Too Loud to Live Well? Noise in Architecture and City Planning

[Klaus Philipsen]

The traditional definition of noise is “unwanted or disturbing sound”. Sound becomes unwanted when it either interferes with normal activities such as sleeping, conversation, or disrupts or diminishes one’s quality of life. The fact that you can’t see, taste or smell it may help explain why it has not received as much attention as other types of pollution, such as air pollution, or water pollution. (EPA)​

Perceiving Sound or Noise?

“What is that noise?” my my two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter keeps asking whenever she hears something unfamiliar, her little pointer finger raised in curiosity. “It was too noisy,” she commented after a recent circus visit, “and my daddy forgot my headphones” (referring to her earmuffs). It was her strongest impression. For her, sound is an important part of learning but also a matter of interference.

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Sound comes in many shapes. Bliss or bane? (Photo: Philipsen)​

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Auditory perception is our main gateway to communication with others via speech and music, and it also plays an important role in alerting and orienting us to new events.(NIH)

I wish more adults retained that same awareness of sound. Being somewhat sensitive to sound myself, noise has been on my mind for years. In a 2013 piece titled "Do We Really Like it Big, Fast and Noisy?" I wrote:

Background music in bars, restaurants, elevators, stores indoor malls and outdoor shopping centers seems to indicate a fear of quietness. TVs monitors blasting in airport lounges and hotel lobbies and breakfast rooms. Cars that honk and beep every time someone touches the remote, trucks that beep when they back up. Trash trucks and school buses that are so noisy that they shake everybody out of bed as soon as they enter one end of the neighborhood. Buses that talk when they turn, the door opens. Traffic signals that beep and talk so the blind can't hear the cars anymore, fire trucks with horns so powerful they can bust your ear drums. Baby toys that make incessant noise, Networking gatherings routinely get extremely loud in a self feeding loop until one has to yell to be heard at all. Neighbors or lawn workers trot out any number of machines that exceed any noise limits for commercial construction, from leaf blowers to chainsaws, from power washers to weed whackers.

Recognizing that the one's bliss is the others bane, this post is going beyond the general complaint and looks at the specifics of what sound is, where it originates and how it can be combatted or mitigated. We will leave out the obviously desired sounds of music.

The Physics of Sound

Sound waves are longitudinal waves that travel through air or water. When we think of sound, we typically consider its loudness (amplitude or intensity) and pitch (frequency). Noise cannot be seen or smelled — but it travels fast, about 767 mph in air, and across a wide frequency spectrum. Humans can hear only a small portion of this spectrum, which also varies by age and individual.

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Decibel, a logarithmic scale, 3dB increase = 100%
louder​

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Noise is measured on a logarithmic decibel (dB) scale, meaning perceived loudness doubles with every 3 dB increase. A 10 dB increase represents a tenfold rise in sound energy. There are four decibel scales (A–D), with A and C being most commonly used to measure environmental noise in workplaces, schools, hospitals, and airports.

Noise rarely stays within property lines even though its intensity diminishes with distance according to the Inverse Square Law, dropping about 6 dB every time the distance from the source doubles. Managing sound that travels so easily is difficult, especially very loud noise that can travel quite far. If one neighbor wants to blow leaves while another wants to read quietly outdoors, whose right prevails? If one neighbor blows leaves but 200 others have to listen, does the majority count more than the individual?

The reduction of decibels (dB) of sound with distance is governed by the Inverse Square Law for point sources, meaning sound levels decrease by 6 decibels for every doubling of the distance from the source. This happens because the sound energy from a point source is spread over an increasingly larger spherical area, with the surface area of a sphere increasing by the square of the radius. (Source)

Few airline passengers realize that their entire trip from takeoff to landing lays down a “noise carpet” on the land below. Those who have experienced true silence in remote wilderness know how often this stillness is shattered by jet noise — even six miles overhead.

