The pandemic’s horrors are well known to most, but there have been some silver linings. The emptiness of the streets, fewer people driving, and general lack of activity gave us the gift of silence. How silent were many parts of our society?
The silence was very noticeable — I would walk out every morning and stand right next to the bay bridge and hear nothing. You can hear traffic rumbling on the bridge from my apartment on busy mornings, about half a mile away. Obviously, I wasn’t alone in this observation. According to the University of Michigan researchers who analyzed data from the Apple Hearing Study, the environmental noise exposure dropped by half. (The full study is available here.)
University of Michigan’s School of Public Health took noise exposure data from volunteer Apple Watch users in Florida, New York, California, and Texas, and analyzed more than a half-million daily noise levels measured before and during the pandemic. There was a drop of approximately 3 decibels in daily average sound levels in March and April, versus January and February. The baseline sound levels were about 70 decibels. Higher sound levels can harm overall health, especially on hypertension and cognitive performance.
Humans aren’t the only one who are impacted by noise and resulting stress. “Birds sing louder in noisy environments, and research has shown the resulting stress can speed aging and disrupt their metabolisms,” reports Science Mag. “Noise can also keep them from hearing their own chicks—or the warnings of fellow birds; it may even be driving down bird diversity in many cities.” The pandemic saw bird songs become softer and fewer fights breaking out among males.
But back to humans. Not surprisingly, California and New York had drastic reductions quite fast. Florida and Texas, not as much.
One problem with the study is that it required that participants spoke English, had an iPhone 6s or later, and an Apple Watch Series 4 or later. That demographic profile skews towards a more affluent, white-collar worker who has the luxury of being at home and is less exposed to noise on the roads. It was clear during the early parts of the pandemic, and the impact was uneven. A large swathe of minority and lower-income populations in the US suffered inordinately during the pandemic. Many, if not most, didn’t have the luxury of working from home. (Related: Invisible.)
Humans are really invasive species. By pushing noisy, high-speed devices as tools of recreation, we are ruining the ecosystems for sensitive wildlife, reports Elyse DeFranco, and looks at a study based on data collected from camera traps in British Columbia, Canada. [Massive Science]