decibles, 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:54.600 then you were talking about ear damage. Yeah, and that 0:06:54.760 --> 0:06:58.960 a hundred and forty decibls like the gun shot. Yeah, 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:00.720 you're not waiting eight hours at that point. At that point, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.960 it's immediate, immediate damage and actual pain. Yeah. Like did 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.440 you ever see Copland? I don't think I did see that. 0:07:08.560 --> 0:07:10.720 That was like there was the movie where Sylvester salone. 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:12.640 You played like a cop and you're like put on 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.080 weight for it and all, and like he has like 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:17.680 hearing damage in one ear and like the villain of 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:19.720 the piece. So I think it is Harvey Kitel, Like 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:21.880 they're they rough them up at one point and they 0:07:21.920 --> 0:07:24.200 like fire a gun next to his other ear to like, 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.120 you know, because they're bad guys. So yeah, so that 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.320 would be a situation where you would have immediate hearing 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.040 damage and pain in the ear. Yeah. And even when 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.560 a noise isn't actively deafening you, you can have a 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.080 health effects like of course hearing loss. You know, you 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:44.120 can disturb your sleep, you can have cardiovascular problems, um, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.400 and you can even affect your social behavior. Actually, yeah, 0:07:48.400 --> 0:07:50.640 actually ran across some really cool studies because there's something 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.520 a lot of people looked into, um usually with the 0:07:53.560 --> 0:07:55.480 advent of iPods. I should think that there's a whole 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:58.160 lot of money pouring into research on hearing loss and 0:07:58.360 --> 0:08:02.160 stuff like tonitas um. With the you know, just ubiquitous 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.440 nous of iPods. That actually is what you guys are 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.640 probably listening to us now, or many of you at least. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.520 So I'm hesitant to I'm not, you know, knocking on iPods, 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:13.000 but a lot of us just listen to them that 0:08:13.080 --> 0:08:15.280 are levels that are way too loud. Yeah. And and 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:16.880 part of it too is because it's like you'll be 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.000 listening you're on the train, right, so there's like a 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:22.480 noisy train sound. But and then there's also some like annoying, um, 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.720 you know, chatter or like, you know, whatever is else 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:27.280 is going on the train. You want to block that out, 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:30.160 so you crank up the headphones a little and uh 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.600 and yeah, so that it all sort of adds up. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.240 So to talk to me about some of these studies, Yeah, 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:38.920 So the Department of um Psychiatry at the University of 0:08:39.080 --> 0:08:42.880 London conducted an in depth study in two thousand three 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:46.319 and they came to some interesting conclusions. They said, the 0:08:46.400 --> 0:08:49.560 risk of developing mental or physical illness due to environmental 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:53.040 noise is actually pretty small. You know, you're probably not 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.719 going to be driven completely crazy, and this is of 0:08:55.720 --> 0:08:59.480 course ruling out again actual light damage to your hearing. 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.000 But they said that part of the problem is the 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.480 interaction between people, noise and ill health is a complex relationship. 0:09:06.920 --> 0:09:10.520 Humans are are not usually passive recipients of noise exposure, 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:13.360 and they developed these coping strategies to reduce the impact 0:09:14.120 --> 0:09:16.280 or they just you know, they move away from the noise. 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.920 Have you heard about situations in which prisoners are subject 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:27.040 to constant noise in a modification of torture? I suppose, Yeah, 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.600 I mean that sounds horrible, horrible. It's like when they 0:09:30.640 --> 0:09:35.520 were trying to get uh noriega okay out of his compound, 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.040 remember in Panama, I don't remember this, and they were 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:42.080 like pumping rock music, you know. Or actually there there 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.679 was like a recent you know document that that came 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.840 out talking about you know, different music that was used 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:52.719 as a an instrument of interrogation um or you know, 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:59.920 torture on on Guantanamo and going Tuantamo Bay inmates. Yeah, 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:01.199 I think that's right. Yeah, and like and it's like 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.760 some like I think like Trent some Trent Resiner's music 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.559 for n inch Nails came up and he was like 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:08.880 legitimately offended, you know, because you create this art and 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.400 uh and then somebody's gonna use your art to inflict 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.560 you know, pain on somebody, psychological pain. So so yeah, 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.000 that one of the factors here is that people can 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:20.280 cope with with different levels of noise pollution and they 0:10:20.320 --> 0:10:22.960 can move away from it, well, assuming they can move 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.520 away from it, right, So there's an element of choice. Yeah. 0:10:25.559 --> 0:10:28.120 But then but and then a lot of it comes 