Sound Design for Healthcare

In my shop I had the fabricators had a radio, I didn't mind it, they played a variety and they were a pretty easy going bunch, and when they are working, they don't hear it any ways.

I had hire a young welder, which he wanted his kind of music. It was grunge type, Loud yelling from a fellow with a hoarse voice, real angry type sounding music. Made every body in the shop on edge.

I walked unto the shop floor and was talking to this young person on a job requirement I wanted him to do. (he was one hell of a good welder). He kept asking me what, what did you say.

I walked over to the radio and shut it off said.

"First off, And if you have to play music at that level that you can't even hear me, it goes off. I am not going to compete with the radio."

After shutting it off. the shop got quite, or it seemed. All I just heard hammering, grinding, welding, and other people talking.

Rest of the group through out the day, came up to me and thanked me. I told them, I will put up a lot to make this a comfortable place to work. when something like this bothers you, speak up. If you don't want to make waves, atleast speak to me I'll handle it.

Tension in the shop drop to next to nothing (usually means its replaced with something else ) After about two weeks, they asked if they could turn on the radio. I told them fine, if they follow some ground rules.

never had a problem since.

Music can calm a savage beast, BUT, It can also create one.

p911

Bravo...
I was working out on the factory floor last week...they had the radio on, the damn speaker was just above my head and it had a bass reflex port which was send out LF which was really irritating (We had submarines pulling up in the carpark to see what was going on).
It didn't take long before I snapped (grumpy old man) when one of the 'girls' was trying to talk to me. I shouted 'turn that f*****g thing off, I can't hear myself think'.
(I don't usually swear in front of women...I let them have their turn first)

It drives me round the twist... our brain is our most valuable asset, yet people jam it with pseudo random crap from the radio.... argh, I need to get out into the garden/wood/garage.
Oddly as a kid I remeber my Dad saying he wanted some peace and quiet, didn't understand it at the time
As a kid you are running aroud screaming 'acka acka acka ..gotcha...your dead..wheee...kaboom...whhhhooosh thud' and suchlike
Del <Twang..........Kathud.....flump>

The fancy name is hyperacusis. Had it my whole life. There's even a support group (never heard of 'em): http://www.hyperacusis.net/hyperacusis/what+is+hyperacusis/default.asp and an advocacy group: http://www.nonoise.org/partners.htm On the surface, solutions have appear to have the usual three components: features, cost, time. Features: I don't intend to sound defeatist, but no way can engineers implement a comprehensive solution, or even a "good enough for now, press on" solution, for the same reason that no one can implement a one-setting-fits-all weight machine. Cost: "Agreeable to all" is a breath-takingly difficult proposition. Work is bad enough: what bean-counter worthy of the name is going to accept a CBA that accounts for my ability to hear -- and inability to tune out -- every conversation around me? Fluorescents drive me nuts. Trains? The shop floor? Only w/ear protectors. Parties? Rock concerts? Forget it! He's not about to sign off on 7' cubicles with SONEX panels either. Time: All of that sound-proofing and -- no joke intended -- sensitivity training costs $. The programmers get their Do Not Disturb quiet time on Tuesdays and Fridays, but a whole division? More substantively, the real issue is speed, as in time is money. If (a) things get a little noisy around here or (b) the population density gets mighty high, well, that's progress for you! Don't like it? Dust off your resume! Ohhhh! OSHA you say? Um, well, maybe there is something we can do...

?

TURN THOSE DAMM WORDS OFF. ^{I can't consentrate.}

I was told by naturalists, some time ago, that wild animals flee humans, not necessarily because they think we are hunting them, but because the typical civilized tempo and noise level looks and sounds like fear and anger to them.* We're alarms that are always going off. Conversely, if you're alone and quiet for a few days, your own tempo will slow (fasting can help with this) you'll notice your own noise and damp it, and animals with whom you share overlapping territories (who see you most days, to whom you are familiar) will have more of a tendency to disregard your presence, or even to show curiosity.

When I've been alone for a while and return to an office/shop environment, where people play radios; even with earplugs, so I can't distinguish the words, the voices always sound irritable - like they're angry. I'm baffled why some people seem to need that constant noise - is it good to feel keyed up in "fight or flight" mode?

*Why don't animals always avoid cars then? Because metal and plastic don't give the proper scent cues, and the overall tempo, although rapid, isn't erratic enough to trigger an alarm response? There's no emotional signal? Possibly, human noise levels (apart from other behaviors) deleteriously impact animal health, whether wild or domesticated.

Have you ever been in the woods, dressed for the morning chill, and as the temperature warms, you sit down and doze off and a squirrel is looking into the gun barrel when you awake ?

I agree that the noise level, legality, intent to annoy or antagonize all result in a reaction.

Noisey vehicles (cars, motorcycles & trucks) that have been intentionally modified to be noisey are very annoying when they are in a normally quiet neighborhood. I live near a busy highway and a fire station, but the vehicles without mufflers are the ones that don't belong.

you sit down and doze off and a squirrel is looking into the gun barrel when you awake ?

In my younger days when I was on the farm, I worked fields with the tractor, deer would graze in the field, and I could get up to about 50 feet of them. The only time they would spook is if I would clutch or do something different.

Noise vehicles (cars, motorcycles & trucks) that have been intentionally modified

Some of the cars are so quite, when your walking, you don't even hear them approach from behind until they pass you. That was also talked about dangers of.

But noise irritates me, especially the motorcycles.

p911