Noise in Architecture

As an architect, I know noise control often fails at the design and construction stages. Plastic plumbing pipes amplify flushing toilets, footsteps resound on squeaky joists, and budget hotels are legendary for their paper-thin walls. Even in higher-end hotels, through-wall AC units roar to life in the night. Household appliances rattle and hum; HVAC systems hiss; barking dogs are heard through closed windows.

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US framed house, party wall with gypsum board
for sound and fire (Photo: Philipsen)​

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Yet in real estate, sound quality rarely plays a role in marketing — even though a comfortable sound environment is as essential as aesthetics or functionality. The International Building Code (IBC) requires sound transmission between dwelling units to achieve a Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating of 50 dB or better, but this is often undermined by construction shortcuts: poorly sealed outlets, misaligned pipes, or missing insulation create “sound bridges” that defeat the wall’s rating. If you can clearly hear conversation in a motel room next door, the STC rating is likely closer to 30 dB.

Impact sound — from footsteps, rolling toys, or high heels — is also supposed to be limited to 50 dB. With carpets falling out of fashion and hard-surface flooring trending, reducing impact noise often requires structural measures like floating floors or suspended ceilings.


By contrast, European homes are typically built with solid walls, floating concrete floors, and heavy doors that provide full acoustic privacy. European appliances are so quiet that Miele and Bosch dishwashers have become prized in American open kitchens. Yet even there, noise is not absent: Windows stay open for ventilation, and street sounds drift in and residents' noise floats out..

Noise in Cities

Environmental noise has caught the attention of the public. ArcDaily published a piece about Improving Urban Soundscapes for Well-Being and NIH published a study about Building a City with Low Noise Pollution. Science Direct published Effects of planning variables on urban traffic noise at different scales, identifying traffic as the biggest emitter of environmental noise. Proper planning as well as source control are needed to create a quieter and healthier city.

A look to Europe is helpful. Despite higher densities, European cities often seem quieter: garbage trucks and buses are nearly silent thanks to encapsulated engines; police helicopters are rare; loud car exhausts and boom boxes are illegal and enforced. Some countries mandate “quiet hours” during night, Sundays, or siesta time. In restaurants, people speak softly, without blaring TVs. Parks and pedestrian streets are deliberately designed to preserve quietude.

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Airplane noise from start to finish
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Of course, there are exceptions — corner bars may release drunken singers down the street, church bells ring hourly, and soccer hooligans can turn night to chaos. Still, the overall effect is more controlled than in most U.S. cities.

Dirt bikes, a common urban entertainment here, are much less popular there. Juveniles who jazzed up their car exhaust systems will be stopped and their cars confiscated; entertaining an entire block with one's choice of music playing at full blast over custom speakers and woofers until even adjacent cars begin to vibrate, is illegal and not tolerated. Near Italian hospitals you find routinely signs asking to avoid "rumore inutile (Useless noise). The Manhattan curse of noisy trash trucks pulling up in the middle of the night is unthinkable in most places in Europe. In restaurants there people talk with hushed voices, without TVs blaring from several walls. Closing streets for cars can make them so quiet that one can hear the clacking of shoes and the voices of children.

As the examples demonstrate, a quieter city requires interventions not only in the planning stage (avoiding mixing very loud activities and facilities in with residential use), but also on many levels in the ongoing operations ranging from regulating of activities, products and use times to enforcement and technical innovation. Most of all, though, it requires that people want it quieter.

Noise Doesn't Equal noise

Obviously people differ widely in noise sensitivity based on individual preferences, culture, age and lifestyle. Some are disturbed by high frequencies, others by low rumbles. Some find white noise soothing; others find it intolerable. Cultural differences also matter: Quebec may be quieter than New Orleans; Oslo quieter than Naples, reflecting Scandinavia’s more reserved lifestyle compared to southern Europe’s exuberance. Younger people often seek out loud music and clubs, whereas older adults crave peace and quiet. Geography matters: Rural areas may be perceived as too quiet, whereas cities are always louder.

