NOISES THAT INJURE OUR BRAIN

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 118, 16 February 1928, Page 10

NOISES THAT INJURE OUR BRAIN

It is a physiological fact that any person’s nervous system is furnished with only limited amount of energy, varying somewhat from day to day. So much of this as goes out in wasteful expenditure cannot be utilised in productive work (says T. F. Alanning in the “Daily Mail.”) Noise is one of the chief causes of such waste, and as much of the noise which dissipates brain energy could be prevented, the public authorities responsible for the care of the people’s health should give it the same attention as they give to such matters as sanitation and food adulteration. The loss caused is not only in comfort but in productive capacity, and the matter is therefore one of economic importance. When a man has done a hard day’s brain-work he certainly cannot face the next day’s work with his highest possible capacity if his sleep has been disturbed by dogs, cats, and the early morning noisy milkman. Yet these noises are the rule in cities, with the result that people can seldom bring the whole of their nervous energy to their daily work. To very sensitive brains these night noises are destructive, but even in the case of less sensitive people who are not much troubled by noise, the brain is kept active when it should be resting, disturbing dreams are excited, and the next dav’s work suffers.

We could be relieved of these noises without undue interference with anyone’s liberty. The piano, the gramophone, and the wireless loud-speaker are not so easy to deal with, but we could apply the rule used in Berlin some years ago ordering windows to be kept closed during the performance. Beyond doubt the noise most harmful to the brain is that of the motors, especially the cycles and the unnecessarily loud hooters; these must be causing serious damage to a very large number of people. There seems’ to be no reason why they should not be brought under control. The Tendon taxi-cab driver rarelv uses his horn, and he is not permitted by the police, to use a loud one. Moreover, little noise is made by the machinery of his car. Tf taxicabs were as noisy as motor-cycles they would assuredly not be licensed. In them the authorities have a practical standard, and as thev will some time have to face this problem of brain-des-troying noise why not do it now ?