0:10:28.200 --> 0:10:32.120 down to how it affects your your quality of life, 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.760 all right, you know you have again it's like hearing, 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:38.240 there's the hearing lots. Yeah, but it also disturbs your sleep. Uh, 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:39.920 you know, if you have to listen to the jackhammer 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:41.719 all night or or you know, if you have some 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:43.400 sort of your you know, you live next to an 0:10:43.400 --> 0:10:48.240 airport or something. Um, not getting enough sleep can severely 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:51.960 harm your ability to function during the day. In children, 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.560 chronic aircraft noise exposure has been found to impair reading, comprehension, 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.720 and long term memory. Yeah, and maybe associated with raised 0:10:58.720 --> 0:11:03.599 blood pressure from you know, further research pending on that 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:05.760 this and h Then there's a two thousand five study 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.439 from a team of Spanish researchers and they found that 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.920 in urban areas, households are willing to pay approximately four 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.080 euros per descibel per year for noise reduction. So that's 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:17.760 kind of interesting to think in terms of this, like, 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.040 you know, your ability to move away from it. It's 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:22.920 kind of becomes a privilege, Yeah, or at least in 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:25.760 some places depends on how you know an urban the 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.440 urban environment happens to work. And in two thousands seven, UH, 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.400 the World Health Organization Noise Environmental Burden on Disease Working 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.360 Group published findings on the health related effects of noise 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.960 for Europeans and They concluded about two percent of Europeans 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:45.400 suffer severely um disturbed sleep and fiftcent suffer severe annoyance 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.240 due to environmental noise. And that's to find as community 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:54.360 noise emitted from like road traffic, trains, aircraft flying over. Yeah. So, um, 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:57.480 when I was younger, I lived in the city. I 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.600 lived in a big city for a long time, almost 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:02.000 a decade. I went to college and then lived there 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.319 for a couple of years after in the city. And 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:07.960 it's weird to me because I am really sensitive to noise. 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:10.839 I mean, if you were to come visit us in 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:14.000 our Atlanta office, Um, you know, even the editorial department, 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:15.400 you can kind of hear pin drop. A lot of 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.839 the other departments around house stuff, works, dot com. You 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.760 a little noise, you're a little bit more rambunctious, especially 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.960 when the development guys were around and they were doodle 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.599 all sorts of crazy stuff. But editorial department tends to 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:29.960 be a little quieter. Yeah, people are. But anyway, point 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:31.520 in the story is that it was it was just 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:33.680 surprising to me. I would have thought that I would 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.840 have gotten used to noise exposure living in urban environment 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.120 for a period of a couple of years when the 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.480 in laws come in to visit. Um they are there, Uh, 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:46.880 they always comment on the sound of airplanes flying overhead 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:48.679 right from the airport in back of your house. Do 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:50.559 you guys have an airport in back of your house. Well, no, 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:52.640 but there's an airport, you know, in the area, like 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.120 we have the huge airport in the Atlanta area, and 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:56.640 but yeah, it's not in the backyard. And I did 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.920 not even think about it. But but then they come 0:12:58.960 --> 0:13:00.160 and stay in They're like, oh, I don't see, got 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:01.719 you deal with this because they're you know, all the 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:04.840 planes flying overhead and I have to actually think, stop 0:13:04.960 --> 0:13:06.280 and think, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I guess there 0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:10.000 are planes flying overhead kind of constantly. Yeah. Same here 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.079 we have a train that runs through the middle of 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:14.240 the town and I really don't notice it. And then 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:16.760 again with with the parents staying, they're like, oh, that 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.719 tram was so loud last time. So again it comes 0:13:19.760 --> 0:13:21.960 down to, you know, you can grow accustomed to certain 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:25.280 levels of noise or figure out how to cope with it. Right, 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.840 And we're not the only life forms that are affected 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.880 by noise. Pollution of other animals have been a little 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:35.040 selfish so far in this podcast ecocentrics, let's talk about 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.720 some animals and ways in which they deal with noise pollution. Okay, 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.520 a lot of us have heard about stuff affecting whales 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.520 and um all sorts of marine creatures, although we don't 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:47.079 really know a lot about how noise pollution affects fish. 