Cars and truck rush along I-195 behind Vartan Gregorian Elementary School in the Fox Point neighborhood of Providence. Highway sounds are just one example of some of the noise you can hear throughout the city of Providence. John Wilner is among a group of Providence residents behind the Providence Noise Project, a volunteer group conducting a community noise survey. The project recently collaborated with the Community Noise Lab at Brown University to capture new data that shows noise levels in city neighborhoods.
Find out more at providencenoiseproject.org and complete their survey.
John Wilner: The first thing that we thought was important was to show that there are actually high noise levels in the city, high, high levels of ambient sound. And we wanted to establish sort of a baseline to say where is it particularly loud? Where is it somewhat quieter? In part to reflect that back to the community to say, “This is what you’re living with.” Is this healthy? Can we determine what levels are really unhealthy?
Wilner moved to the west end of Providence in late June when fireworks season was already underway.
[fireworks sounds]
Wilner: And then they continued past July 4, for some time after that, and my girlfriend and I were just both astonished by the the amount, the date, you know, the number of days how late in the day, it would go, you know, two o’clock in the morning, three o’clock in the morning, four o’clock in the morning, and just the volume, both in terms of sound level, and just the sheer number of fireworks being set off, day after day after day, night after night.
Before moving to Providence, Wilner lived in San Francisco’s Mission District – a place most people wouldn’t describe as quiet.
Wilner: It has a lot of bars, a lot of restaurants, it’s a very popular area for people to go out. And I certainly heard noise in the Mission District, but never at these levels. Not with the same intensity as Providence. It really does stand out.
And it’s not just the fireworks in the summer.
Wilner: The things we hear about the most are: vehicles, modified exhaust systems, stereos playing very loud, people using leaf blowers, ATVs, the all-terrain vehicles, the motorcycles without mufflers.
[montage of noise]
Those are some of the sources that people have reported to the noise project. But why is it important to pay attention to all of this noise?
Wilner: The World Health Organization says that after air pollution, after like particulates and different kinds of chemicals in the air, the second most unhealthy form of pollution is noise pollution.
A noisy city can lead to sleep deprivation, which has many negative health effects. Just the presence of noise pollution can lead to your body releasing stress hormones. It’s also a big contributor to hearing loss. Wilner says that the biggest pushback he hears is from people saying “Providence is a city, and cities are noisy, you should just get used to it.”
Wilner: It seems to me that, that when we get that response, it’s from people who don’t really want to discuss it, but want to shut it down. If there’s pollution of a different sort, people don’t say hey, it’s the city you know, the infrastructure is old, pipes have lead in them get used to it, deal with it. It only seems to be with noise that people have decided that that’s the thing that people have to deal with, live with. Accept it, or they have to move somewhere else.
If you don’t want to move somewhere else, what can be done about noise pollution?
Wilner: Paris and France in general have a whole section of their environmental agencies, the environmental authorities there that looks at noise. And Paris has gone to great lengths to reduce noise in the city. They use noise cameras. London has started using noise cameras. So this sense that oh, foolish complainers cities are noisy. Well, apparently the people in Paris and London don’t don’t know that. Maybe people from Providence to go over and explain to them how loud cities are. Providence could only be improved by being quieter.
You can read more about the Providence Noise Project at providencenoiseproject.org. You can let them know about the noise pollution that you hear by completing a survey on their website.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated that John Wilner was part of the Community Noise Lab at Brown’s School of Public Health. Though his Providence Noise Project recently collaborated with the lab, he is not directly affiliated. The article has been updated to reflect that.
