But the most significant change in modern science is not just about the amount of noise, but how we experience it. Noise is no longer understood solely as a problem that affects hearing, it is also recognised as a systemic environmental pollutant. Transport noise is now one of the leading environmental cause of illness in Europe, second only to air pollution.
Leaf blowers are even worse. I thought about it recently, and literally every time I’ve lost my temper in the last 25 years, it’s been because someone was making noise.