Ear Plugs and the Need for Quiet
Ear plugs are used for hearing protection, but another popular use is for maintaining mental health! Naturally, there are those who don’t mind noise and commotion. But what are you going to do in a city like New York where people live cheek by jowl stacked on top of one another?
You get ear plugs, that’s what! They make a great bargain considering what you get: a measure of tranquility. It ain’t just roommates, either, but neighbors – and not just apartment-dwellers but folks who live in houses: such is life in the big city!
And that’s when ear plugs can help. They’re not always going to solve the problem, but they are often helpful, minimizing the noise if not downright stopping it altogether. Most commonly available kinds, however, are only rated up to thirty-two or thirty-three decibels, an absurdly low level of prevention, one comparable to mild conversational tones. 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. Good luck getting anyone in government to care, however. 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!
Jean-Paul Sartre famously remarked that “hell is other people;” this may explain whyThe Big Apple is so reluctant to intervene between warring neighbors, which is but hell multiplied exponentially! But what do the laws on the books do, then? And what else does a call to 311 offer besides a chance to gripe to someone?
Well, enough people tolerate noise well enough such that it isn’t much of a problem. That’s the sad truth, in the final analysis: most folks just don’t mind it. That’s why it goes on. Mental sanity is not something that’s highly valued; indeed, not many know what true sanity is nor how noise plays an important part in preventing it!