Doth Thy Sonically Offend?
Does this look like a guy who’d be blaring his music on the 21-Hayes? If you think no, you’d be right. I was sitting three seats cattycorner to the man, and I didn’t even know he had earplugs on. But the guy across from him (picture not shown) quietly sidled up and asked him to turn down his tunes. Totally astounded, the pseudo non-offender replied “really?” and subsequently dialed down the volume.
One stop later, two very loud gentlemen got on the bus and talked in decibels loud enough to make a deaf man flinch. Did the sound-sensitive guy ask these two to turn down their pitch? Nope.
Which got me wondering: How do we physically perceive the difference between electronic noise and human noise? Both can be offensive and settling in their own ways.
According to Nature Reviews Neuroscience, noise (as a broad term) has direct behavioral consequences, from affecting our perception to our actual movements. Noise affects our central nervous system, which sends a cascade of chemical and neurological events throughout the body. Depending on the type of stimulus, our brains fluctuate efficiency levels.
For example, say someone is blaring hip-hop music on his phone. The noise might be disturbing enough — and it is to me — where my brain can’t process other tasks like reading. On the other hand, a different noise — such as rain falling or two old guys discussing the weather (always one of my faves) — might be discrete enough so my brain can continue to work efficiently and maybe even more so. It all depends on how we individually interpret and handle noise.
Duh. It all comes down to the individual. But at least we have scientific proof to back this up. And I always like to be reminded that what offends me might not offend someone else. Does it mean that I’ll ask Mr. Nice Guy to turn down his iPod next time? Probably not. But I’ll turn mine down if asked.
-Jenny
By the way, if you’d like to read about Noise in the nervous system, there are some super cool pics on the behavioral loop of noise.
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Written by: Jenny
Hmm I’m a lover of hip hop so I think I would like it quite a bit if it provided the background to my ride. But sound track to the Titanic is a different story altogether.
So what kind of music was this guy blasting on the bus? I wasn’t sure from your post.
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hmmm, not sure the “kind” or genre of music matters much to me. it could be hip hop or symphony, i think it’s pretty rude to blast your music. if some kind of consensus could emerge on a ride, and everyone wanted to hear something, that’s different. but i doubt that’s anything close to the case most of the time.
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AHH This is the guy who works at the Divisadero Farmer’s Market (no, not the actual farmer’s market on Sundays – just the regular liquor store on Hayes & Divis.) They overcharge twice the amount, they’re creepy to women and they have a weird guard at the front who thinks you’re going to steal beer. Gotta boycott that place people! It’s nice that he turned down the music, though. I’ll give ya that one buddy! Just this once.
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I think it has less to do with the sound level and more with the notion of who’s ass we could kick if the offender was offended.
The guy across from the guy who was playing his music too loud probably felt that the offender was of no threat, while he then probably wasn’t sure how he’d deal with the two loud gentlemen.
If you’re a guy, you don’t tell another guy to STFU up unless you can take him, or are part of a majority. This guy wasn’t sure and he was alone, so he kept his trap shut.
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