Ear plugs can not only protect your ears, but also your peace of mind as well! Naturally, there are those who don’t mind noise and commotion. But a significant number of people also need real peace and quiet — even in the city?
You get ear plugs, that’s all! They make a great bargain considering what you get: a measure of tranquility. It’s an unfortunate fact of urban life that one’s neighbors are usually on the other side of the wall – or, even, the other side of the door in the case of roommates!
So that’s when ear plugs come in. They should be helpful to some degree, if not a perfect final solution. That’s because the ones you’re likely to find are only good for blocking up to 33 dcB of noise, which is about the level of a typical conversation. Those of better quality are not as easy to find and will require a bit of research to procure.
But it may be impractical to wear them continuously. Though many do get used to them, many also find them uncomfortable. Of course, they shouldn’t be necessary to being with. But hardly anyone anywhere believes noise pollution to be a serious isse, one warranting official action. In fact, even in New York City, reputedly the one place in the entire United States with stringent anti-noise laws on the books, enforcement is often wanting due to not enough resources being devoted to the issue, particularly manpower. And ironically, the one greatest source of noise complaints, that between neighbors, is precisely what civic involvement tends to shy away from!
“Hell is other people,” noted the French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, and municipal authorities in Gotham are loathe to intercede between neighbors. But what do the laws on the books do, then? What is Mayor Bloomberg’s signature 311 civic complaints hotline doing besides simply giving out information?
It seems like most people don’t mind noise. That’s the sad truth, in the final analysis: most folks just don’t mind it. Hence, some things will never change. Folks likely aren’t all that aware how important mental sanity is – nor, even, the inverse relationship between it and noise pollution!