[updated 2/28, 2022]
In this post I will be discussing noise pollution and noise that causes permanent ear damage and tinnitus; the latter is worse so I will address that first.
Tinnitus: Satan's Hiss in Your Ears 24/7 is No Minor Thing
One important thing (of many) I wish I had known when I was a kid is that if you are exposed to really loud sounds it could permanently damage your hearing and leave you with tinnitus, which is a continuous ringing sound that never goes away, and really undermines quality of life. If I had known what would happen, I wouldn't have put my headphones at top volume I and I would always have been cautious by repeatedly zeroing out volume levels first when using headphones with electronic devices or vehicle stereos that oftentimes change the volume level dramatically and unexpectedly, especially when changing input/output sources), I would have worn earplugs to concerts that were so loud my ears hurt and rang for a week, etc. What I find pretty appalling now is seeing how little concern there is for children and adults getting this condition due to loud noise (approximately 10 million people in the USA have it according to dangerousdecibels.org, and I bet the # is actually higher since I've noticed in comments on tinnitus videos a lot of people saying that they didn't even realize that the ringing in their ears was abnormal, they thought everyone had it). And actually the U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 15% of the general public — over 50 million Americans — experience some form of tinnitus, so, that being 40 million more than the cases attributed solely to loud noise apparently means it can happen just with old age, but I don't know about that, what I do know is that loud noise definitely causes it.
The lack of concern for the general public and workers getting tinnitus is appalling because of just how bad it is to live with tinnitus, it really really sucks.
A big case in point on lack of concern is with soldiers, I heard one vet say that every soldier he knows coming back from Iraq has tinnitus, so the military obviously doesn't care if soldiers get it, which continuous a long list of examples like that (e.g., depleted uranium exposure). But also tinnitus is very common among other professions, like auto-mechanics, where again apparently no testing is done to see how loud certain regular occurrences at the workplace are. And this is not rocket science, it's well established at what sound-level permanent ear damage is going to occur: 85 decibels (dB) or higher. So all that is needed is to do a dB test with a sound meter (available as a smartphone app as well) and see what the # is, but who does that? I've never seen or heard of anyone doing that, if it does occur it must be rare, like I said it definitely isn't going on in the majority of auto-repair shops.
Returning to the example of me blasting my headphones (while in the often loud subway, a double whammy), earphones put at max volume can reach over 100dB, which would cause permanent damage just after 15 minutes.
The ultra-loud noises we're exposed to by police/fire/ambulance sirens, are those ever tested to see if they're going over 85 dB? Construction equipment and vehicles? Even public buses with their ridiculously loud beeping sounds as it lowers and raises to let passengers on and off, I'm sure that's over 85 dB too, as you can easily hear it from a block away and being right next to it is jolting. And something that again shows technological progress definitely doesn't equate to progress in quality of life, in a lot of new cars that have "bluetooth" and auxiliary device hookups, the volume levels will often go way out of calibration so that when you start up the car you may get blasted with max volume sound as it switches to a different audio source, and this can definitely result in well over 85db, as I can speak from personal experience, it was terribly loud when it happened to me twice (starting up other people's cars, I would have learned the lesson the first time in my own car), one time so much so that I had to turn the truck immediately off and get ear plugs in order to deal with the second or two it would take to turn it down (and some new cars don't even have the power button respond immediately after you start the car, you have to wait for it give you warning message on the screen first! A glimpse of the future autonomous cars that you'll lose all control over and have to appease with various “Warning” & "I Agree" screens before you can go anywhere).
General Noise Pollution: Unnecessary Disturbing Noise is Bad No Matter Where it Occurs
If you spend a good amount of time in Ecuador, say over 6 months, you'll notice that a lot of the people you'll come across on a daily basis don't value peace and quiet, at all. And once you start giving this attention, you;ll then see it's actually a cultural epidemic, it's actually a serious psychological (and spiritual) problem. If you think this is an overreaction, I understand that limited perspective, that "You just don't appreciate cultural diversity," or "Just because it's a problem for you doesn't mean it's a problem for them." I'm aware of all the counter-perspectives like that, I've evaluated them, and they aren't actually sound, they're more this sort of liberal false morality of "cultural tradition = morally good" than an actual intelligent observation and evaluation of human behavior and human mental/physical health.
