Quiet Coalition Articles
Article Categories
Search Articles
Recent Articles
Hudson Valley towns are banning leaf blowers
Photo credit: Marco Verch licensed under CC BY 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition WPDH reports that many towns in the mid-Hudson Valley have effectively banned gas-powered leaf blowers from use. Beacon, NY limits leaf blowers to those under 60...
International Noise Awareness Day 2021
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition Organizations worldwide are recognizing International Noise Awareness Day today. This will be the 26th celebration of a day that was initiated by the Center for Hearing and...
Living with airplane noise
Photo credit: ERIC SALARD licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 by Matt Santoro Living near La Guardia Airport can be frustrating and upsetting, especially in the morning. Like many nearby residents, I am often awakened by the roar of a plane taking off from the airport for a...
Loud marine safaris may be banned from the sea
Photo credit: ArtHouse Studio from Pexels by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition The Daily Beast reports that marine safaris are so loud underwater that they might soon be on land. Actually, in countries from Scotland to South Africa to New Zealand, a variety...
Accelerated aging and age-related diseases from air and noise pollution
Photo credit: Chris LeBoutillier from Pexels by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition The title of this post refers to the title of an important article just published by Thomas Münzel's research group in Mainz, Germany. They note that aging is a complex...
Mars has its first helicopter visit
Photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 by David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition Here’s some real buzz from NASA: they’ve launched a robotic helicopter on Mars. The old Zen koan needs a re-write: "What is the sound of one hand...
Noise disrupts plant life
Photo credit:Thomas licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition Some of you may be aware that decades ago, an Indian scientist reported that music helped certain plants grow but this area of research remains controversial. Other...
Pandemic quiet gave voice to pigeons
Photo credit: Vicky Deshmukh from Pexels by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition We all know that city dwellers have changed their routines during the pandemic. According to Matthew Rozsa, so have urban pigeons....
A greener, quieter approach to grounds maintenance
Photo credit: Alex Juel licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition This report from Sandwich, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, describes how the Heritage Museum & Gardens there is switching to battery powered lawn mowers and other...
The sounds of the pandemic year
Photo credit: Tom Leishman from Pexels by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, and Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition Early on during the pandemic I began to hear comments from people about the sounds that surrounded them. Some people told me how happy...
COVID-19, hearing loss, tinnitus, and vertigo
Photo credit: Anton Uniqueton from Pexels by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition I recently wrote a short blog post about medical reports linking COVID-19 infection to tinnitus. Our noise colleague Yishane Lee at Hearing Health Foundation let us know that she...
Fact Check: 85 dB is not safe for hearing
Photo credit: Chuck Kardous, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist If I had $1 for every time I see an article incorrectly state that 85 decibels (dB) is “safe” for auditory health, I would be rich. It’s especially...