My goddaughter Claire called last week to invite me to brunch. Yay! Who doesn’t love omelets and mimosas? Then she suggested the original Carson’s on Main Street in Lexington. My response was an immediate and vehement no.
Can’t help but sound like a Gen Xer here, but that place is just too damn loud. The acoustics are so terrible that you can clearly hear the basketball game they have blaring in the bar but not hear a word your date says, even though they are sitting right beside you. Even when the food is good, I always leave there feeling a little nauseous. Makes sense when you know that the modern-day word noise arises from 13th-century French root word meaning English nausea.
Our world is getting louder all the time. Every thirty years, noise pollution triples, which is directly correlated to an increase in anxiety, hearing loss, and ecosystem disruption. Animals of all sorts—including humans—innately dislike loud noises. In fact, humans are only born with two innate fears: a fear of heights and a fear of loud noises. We’re designed with an unconscious startle reflex that tightens our neck muscles to help protect our brains when we hear a loud noise.
Sound is measured in decibels (fun fact: decibels are named after Alexander Graham Bell, scientist and inventor of the telephone). Continued exposure to noise over 85 dB can cause hearing loss. Interstate traffic is about 80 dB, hair dryers and leaf blowers around 100 dB, loud concerts 110 dB (this is why you will see me in my loop ear plugs at every show—see below for more info), and gunshots and fireworks up to 140 dB.
What to do, other than limiting your exposure to noise?
Get into nature. Turns out, a sound doesn’t negatively affect our hearing and nervous system in the same way a noise does. Now on a scientific level, sound and noise are technically the same: vibrations in the air or water that we pick up with our ears. But many scientists are now differentiating between the two, defining noise as anything man-made, and sound as something that occurs naturally: think waves crashing on a beach, bird song, or wind whistling through prairie grass. Breathing is around 1dB, and rustling leaves around 20 dB. Even heavy rainfall is only 50 dB.
Sounds (as opposed to noise) actually improves our health in several metrics. Natural sounds soothe our nervous system. Planting more trees and shrubs in noisy areas helps to filter and soften the decibel levels.
Go somewhere outside and just listen. Listen for the birds, the wind, the running water. Listen for your heartbeat and notice how it grows slower and steadier, tuning into the natural sounds you hear around you.
Loop earplugs combine a patented acoustic channel and mesh to filter sound waves, keeping quality crystal clear. You hear the music perfectly, but 20–25 decibels quieter. An absolute must for live music lovers like me.
