Noise noise everywhere

I’m sitting having a flat white in a cafe in Marylebone, central London. Apart from some idle chit chat in admiration of a beautiful dog. It’s blissfully quiet.

I did some knitting outside this morning, this is what I heard, someone sawing wood and laughing, a dog yapped, the wind, a few distant cars, a bumble bee and some birds on a roof.The guttering creaked in the sun. There was no silence, I liked it all, signs of life. I would not choose ever to shop anywhere that has musac and am thankful not to live by screechy shouty neighbours

I'm not sure how you took that out of my post. I was talking about people of all ages.

Vintagejazz

There's a big difference between birdsong and grandchildren, and loud music and yelling into mobile phones. Not comparable really.

You imply (apologies if I am wrong) that the shouting/noise/music etc is the fault of the young.
What about the biddies I see/hear shouting into their phones? Or with the radio/TV turned up max because they are "a bit hard of hearing,"?
The world can be a noisy place, but our attitude to it plays its part too.

I have ADHD and as I get older my sensitivity to noise is getting worse I am going to buy some noise cancelling headphones. I have tinnitus and it’s made worse by certain types of music, I’m fine with Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple etc but newer stuff does my head in and makes me feel angry.

There's a big difference between birdsong and grandchildren, and loud music and yelling into mobile phones. Not comparable really.

Ask a anybody who has hearing problems what they miss most - birdsong perhaps? The voices of their grandchildren? Just sound and then maybe lighten up!
I think two years of being more or less restricted to home or a very few places might have lessened your tolerance of other people’s sound- but perhaps twas ever thus ever since the fox terrier sat beside a gramophone and was annoyed at the intrusion of “his master’s voice” .
I suspect an ageing issue, commonly known as “hardening of the attitudes”
(When Paw got his first hearing aid he commented that he had not realised how much he had been missing - especially birdsong.)

buffyfly9

Yes, there is noise pollution everywhere and I am definitely a grumpy old woman. My friend and I go out for a coffee to a local farm shop with a very nice cafe in a converted barn. We have noticed the appearance of loud background music but a couple of weeks ago it was awful. Not only was it too loud but it was some sort of tuneless "rap" style noise. I asked the waitress if it could be turned down please and she said no because it was controlled by the Managers mobile phone and "the staff" couldn't alter it, only him. I said how bizarre, is he in the building ? She said No so I asked what happened when they closed up and wanted to go home? She gave me a sulky look and my friend sank down into her chair! I didn't leave a tip but when I got home I did a Trip Advisor review. The Manager replied and said the music was not controlled by him but by the staff in the cafe and that it was on a rolling four hour tape and could be turned down very easily. I hope he had words with the waitress but I havn't been back since!!!

Yes I suspect the young staff often choose both the music and the volume it is played at. It is something managers need to take more control of as I'm sure it loses some restaurants a huge amount of customers.

my house is positioned so that I have higgeldy ends of long gardens on 3 sides, It is fab, no noise apart from birds and sometimes a mower or strimmer and a train comes through a small distance away, which I like

I am loving peace and quiet. Noise away from here does not bother me, it is only temporary

Sounds like something is making you feel irritated that has nothing to do with the noise

The noise is just making your irritation worse

Yes, there is noise pollution everywhere and I am definitely a grumpy old woman. My friend and I go out for a coffee to a local farm shop with a very nice cafe in a converted barn. We have noticed the appearance of loud background music but a couple of weeks ago it was awful. Not only was it too loud but it was some sort of tuneless "rap" style noise. I asked the waitress if it could be turned down please and she said no because it was controlled by the Managers mobile phone and "the staff" couldn't alter it, only him. I said how bizarre, is he in the building ? She said No so I asked what happened when they closed up and wanted to go home? She gave me a sulky look and my friend sank down into her chair! I didn't leave a tip but when I got home I did a Trip Advisor review. The Manager replied and said the music was not controlled by him but by the staff in the cafe and that it was on a rolling four hour tape and could be turned down very easily. I hope he had words with the waitress but I havn't been back since!!!

I have moved to the North and I cannot believe how loud people are in pubs and restaurants shouting at the tops of their voices all the time. Deafening.

I'm glad of a bit of noise - it helps to drown out this damned Tinnitus I've had every minute of every day for the past 15 years .

I try to plan my walking route after work on quieter streets. There is a huge difference as soon as you turn from a busy street to a quieter one.

Mind you, I was humming along to Michael Jackson at the grocery store, and I noticed others were doing the same.

My work environment is very noisy, so I love a bit of quiet afterwards.

BlueBelle

No it hasn’t got louder it’s because people haven’t been using the shops and restaurants so much in lockdown n so now it’s all open some people are more susceptible to hearing the noise which after nothing will seem loud
The only noise that annoys me is the blooming music when your holding on your phone for an hour and every 10 seconds the voice that thanks us for waiting

Oh dear. Perhaps you need to lighten up

I don’t want to be thought of as a grumpy old woman. What works for me is to simply accept things. Yes some places and people are noisy but I don’t let it bother me unless the noise prevents me from sleeping at night. Life is too short.

If we go out as a family for a meal and there is music playing the first thing we do is ask for it to be turned down . Two of us with hearing aids means it is difficult to hear the conversations. Our neibours play a lot of music in their garden , not my taste of music either , and I hate it . We have had words with them and they have turned it down buy why do they need it ? One day I am going to blast Classic FM over the fence.

Our walk took us on a cycle track for a short way today and we were amazed by the number of cyclists who had music blaring out as cycled along.

Couldn't they just enjoy the sound of the wonderful countryside they were travelling through?

Until I had a recent medical episode I had barely noticed and very rarely been bothered by incidental noise, but now I suffer from sensory ‘overload’ and find it much more intrusive.

No it hasn’t got louder it’s because people haven’t been using the shops and restaurants so much in lockdown n so now it’s all open some people are more susceptible to hearing the noise which after nothing will seem loud
The only noise that annoys me is the blooming music when your holding on your phone for an hour and every 10 seconds the voice that thanks us for waiting

Strange this thread. I was in a shop today and it's not normally noisy. The music in the shop would give a nightclub a run for it's money. I want to ask Gransnetters a question. My friend insists the music in both shops and restaurants has got much louder since the Pandemic, moreso since everything opened up again. Do you agree? When I really think about it, I have noticed it more in restaurants.

Or (i hope she's not on here) my next door neighbour has a voice like a foghorn. Every summer all you can hear is her yaketty yacking at the top of her lungs.
Don't hear the other neighbours, just her. It's enough to make your ears bleed.
And she's got windchimes, which I hate as they makes me think of cemeteries.
But that's another thread.
Yup grumpy old woman here.

Funny how one gets used to noise. We don’t live far from a relatively busy road so get the hum of the traffic. Friends were in the garden when he remarked that it was a shame it was so noisy.
I was listening to the birds.
I also find it odd that as we get older we seem to get more sensitive to noise. Aren’t we supposed to hear less??

Noise obs

I don't mind loud nose where there's supposed to be load noise, such as a party or a gig.
But it's when you're in the countryside or the beach and all you can hear is the noise of a nearby motorway
or that horrible load noise that an idling ice cream van makes.
Or on holiday abroad you're next to a beautiful beach and all you can hear are noisy aircon systems, hooting horns and mopeds.