Noise pollution is of course not limited to South America, the same insane tolerance of disturbing noise happens in the USA on a daily basis too, as can be observed in any big and active parking lot, where people use their new vehicle remotes that produce an exceedingly high and exceedingly long high pitched tone, well beyond in length and pitch anything that could possibly be sanely argued as necessary or good; in fact it's so crazy that I find daily use of a vehicle system like that by someone who isn't bothered by it kinda scary (i.e., if they don't think that's bad, they probably don't think a lot of other obvious bad things are bad either). Another way that noise pollution is getting worse in the world is through other new technology (like smart-meters, WiFi routers, etc.) that give off high-pitched background noise, e.g., you may not realize your TV set-up is doing so unless you put your ear right next to it and then pull the plug.
I've come to understand the greater reality of noise pollution being an evil phenomenon on the Earth (especially that which causes tinnitus), and why downplaying the noise is ignorant, and for those of you that might listen I felt compelled to get this needed truth out there.
To be clear, I'm not talking about people playing loud (but not too loud) music at a party or concert on occasion, or people enjoying participating in loud gospel singing at a church, or shouting for justice during a march, etc.. Sometimes getting a bit loud is natural and fine, what I'm saying is noise pollution is persistent unnecessary and disturbing noise, like a dog that barks for hours on a daily basis, disturbing everyone who lives near the person keeping that dog (perhaps on the rooftop, which is very common in Ecuador, rationalized for "security" but makes no sense because they bark almost constantly, e.g., at every person that walks down the street, so no one pays attention to them).
The crucial thing that needs to be understood is that peace and quiet are very very important for mental, physical and spiritual well-being. If you think regular unnecessary noise in your life (or tinnitus) is inconsequential, you're wrong. Ultimately what's going on is the corruption of the quality of life by false beliefs, i.e., lies (the lie here being "Unnecessary disturbing noise is fine."), and that, causing disturbance through lies, is the fundamental operation of Satan on the Earth, in case you're unfamiliar with that spiritual reality.
Now I'm going to just list some more common examples of what I'll call "satanic noise" to again make clear that this is worse than most people think it is:
- Screeching playground swings, gate doors, etc., that are never ever oiled, not seen as an irritant, instead it just adds to the mental tension/craziness of people exposed to it.
- Specifics of city noise, usually never listed or questioned as to whether these all being part of "normal" daily life is something that should just be accepted as it is:
- Very high pitched reverse gear alert for trucks (whether they are moving or not).
- Construction vehicles tractors etc., are especially bad with this, when constructing a building for example, the lot being an immense source of noise pollution, well beyond the sound of the pile drivers, material moving, etc..
- Fire-truck super-loud horns that can literally shake windows and are used unnecessarily
- Ridiculous new "audio-warfare" police sirens (the full on sirens, plus their regular pulsing sounds, "wooop!...wooooop!" often used unnecessarily).
- Ambulances (the most respected of sirens, again often much louder than needed and used at times when they're not needed).
- Car alarms that go off every day, and make loud sounds every time you lock or unlock the doors.
- Excessive bus/truck/car-horn honking.
- Crazy loud speaker announcements in stores, etc. (one really did hurt my ear at a thrift store once).
- Movie theaters that blast high-pitched sounds on the audience that are definitely well over 85db, which I've noticed have become ubiquitous with movie previews in particular, I guess to build a sense of suspense, but who knows, maybe it's satanists wanting to damage people's ears too.
- Audio levels on online videos varying severely for no reason and without warning, damaging the ears of anyone watching and listening with ear buds inserted into their ears,.
Videos and articles:
- Noise Awareness Day 2016 (#INAD2016), commemorated next April 27th. --> https://vimeo.com/155891645
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“Noise is assumed to accelerate and intensify the development of latent mental disorders. Noise may cause or contribute to neurosis, hysteria, and psychosis. Adrenaline and cortisol, the "stress hormones" are released when exposed to disturbing noise, and mind/body is not meant for that release to be excessive.”
http://lifeandhealth.org/lifestyle/how-noise-pollution-affects-the-body/1658.htm
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Deepak Prasher, a professor of audiology at University College in London and a member of the WHO Noise Environmental Burden on Disease working group, states:
“Many people become habituated to noise over time… The biological effects are imperceptible, so that even as you become accustomed to the noise, adverse physiological changes are nevertheless taking place, with potentially serious consequences to human health.
…Taken together, recent epidemiologic data show us that noise is a major stressor that can influence health through the endocrine, immune, and cardiovascular systems.”
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/06/20/noise-pollution.aspx
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On Tinnitus Awareness & Prevention:
https://ringingears.ata.org/
https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/o-blog
http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/TAW
https://freshonthenet.co.uk/2013/02/tinnitus-awareness-week/
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Peace!
