Britons Organise To Fight Noise

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29024, 13 October 1959, Page 22

Britons Organise To Fight Noise

(From a Reuter Correspondent)

LONDON. The British people, weary of the ever-growing din of the modern jet age. have decided to take positive action to bring back peace to their once quiet fields and cities. The campaign against noise, latent for many years, took a more urgent note this sunny summer as unprecedented numbers of people left their homes to get away from it all—and found that the one thing which they could not escape was noise. Their irritation reached a climax in August when it burst forth in the formation of a national Noise Abatement Society. This unofficial, but influential, body, whose declared aim is to “investigate and subdue the evils of noise,” is making plans to set up local action committees in every town and village in Britain to investigate complaints. It has already decided to form a technical committee composed of neurologists, architects and engineers, to give advice to people troubled by noise. The idea of the society was first mooted in a letter to a London newspaper early in August. It grew into reality with such a startling swiftness that the first meeting of its National Council was held less than a month later. “Major Curse"

Leading public figures from many walks of life offered to join and thousands of letters poured into the new society's offices offering support. Prospective members are united by their belief that unnecessary noise is one of the major curses of city life and, to a lesser extent, of country life in modern Britain. Most are convinced that the problem of noise is not just one of annoyance but that it may have a serious effect on mental and physical health. A survey of the letters written to the society shows that motorcycles are condemned as the chief offenders against peace and quiet with jet aircraft and sports cars running them a close second. But these are by no means the only complaints—dustbin lids, television sets and radios blaring through open windows, loosely packed lorries, motor mowers, hedge cutters and other enginedriven implements indispensable to Britain’s keen gardeners, rattling milk-bottles and slamming doors all come in for criticism.

Suggestions for the elimination of noise are being seriously considered by the Society. Is it necessary for trains to whistle every time they go through a station? the letters ask. Why should the police not impose on-the-spot fines for unnecessary noise? Why not put up noise-deadening walls between factories and the outside uorld. Why not ban motor-cycles between bed and breakfast time? At this point, controversy enters ■ for many Britons believe that action of this sort would mean interference with traditional British liberties, and that noise is preferable to loss of freedom. The anti-noise exponents, however. retort that they are not trying to ban noises which are an essential part of public life, such as the clanging of ambulances and fire engines, the shunting of trians, warning sirens or even factory hooters. Since no-one protests against Government measures to protect the health of the community, they say. why should anti-noise measures taken to protect health be objectionable? At present, very little is definitely known about noise and its effect on health. Members of the Medical Research Council are now working on an analysis of the subject but their report is not expected to be published until the midffie of next year. In the meandoctors « recent ai stfferi™ diagnosed Patients . suffering from “acoustic

trauma” caused by highly penetrating or prolonged sounds. Recent investigations in factories and offices have shown that noise can affect efficiency at work. For instance, it has been found that weavers in North Country factories work faster and more efficiently when their ears are muffled against the din of the machines. It is also widely believed that a certain level of noise experience continuously can cause deafness. In substantiation of this it has been proved that boilermakers are more prone to deafness than many other works. The chairman of the new Antinoise Society is the well-known neurologist, Sir Walter Fergusson Hannay, who has for many years campaigned against the effects on health of smoke from diesel engines and has now decided to broaden his assault to include their noise. He believes that the answer to the noise problem is to educate the public to voice their complaints far more frequently and more vociferously. His wife, Doris Leslie, a wellknown writer of historical novels, recently found it impossible to work in London and moved out to their country home. Even there, she found to her annoyance that all was not peace. “For instance, there is a silo,” she said recently. “It goes on and on for days. It is like the humming of millions of titanic bees.” Sir Miles Thomas, former chairman of the British Overseas Airways Corporation, himself formerly much criticised for the scream of jets in areas surrounding London airport, is a member of the national council of the society. He was persuaded to join, it is said, by the day-long ear-splitting crash of pile-drivers near his London office and by his dislike of unsilenced motorcycles and sports cars. Sir Gerald Kelly, former president of the Royal Academy, told the council's lively first meeting: “I do hope you will abate this noise.” Other members of the society include bankers, journalists, trade unionists and businessmen. Whatever results the society may or may not achieve there is no doubt that it has been widely welcomed by many people in Britain. As Sir Walter Hannay put it, members are “not just a lot of old fogeys.” They are “ordinary blokes who are fed up with people kicking up hell's delight.”