Wow, this article and comments below had me in a reverie here, tracing the sound environments of my life back to childhood - each distinctly different! Thinking about it, truly, I came to appreciate them all, "even" NYC, with its non-stop traffic & sirens. It was the sound of home! :) Though perhaps nothing beat the sound of living on a river, hearing the lapping of water each morning and evening. I'm sorry, did I say I came to appreciate the sounds in all the places I've lived? There are three sounds that DRIVE ME CRAZY: the deafening sound of power lawn tools (leaf blowers & weed whackers, with gagging exhaust, to boot); generators (which also create a *really annoying* vibration felt well beyond the offending property); and the incessant barking of a chained-up dog punctuated with pathetic yelps when reaching the end of its tether. Ironically, it was only moving to semi-rural New England where, Spring through Fall, all three are now part of daily living. It's only quiet at night... when (not to change the subject but) stadium lighting at shopping plazas and auto dealers casts a milky pall across an otherwise awesome night sky.
Wow, this article and comments below had me in a reverie here, tracing the sound environments of my life back to childhood - each distinctly different! Thinking about it, truly, I came to appreciate them all, "even" NYC, with its non-stop traffic & sirens. It was the sound of home! :) Though perhaps nothing beat the sound of living on a river, hearing the lapping of water each morning and evening. I'm sorry, did I say I came to appreciate the sounds in all the places I've lived? There are three sounds that DRIVE ME CRAZY: the deafening sound of power lawn tools (leaf blowers & weed whackers, with gagging exhaust, to boot); generators (which also create a *really annoying* vibration felt well beyond the offending property); and the incessant barking of a chained-up dog punctuated with pathetic yelps when reaching the end of its tether. Ironically, it was only moving to semi-rural New England where, Spring through Fall, all three are now part of daily living. It's only quiet at night... when (not to change the subject but) stadium lighting at shopping plazas and auto dealers casts a milky pall across an otherwise awesome night sky.