Silent Treatment
What.On.Earth
Photo: Bob Avakian
– Jenny Slate, from the book Little Weirds
“In the last light of a long day, I sit on a chair on my porch and watch the sky drain colors down and out and I realize I want to hear my voice and only mine. Not the voice of my voice within a cacophony of old pains. Just mine, now.”
Source: Harvard Magazine2nd
Where noise ranks by the European Environmental Agency on list of environmental exposure most harmful to public health
Source: Harvard Magazine48,000
Estimated number of new cases of heart disease each year in Europe attributed to chronic noise exposure
Source: Harvard Magazine4
Increased decibels in median nighttime noise pollution levels (commonly includes industrial activity, traffic, and airports) in neighborhoods with at least 75 percent Black residents versus neighborhoods with no Black residents
Source: Newsweek1950
Year underwater sonar was introduced Source: Newsweek10
Total number of mass strandings of beaked whales between 1874 and 1950
Source: BBC75%
Percentage of continental U.S. in which one could find “quiet” in 1900
Source: BBC2%
Percentage of continental U.S. in which one could find “quiet” in 2010
Source: NOISEAWARENESS.ORG70
Decibel level at which continued exposure to noise will cause hearing loss
Source: NOISEAWARENESS.ORG50
Decibel level of rainfall
Source: NOISEAWARENESS.ORG110 Decibel level of leaf blower
Source: NOISEAWARENESS.ORG162
Decibel level of fireworks at 3 feet
Source: SCIENCE~50
Reduction in seismic noise during the pandemic year of 2020, the longest and most prominent global anthropogenic seismic noise reduction on record
