The Quiet Coalition founders present at U.S. conferences too…

Photo credit: Tõnu Mauring

By David M. Sykes, Vice Chair, The Quiet Coalition Two of The Quiet Coalition’s (TQC) co-founders are spending time in Switzerland this year. Why? Because European and Asian scientists and policy makers lead on noise policy. But, despite nearly four decades in America of “benign neglect” of the noise problem (our leaders evidently think we like all of the racket), American scientists continue to play a big role in the science that underlies global noise policies. That’s why TQC is steadfastly committed to “thinking global AND acting local.” In fact, several co-founders are scheduled to present at U.S. scientific and professional conferences in the next three months. Here’s where you’ll find us. Hope you can join us in one of these places. April 4-6 – Boston MA and St. Louis MO: TQC’s vice-chair, David Sykes and his colleagues Edward Logsdon and Elizabeth Valmont, PhD, will present at the MedEd conference in Boston, and at the Facility Guidelines Institute annual meeting in St. Louis. Their presentations culminate twelve years of continuous work on technical criteria and design guidelines to limit noise in America’s 62,414 hospitals and healthcare facilities April 5-7 – Arlington VA: Next to the nation’s capital, TQC’s Program Director, Jamie Banks, PhD, and Lucy Weinstein, MD, will present a paper at the 2017 Children’s Environmental Health Network Research Conference in Arlington, Virginia. Their topic?  Noise emitted from portable, highly polluting and noisy leaf blowers and landscape maintenance equipment. This equipment operates, among other places, around schools, playgrounds, parks, and homes, threatening children’s health. June 12-14 – Grand Rapids MI: TQC chair, Dr. Daniel Fink will present at the national conference of INCE, the Institute of Noise Control Engineering. Dr. Fink’s paper is entitled: “Transportation noise exposure is strongly correlated with increased morbidity and mortality.”