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:50.800 That's what that's one interesting factory about. We're researching this. 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:53.959 But for whales, noise pollution can mean a couple of 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:55.880 things as a way to cope. It can mean that 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.360 they call louder to be heard above the ruckus. Again, 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.800 it's like you're the rock concert and having to speak louder. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:03.480 They're having to do the same thing in the ocean 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:08.640 to communicate or use their echolocation. Yeah. Actually, uh the 0:14:08.720 --> 0:14:12.000 blogger over Discovery News, Jennifer Viegas cover this um in 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.559 in July two articles and the title was whales scream 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.640 over noise pollution And that's sort of a disconcerting idea 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.560 of whales screaming that we're causing them to scream. Yeah, 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.280 that's a great headline because screaming whales that's like immediate outrage. Yeah, 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:30.680 pretty much. And uh So there's also research that North Atlantic. Right, 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:33.760 whales and other whale species are are in fact engaging 0:14:33.840 --> 0:14:36.480 in this behavior to be heard above stuff like commercial 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:39.880 ships and other man made noises in the ocean. Uh. 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.960 A lot of that is sonar or offshore drilling stuff 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:45.560 like that. Yeah, we we went into some of this 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:51.360 in our podcast about beach whales. That's right, because that's 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:54.720 one of the things they've been looking into, like navy vessels, um, 0:14:55.040 --> 0:15:00.200 interfering with their their echolocation and driving them off course. Yeah, 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.520 and it's particularly be troublesome when the man made noises 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:05.080 are occurring in the same frequencies as the whales calls, right, 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.440 because that's gonna start affecting stuff, um, you know, whether 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:12.320 it's migration or mating or just generally whales communicating with 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.680 each other. Yeah, it's like, you know, you get an airplane, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:16.520 they ask you to turn off your cell phone and 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.520 what have you during a key parts of the flight 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.120 so you don't interfere with anything. It's kind of like that. 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.080 We're just not very considerate, Like when it comes to 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:26.680 us going out in the ocean, we're the the jerk 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:30.480 that won't turn your cell phone off. It's important to 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:33.920 note that Noise pollution can also come from natural sources 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.160 like earthquakes for example. So what's the deal with whales? 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.160 I mean, is it easier to constantly shout or just 0:15:39.280 --> 0:15:41.360 go quiet? Well, I mean, we get tired of shouting 0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.160 in whales, I imagine do too, So shouting can be 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.120 this huge energy expenditure, so sometimes they will wind up 0:15:47.160 --> 0:15:48.800 going quiet. And what does that mean. It means that 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:51.840 we're never going to know what's being said. And whale 0:15:51.880 --> 0:15:55.280 calls or songs like such as that of the male humpbacks, right, 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.400 they engage in these beautiful whale songs. Yeah, it's kind 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.240 of like, you know, it's like the dude with slide 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.640 hearing loss that goes to a noisy restaurant and you 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.600 can't really hear anybody, so it just doesn't say anything. 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:09.520 So you know, it's out on the whole conversation you 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:12.440 could be getting with that guy, right, And it's not 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.560 just in the in the oceans, in a marine environment, 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.720 it's also on land. I mean, like we were talking 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:19.880 about before, you have aircraft and traffic noises doing a 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:24.680 lot to contribute to really noisy environment and you think, okay, well, 0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.040 well just you know, take it over to Yellowstone or 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:29.400 I'll go to some national park and you know, I 0:16:29.400 --> 0:16:31.680 won't be affected by noise pollution. But again, just as 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.680 we were talking about with light pollution, you can't really 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:38.400 escape the noise there. Yeah. I actually was in Yosemite 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:43.200 recently on vacation. Yeah. And uh, and it really doesn't 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:45.960 like you. It's it's interesting to go there. And like 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:47.640 you you hear these stories about how the park it 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.120 used to be, like they used to do this thing 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:52.400 called the firefall, where they like like have burning embers 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.320 and go over the side of this this cliff. Or 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.520 then they would do stuff like like the park rangers 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.840 would would feed up trash from the um leftovers from 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.480 the restaurants directly to the bears so that everybody could watch. 