Noise noise everywhere

I can't bear a lot of noise, although to a certain extent, I've acclimatised to it, since my very loud DGS lives with me. Sometimes though, my ears ring with noise. It is almost painful.

I cringe sometimes when out for a cup of coffee with friends and children are running around screaming their heads off.

I live near Heathrow and a military airport but 99% of the time it is like living in the middle of a large empty field.

Why people cannot use headphones is beyond me and I have said to one or two that I do not share their Godawful music,
I loathe going out for a cup of coffee where the "background" music is so loud I cannot hear what my friend is saying.

Good grief lighten up vintagelady when you hear noise you know you’re alive and kicking
It s pretty quiet in the ground I reckon

I was very pleased after lockdown was lifting to hear children playing in the nearby school playground. It gives me fond memories when my children were there.
I have recently noticed the increased planes going over that I didn't miss though.

I'm sitting in my city garden in the sunshine listening to birdsong, along with the low hum of traffic and the odd emergency siren. I like peace and quiet as much as the next person but city sounds seem to escape my notice. It all depends on what you get used to. During lockdown it was deadly silent and I found that eerie as although peaceful I knew that it was at a cost to people's livelihoods.

I've been in deepest Somerset these past few days - now that was silent!

Like many I get annoyed at people yakking on their mobiles in an enclosed space - it's so selfish, whereas city soundscape is just other people going about their daily business.

I must be the opposite as nothing really bothers me! I don’t have problem with music in shops! I love my music at home always do my housework to music! I’m not fond though of people shouting into their phones! But that’s about it

I don't mind loud nose where there's supposed to be load noise, such as a party or a gig.
But it's when you're in the countryside or the beach and all you can hear is the noise of a nearby motorway
or that horrible load noise that an idling ice cream van makes.
Or on holiday abroad you're next to a beautiful beach and all you can hear are noisy aircon systems, hooting horns and mopeds.

Noise obs

Funny how one gets used to noise. We don’t live far from a relatively busy road so get the hum of the traffic. Friends were in the garden when he remarked that it was a shame it was so noisy.
I was listening to the birds.
I also find it odd that as we get older we seem to get more sensitive to noise. Aren’t we supposed to hear less??

Or (i hope she's not on here) my next door neighbour has a voice like a foghorn. Every summer all you can hear is her yaketty yacking at the top of her lungs.
Don't hear the other neighbours, just her. It's enough to make your ears bleed.
And she's got windchimes, which I hate as they makes me think of cemeteries.
But that's another thread.
Yup grumpy old woman here.

Strange this thread. I was in a shop today and it's not normally noisy. The music in the shop would give a nightclub a run for it's money. I want to ask Gransnetters a question. My friend insists the music in both shops and restaurants has got much louder since the Pandemic, moreso since everything opened up again. Do you agree? When I really think about it, I have noticed it more in restaurants.

No it hasn’t got louder it’s because people haven’t been using the shops and restaurants so much in lockdown n so now it’s all open some people are more susceptible to hearing the noise which after nothing will seem loud
The only noise that annoys me is the blooming music when your holding on your phone for an hour and every 10 seconds the voice that thanks us for waiting

Until I had a recent medical episode I had barely noticed and very rarely been bothered by incidental noise, but now I suffer from sensory ‘overload’ and find it much more intrusive.

Our walk took us on a cycle track for a short way today and we were amazed by the number of cyclists who had music blaring out as cycled along.

Couldn't they just enjoy the sound of the wonderful countryside they were travelling through?

If we go out as a family for a meal and there is music playing the first thing we do is ask for it to be turned down . Two of us with hearing aids means it is difficult to hear the conversations. Our neibours play a lot of music in their garden , not my taste of music either , and I hate it . We have had words with them and they have turned it down buy why do they need it ? One day I am going to blast Classic FM over the fence.

I don’t want to be thought of as a grumpy old woman. What works for me is to simply accept things. Yes some places and people are noisy but I don’t let it bother me unless the noise prevents me from sleeping at night. Life is too short.

BlueBelle

No it hasn’t got louder it’s because people haven’t been using the shops and restaurants so much in lockdown n so now it’s all open some people are more susceptible to hearing the noise which after nothing will seem loud
The only noise that annoys me is the blooming music when your holding on your phone for an hour and every 10 seconds the voice that thanks us for waiting

Oh dear. Perhaps you need to lighten up

I try to plan my walking route after work on quieter streets. There is a huge difference as soon as you turn from a busy street to a quieter one.

Mind you, I was humming along to Michael Jackson at the grocery store, and I noticed others were doing the same.

My work environment is very noisy, so I love a bit of quiet afterwards.

I'm glad of a bit of noise - it helps to drown out this damned Tinnitus I've had every minute of every day for the past 15 years .

I have moved to the North and I cannot believe how loud people are in pubs and restaurants shouting at the tops of their voices all the time. Deafening.

Yes, there is noise pollution everywhere and I am definitely a grumpy old woman. My friend and I go out for a coffee to a local farm shop with a very nice cafe in a converted barn. We have noticed the appearance of loud background music but a couple of weeks ago it was awful. Not only was it too loud but it was some sort of tuneless "rap" style noise. I asked the waitress if it could be turned down please and she said no because it was controlled by the Managers mobile phone and "the staff" couldn't alter it, only him. I said how bizarre, is he in the building ? She said No so I asked what happened when they closed up and wanted to go home? She gave me a sulky look and my friend sank down into her chair! I didn't leave a tip but when I got home I did a Trip Advisor review. The Manager replied and said the music was not controlled by him but by the staff in the cafe and that it was on a rolling four hour tape and could be turned down very easily. I hope he had words with the waitress but I havn't been back since!!!

Sounds like something is making you feel irritated that has nothing to do with the noise

The noise is just making your irritation worse

my house is positioned so that I have higgeldy ends of long gardens on 3 sides, It is fab, no noise apart from birds and sometimes a mower or strimmer and a train comes through a small distance away, which I like

I am loving peace and quiet. Noise away from here does not bother me, it is only temporary

buffyfly9

Yes, there is noise pollution everywhere and I am definitely a grumpy old woman. My friend and I go out for a coffee to a local farm shop with a very nice cafe in a converted barn. We have noticed the appearance of loud background music but a couple of weeks ago it was awful. Not only was it too loud but it was some sort of tuneless "rap" style noise. I asked the waitress if it could be turned down please and she said no because it was controlled by the Managers mobile phone and "the staff" couldn't alter it, only him. I said how bizarre, is he in the building ? She said No so I asked what happened when they closed up and wanted to go home? She gave me a sulky look and my friend sank down into her chair! I didn't leave a tip but when I got home I did a Trip Advisor review. The Manager replied and said the music was not controlled by him but by the staff in the cafe and that it was on a rolling four hour tape and could be turned down very easily. I hope he had words with the waitress but I havn't been back since!!!

Yes I suspect the young staff often choose both the music and the volume it is played at. It is something managers need to take more control of as I'm sure it loses some restaurants a huge amount of customers.

Ask a anybody who has hearing problems what they miss most - birdsong perhaps? The voices of their grandchildren? Just sound and then maybe lighten up!
I think two years of being more or less restricted to home or a very few places might have lessened your tolerance of other people’s sound- but perhaps twas ever thus ever since the fox terrier sat beside a gramophone and was annoyed at the intrusion of “his master’s voice” .
I suspect an ageing issue, commonly known as “hardening of the attitudes”
(When Paw got his first hearing aid he commented that he had not realised how much he had been missing - especially birdsong.)