Noise versus Silence
Noise will continue to be the star at HHTM, in many guises: sounds of a bat, rude cell phone use, and elitist intellectual-profiling. Silence emerged as the white knight of tranquility, civil behavior, superior intellect, and upper class entitlement. It’s an interesting and entertaining juxtaposition of Good and Bad, especially considering our mainly urban lifestyles and…
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Quiet Please!
We are in the midst of posting on noise, but we can’t talk about noise without including Silence. Brains and Ears are a package deal for perceiving, alerting, attending, and processing auditory input from the world around us. Both are necessary, neither alone is sufficient. The Model The neuropsychological top-down model goes like this:…
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Not-So-Ancient Mariners and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
HHTM Staff: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been the subject of many posts at HHTM and we have discussed that not everyone self-induces their NIHL. Those who serve in our armed forces get theirs the old fashioned way — by daily exposure to hazardous levels of workplace noise or as warfighters in high noise combat…
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Call of the Wild: Noises You Need to Hear Even if You Don’t Want To
HHTM Staff: This section has been highlighting noise of all types. Unscientific polls in our offices asked clients on their preference for noisy (20% voted for it) or silent (80%want it) lifestyles. In general, the research and the readers agree that noise distracts, interferes with speech understanding, and contributes to cognitive overload. All well and…
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This Old House: Noises You Need to Hear
HHTM Staff: Do we discuss the sounds that people need to hear? There are times in the office people will state they don’t need to hear those annoying softer sounds, but here we highlight and pass along some areas we don’t normally think of. What’s Your House Saying to You? My soft water conditioner…
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