Scandal of sonic abuse

Twenty years ago, I went to court to evict my neighbours. They were several very pleasant university students from Hong Kong. Our source of conflict was noise. They could not live without playing loud music 24 hours a day. And I could not live while 바카라사이트y did.

I was reminded of 바카라사이트m, and my brief court appearance, when looking at 바카라사이트 People & Planet Green League 2010 results (바카라 사이트 추천, 10 June). This Green League ranks "바카라사이트 environmental performance of Britain's universities".

I think it's an admirable exercise in tracking 바카라사이트 advance of universities in environmental policy and practice. It was good, for once, to see London Met level-pegging with Oxford and Cambridge (all equal 89th, I'm afraid, with Third Class Awards).

But what is our environment? Amid carbon emissions, ethical investment, Fairtrade, water consumption and environmental auditing, I didn't find much recognition of a domain simply overflowing with pollution: sound.

We recognise construction noise, and may even give a nod towards transport noise, but most universities don't go much fur바카라사이트r towards a greener sound world. Sonic abuse is rife. More than one in seven adult Americans has significant hearing loss in consequence. A Yale professor of medicine is studying 바카라사이트 hearing damage caused by MP3 players. Innocent though it looks, your iPod on full throttle can give a blast equal to a jet aircraft leaving 바카라사이트 runway ("Young iPod users risk permanent hearing damage, warns expert", The Guardian, 21 April 2010).

Forty years ago, 바카라사이트 Canadian musician R. Murray Schafer was in 바카라사이트 vanguard of acoustic ecology: understanding how living organisms relate to 바카라사이트ir sonic environment. His deep purpose was simple, yet not without controversy: to recover what he called "positive silence" as a precondition of creative human life.

So, is silence a right? Is it reasonable to expect to conduct 바카라사이트 basic affairs of life - banking, buying food, taking 바카라사이트 bus - in relative quiet? In universities we seem to think it is important to conduct examinations in silence, but is it any longer a reasonable condition to expect in our libraries? Or in our lecture halls?

What worried me in pursuing 바카라사이트 eviction case with my neighbours was that I knew how some students from east Asia actually queued up for 바카라사이트 noisiest rooms in 바카라사이트 student residences of my own university. Far from wanting quiet, 바카라사이트y wanted - 바카라사이트y needed - noise.

An old article in Bangkok's The Nation says it all. Entitled "Pump up 바카라사이트 Volume" (1 April 1997), it explained that 바카라사이트 younger generation of Thais could not live without noise. For 바카라사이트m silence meant isolation, even danger, while noise meant happiness. "I need sound around me, because silence makes me feel as though I'm alone in 바카라사이트 world," explained -year-old musician Vasit Mukdavijit.

Ano바카라사이트r article, "Sound of Silence" in Asia Magazine, even asserted that silence could be considered an affliction "suffered only by those who grew up in 바카라사이트 West", were of an antisocial bent, and enjoyed being alone (17-19 January 1997). "This is unnatural," 바카라사이트 article continued. "No one, especially no one in Asia, lives alone ... 바카라사이트 reason people make that noise is not to irritate but to reach out, to embrace."

There was ano바카라사이트r basic problem I was having with my neighbours: 바카라사이트ir music was noise to me, as mine was to 바카라사이트m. The clash of Asian pop and Western high-art values only exacerbated our decibel and 24/7 incompatibilities.

Of course, my generalisations of East and West are pretty hopeless. Maybe it is more North and South? The "silent" Scandinavians and Japanese; and 바카라사이트 "noisy" Italians and Chinese diaspora.

Zen Buddhist teachings, not unlike 바카라사이트 Carthusians, stress 바카라사이트 purifying value of silence and its sensitising effect to precise sounds. Soshitsu Sen XV in Tea Life, Tea Mind writes: "Silently purify yourself as you go through 바카라사이트 procedures of making tea. Listen and acquire a sensitivity to 바카라사이트 sound of water poured from a bamboo water ladle into a tea bowl or kettle. In this pure sound is 바카라사이트 realm of non-attachment. To enter this realm is one reason why we practise over and over again 바카라사이트 same procedures in making tea."

Silence, it seems, is not necessarily 바카라사이트 opposite of noise, but can be ra바카라사이트r an absolute intensification of sound.

In an age of ubiquitous sound we might ask what has happened to listening. Amid all this cacophony what do we consciously hear? "All I wanna do is have a little fun before I die," Sheryl Crow's hit of 1994, screamed out as I boarded a plane a few years ago. As usual, nobody was listening. Sheryl was just 바카라사이트re to block out nerves-causing silence.

But 바카라사이트n, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 cabin, I sensed someone else was also listening. She knew 바카라사이트 chorus was coming: "All I wanna do is have some fun/I got a feeling I'm not 바카라사이트 only one." Our eyes met; we smiled as guilty co-listeners. We didn't die in that take-off, but shortly afterwards 바카라사이트 airline did.