Best of 2020 - how media covered noise and sound issues

January

Back in January, 2020, we were still concerned with the usual noise problems. Outside of China, many of our lives hadn’t been significantly impacted by COVID yet, nor had we experience a lockdown. Everyone was still going to the office, going to the gym, and leading the same lives that we did in 2019. The silence was yet to come.

Laval News: “Airport noise group seeks results with improved complaints app”, by George Bakoyannis

February

The New York Times: “Soundproofing for New York Noise,” by Roy Furchgott. This article looks at various soundproofing techniques that people implemented, often at great expense, when their apartment turned out to have a noise or vibration problem.

Phys.org “Warming oceans are getting louder”, by American Geophysical Union

March

The lockdowns began in different cities around the world by March, but we thought it was very temporary then.

Radio Apogee’s sound maps captured the sounds of the pandemic from around the world.

Undark: “The Fight to Curb a Health Scourge in India: Noise Pollution”, by Chris Berdik

The Guardian: “One in five Europeans exposed to harmful noise pollution – study,” by Fiona Harvey.

April

From The Toronto Star: “Listen up: In these disquieting COVID-19 times, hushed cities are making a loud impression on our ears,” by Douglas Quan.

May

From The New York Times: “The Coronavirus Quieted City Noise. Listen to What’s Left: Microphones on once-busy street corners and public parks have recorded the sound of the pandemic,” by Quoctrung Bui and Emily Badger

June

From RFI in France: “Paris residents, fed up with the noise, urge ban on extended restaurant terraces”

From Boing Boing: “Engineering screwup turns Golden Gate Bridge into creepy wind siren”

July

Soundtrack City — a group of sound artists and architects — published “Homing inside out — a listening guide for home quarantine”

New Yorker Magazine published “New York is Getting Loud Again,” by Justin Davidson, when the first lockdown eased some restrictions and the city evolved into a long, hot, and restless summer.

The New York Times: “Scientists Say You Can Cancel the Noise but Keep Your Window Open,” by David Waldstein

August

From The Guardian: “‘Wave of silence’ spread around world during coronavirus pandemic,” by Ian Sample. Back when we thought the pandemic might be close to ending, so we talked about it in the past tense.

September

Was Stonehenge built for acoustics? From Artnet News: “A Remarkable New Study Suggests that Stonehenge was Built to Amplify Sound During Ancient Ruling-Class Rituals,” by Sarah Cascone

From The New York Times: “With Outdoor Dining Comes Outdoor Noise. What Can You Do?”, highlighting a drawback when restaurants moved outside their four walls during the pandemic and how it impacted the neighbors, by Ronda Kaysen

The New York Times: “When Did the Suburbs Get so LOUD?”, by Ronda Kaysen

From National Geographic: “When the pandemic quieted San Francisco, these birds could hear each other sing,” by Carrie Arnold.

October

From Citylab: “How the Pandemic Changed the Urban Soundscape,” by Linda Poon.

The Wall Street Journal: “Seasonal Hazard for Working at Home: Leaf Blowers”, by Valerie Bauerlein and Jon Kamp

From Gadgets 360: “Using Bioacoustics to Unlock the Ecological Information in Soundscapes”, by Pooja Choksi

Twenty Thousand Hertz (podcast): “Sound and Silence” discussed how “Sound surrounds us, even in the quietest moments. But depending on how we hear, the world can be a different auditory experience for each of us.”

Clarion India: “Sumaira Abdulali: Raising Decibel Levels Against Noise Pollution”, by Ashok Kumar

November

Freakonomics radio released podcast episode 439, titled “Please Get Your Noise out of my Ears,” which featured Dr. Arline Bronzaft, Josh Dean, Assistant Professor, Behavioral Science, University of Chicago, Mack Hagood, scholar and host of the Phantom Power podcast, and other experts.