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In the crosshairs of regulation: Gas powered
leaf blowers (Photo:Metro West Daily News)​

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The same sound can be one person’s joy and another’s torment. What feels like “freedom” to one may feel like an intrusion to another.

Noise and health

Noise is not just a matter of subjective preference — it also has objective ramifications on our health which makes it a public health issue. Research links environmental noise, particularly nighttime exposure, to hypertension, heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke — even after adjusting for air pollution and socioeconomic status.

A 5-dB reduction in average noise exposure would cut the prevalence of high blood pressure by 1.5 percent and cut heart disease by 1.8 percent. Again, these are low numbers. But because of the high incidence of these conditions to begin with, an average 5-dB reduction would have an annual economic benefit of $3.9 billion. (Scientific American 4/16/24)

Yet noise is rising: by 2014, over 100 million Americans experienced average noise exposure above 70 dB — equivalent to standing next to a washing machine all day.

It was a rise of 15 dB in just a generation, which is the difference between normal conversation and a vacuum cleaner. (Scientific American)

Noise impacts on health are not limited to to heart failure and such but more subtle effects such as not perceiving the sounds of nature. The rustling of leaves, the song of birds or the chirping of grass hoppers. Humans are so accustomed to human sounds that many put headphones on while running or playing loud music in their golf carts, drowning out whatever nature would tell them. Alienation from nature exacts a health cost, too, even though it isn't easily measured.

Noise Mitigation Through Technology

Since enforcement of noise after it has been emitted can be difficult (measurement equipment, procedures, definitions etc.) the most promising method would be source control, i.e.making stuff that is quieter. We have, indeed, made much progress on that. Modern electric machines are less noisy than gas powered machinery. Airplanes, cars and some trucks have become much quieter thanks to encapsulation and attention to sound mitigation. Electric cars are so quiet that they now have to emit some noise by law. Appliances are getting quieter as well. Dishwashers are marketed as quiet with decibel ratings from 37-50 dB (A) but some are as loud as 60db (A). Further electrification of blowers, mowers, golf carts and cars will certainly make the environment quieter. It is conceivable that emergency vehicles could alert surrounding vehicles by radio waves. Some jurisdictions offer free window upgrades for residents near airports that can bring windows to the same reduction rate as a party wall between apartments.

Noise mitigation by law

Environmental noise was addressed along with with the Clean Air and the Clean Water Act with the Noise Control Act as early as 1972. But it withered in Reagan's early attempt of reducing federal government and moving enforcement to states and local government. EPA's website laconically states:

the Noise Control Act of 1972 and the Quiet Communities Act of 1978 were never rescinded by Congress and remain in effect today, although they are essentially unfunded.

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Barnes & Noble marketing​

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Indeed, many local jurisdictions have noise limits on their books. An analysis of 491 U.S. noise ordinances in 2016 revealed most communities used multiple standards to regulate noise exposure, and nuisance through zoning and regulation of audible decibel levels depending on the time of day and distance. Yet, enforcement seems generally absent. Police has bigger fish to fry and generally stays away from enforcing those "quality of life" infractions. In Maryland, for example, any modification on factory installed car exhaust systems is prohibited. Yet, the roar of modified exhaust pipes is ubiquitous and unabated. It seems that on the political level the issue has yet "to arrive".


Conclusion

With all our wellness trends, yoga studios, and calls to “return to nature,” you would think quiet would be a public priority. With my granddaughter in mind and the health effect now investigated, noise should not remain the most overlooked pollutant. It is high time we start listening — quite literally — before the political din drowns out our ability to hear ourselves think.

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA





Related articles on this blog:

A Quieter City through Design and Architecture​

https://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2016/01/a-quieter-city-through-design-and.html

Do we really like it big, fast and noisy?​

https://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2013/09/do-we-really-like-it-big-fast-and-noisy.html