MODERN MENACE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20441, 20 October 1934, Page 31 (Supplement)

MODERN MENACE.

Annoyance Caused by City Noises. A HEALTH PROBLEM. That noise is unavoidable where people gather themselves together in communities is a fact as ancient as the man-made institution of cities and towns, but never in the history of the world has there been such a constant clamour as is produced in modern cities or one made up of s t many startling, alarm-like elements, spates an overseas public health journal. To a certain extent we car. and do adapt ourselves to the conditions of noise, but common experience shows that there are limits to this adaptation. Everyone who has tried to sleep through the hum of after-theatie traffic interspersed with nervous tooting of horns, through the rattle of milk delivery—all the noises of a city night —knows that custom does not mitigate

the annoyance caused by noise. Everyone who has tried to do a piece of work in the din of adding machines, typewriters, telephone bells and office

conversation knows that he is disturbed by these things—at some times more than at other times to be but nevertheless appreciably disturbed. The researches of psychologists so far have been a confirmation of this common experience, usually revealing that noise has been more of a handicap to rest and to work than the average man ever suspected. With an instinctive logic, people recognise noise as a health problem—a serious hindrance to their well-being and efficiency. Whether or not noise has reached its worst proportions at this time, it surely has reached a point where something must be done to give people relief from it—something more than the abating cf individual noises when and as complaints are made of them. Doctors, lawyers, builders, engineers, execut'ves of large organisations, all had found noise a great handicap in their vaned work and had already given much thought to its curbing.

Many people never have a chancy to recover from the effects of one group of noises before they aie ex* posed to another group Already; noises, or rather the causes cf noise, are so closely interwoven with our economic and industrial life that it will take the combined ingenuity ai builders, acoustical engineers, automobile builders and lawyers to change present conditions without working hardship on any group in the con> munity. However, the large numbers of people undoubtedly suffer intensely* from noise is sufficient for all reasonable persons to support measures to diminish this nuisance. So much of the harm is dene by individual thoughtlessness that it seems reasonable to hope that real reform could be brought about by personal consideration for others.

(Contributed by the Department ot Heal th.)

On an average, railway trains travelled faster in England in 1896 than they do now. Forty years ago the bestbooked time between London and Edinburgh, including three stops, waa 7 hours 25 minutes.