What is All the Noise About? 

Waiting for Science Fiction to Come True  

By Jim Thompson  

I am still waiting for the technology in non-dystopian science fiction to come true. We still don’t have flying cars or food replicators. More to the point, I still cannot shape a sound spectrum with a wave of my hand or have instantaneous analysis of a sound with the results displayed in the air in front of me.  

We have certainly come a long way from when I started as a noise control engineer. With slide rules, building sized mainframe computers, and 10-pound sound level meters, understanding noise and developing elegant solutions was a challenging task. I can still remember being amazed at the ingenuity of a chain driven octave band analyzer. The progress made has been outstanding, but we still do not live up to the wonders of science fiction.  

There are still nearly 50 million workers around the world over exposed to noise every day. This is despite the effort of a lot of people using the best technology available. In science fiction, robots perform hazardous work with human beings well protected from such risks. If I ask my friends in academia about this, they blame the lack of research funding for occupational noise. Those in consulting point to the successful implementation of controls and pass-off the “few” areas of overexposure to a lack of funding or commitment from companies. The companies blame the lack of technology to provide effective controls at a palatable cost. Everyone points the finger at someone else. The bottom line is that millions of workers suffer irreparable hearing damage every year. We have sent vehicles to other planets, but we cannot keep workers from losing their hearing. This is just one example of where we have not lived up to projections of science fiction and where we should do more as noise control engineers of the future. 

Have you noticed how quiet transportation is in science fiction – at least in the non-dystopian versions? We have made great progress in many of these areas. Exterior aircraft noise has been reduced by over 20 dB. I can remember having to shout for people to hear me in the back seat of my car at highway speeds. Modern high-speed trains also provide comfortable interior noise levels. However, talking to someone living in the flight path of a major airport, one will not impress the residents quoting a 20 dB reduction. We have reduced the noise of aircraft, insulated houses, replaced housing with warehouses and other non-residential dwellings, but it is still not enough. At the same time, we have increased the number of flights and to make matters worse, restricted flight patterns to concentrate the noise for specific homeowners. It is much the same story for those living near highways and railroads. Barriers and other controls may have helped, but for the occupants living near to these transportation routes still experience disturbing noise levels. By the way, it is incorrect to assume that electric automobiles will solve the road noise problem. Most of the environmental noise from highway speed traffic is from tire-pavement interaction and wind noise. This is another example of how much easier it is to have a great quality of life in science fiction, and where we have much yet to do.  

The other ways in which we have not lived up to science fiction is the lack of concern for noise and hearing loss in the devices that science has developed. We are all used to everyone going through their day with earphones. The only problem is that too many people use these with sound levels that may lead to hearing damage. Another excellent example is from the many advancements made in medical technology. Having to give ear plugs or earmuffs to patients subjected to the noise from an MRI machine is a classic example of how we have leaped forward and backward at the same time. Go into any intensive care hospital room and you will be overwhelmed by the cacophony of noise. Every device in the room has an audible indicator that it is constantly beeping and alarms for any malfunction. On top of this is the clatter of beds, equipment, trays, people in the hall, and announcements or pages over the loudspeakers. Only a few years ago, a team setup to measure sound levels in the rooms of a hospital during normal operation. Once they were all set, the nurses changed shift. The first nurse to walk in the room went around and turned off the audible signals and alarms on all the instruments. When asked why she did this, she said there was so much noise, she could not distinguish the real alarms. The tricorder on Star Trek did not make noise. The monitors in the sickbay were visual as opposed to audio. We need to do better to live up to science fiction.  

There are so many aspects of modern life where there is still a need for better sound management and/or noise control far greater than these few examples. We are certainly doing better than in the dark ages when I started in noise control. Products are designed with noise as a concern. There are many cases of real success in many aspects of our life.  

So, maybe I am a little sarcastic above, but it is important to realize that we have a much to do to achieve the quality of life that we should have with proper noise consideration in design and the best possible controls. We have made tremendous advancements with technology that have impacted all facets of our lives. I guess my point is that we should not be complacent. There is much to do, and the easy problems have been solved. It is good to occasionally remind ourselves that there is much to do.  

It is not an exaggeration to say that the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people around the globe is adversely affected by noise every day. In science fiction, this would not be the case. What are your thoughts? Have we failed to live up to the predictions of science fiction? What should we do to have an impact on the future?