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.680 And uh and and and and like we we're laughing 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:10.399 now and sort of you know, outrage now. But they, 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:13.119 you know, they like to point out that, you know, 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.040 this was considered okay then, and uh, you know, like 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.400 thirty years ago, this was this was perfectly fine. Thirty 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:20.600 years from now, who knows that, you know, people will 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:22.560 look back and say, I can't believe they let people 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:25.520 drive cars into these places, the noisy vehicles or they 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.360 let them have a golf course, you know. Um. Yeah, 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.520 So you go into even these these pristine environments, um, 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:34.000 you know, in places where nature is the you know, 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.600 the center attraction that you still you know, there's a 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:38.680 sound of construction or the sound of you know, a 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:43.320 truck bringing you know, groceries up the mountain. So let's 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:44.760 talk about a couple of the animals that are being 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.600 affected by noise pollution, such as the great tits persis 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.520 major they're singing at at higher frequencies. Then you also 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:56.240 have female gray tree frogs and those are exposed to 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.080 the sound of passing traffic, so it takes them takes 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:03.960 them longer to locate and find males. Uh. European tree 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:07.119 frogs on the other end, are just calling less overall. Um. 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.320 Then you also get the sound of overhead aircraft can 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.719 disturb the behavior of harlequin ducks as well as goats. 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:16.639 Remind me again what a harlequin duck is. It's a 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.400 duck that is frequently used as in it for entertainment 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:24.200 purposes in the courts of Europe. That's just a variety 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.840 of duck. Um. Yeah. And then you have stuff like, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:30.280 of course the greater stage grouse and mules deer. They're 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:34.399 steering clear of noise producing oil and gas developments. And 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:36.080 it can also affect the ability of a lot of 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:38.960 animals like owls and bats to find and hunt their prey. Yeah, 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.320 these guys depend on unsound to find their food, so 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:45.679 they'll have the laboratory studies have shown that if they 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.720 encounter areas where there's a lot of noise, they just 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:51.520 start avoiding those areas. I mean, we're talking about reduced habitat, 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.720 which can ultimately, uh put a species at a higher 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:56.719 risk for extinction. Like the way I like to think 0:18:56.760 --> 0:18:59.560 about it is, if you have an animal, a wild 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:02.200 animal in its natural habitat, if you were to build 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:04.919 a mini mall where its habitat is, then it cannot 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:09.000 live there anymore. If a mini mall occupies that space. Likewise, 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:12.880 you have the what is a mini mall mini mall, 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.239 like I don't know, like a strip mall. Right, um 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:19.119 but but but but likewise, even if like it was 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:20.880 just an open space and you had a tremendous amount 0:19:20.880 --> 0:19:23.680 of noise, that space is occupied by a noise that 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.280 it cannot cope with. So it's that cuts off that 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:28.679 whole area it's as if you built a mini mall there. Well, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:29.960 and a lot of land in the US and the 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:32.879 continent of US is in fact really close to roads, 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.800 which are a great source of noise. So there was 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.200 a stat that we found of land is within just 0:19:39.680 --> 0:19:42.560 one kilometer of a road. Yeah, this distance, the sound 0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:45.600 of an average car is around twenty deciples and the 0:19:45.960 --> 0:19:51.000 at the same distance trucks and motorcycles forty deciples. That's 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.600 a lot of noise. Yeah, so what can we do. Well, 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.400 a lot of it kind of breaks down to make 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.520 less noise. It's kind of quiet people, It's kind of simple. 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.240 The The thing is, our lives are pretty noisy, so 0:20:02.320 --> 0:20:05.720 you can't just say, like stop driving vehicles or stop 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.320 using roads. So the better solution ends up being things 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:13.840 like have quieter road surfaces, um put up noise barriers 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:15.680 like the walls you see you know a lot when 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:18.600 the whenever the interstate goes through a major city or something. 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.720 Here's a good one appropriate signage in protected areas. But 0:20:21.840 --> 0:20:24.080 this also reminds me of the signs that you'll sometimes 0:20:24.119 --> 0:20:27.720 encounter in different neighborhoods about no honking your horn or 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.080 the laws they have about you know, you can't cruise 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.159