The interest of the general public in a national noise policy

The soundscape of the United States has changed considerably in the 30 years since the last attempt at establishing an effective National Noise Policy, the Noise Control Act of 1972. The last 30 years have seen a significant growth in environmental noise sources such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, and airplanes. In addition, new environmental noise sources continue to be invented. These “new” noise sources include jet skis, leaf blowers, car alarms, boom cars, jake brakes, boom boxes, etc. Also, sound systems with electronic amplification have become a dominant noise source in the last 30 years. These changes are part of the broader historical pattern of the second half of the previous century, most notably a growth in noise and a flight of people from urban areas to what originally were much quieter suburbs and rural areas (mostly for quality of life reasons such as less crime, better schools, quieter neighborhoods, etc.). Many of these suburbs, however, are no longer quiet as the noise has followed this migration. In the context of the evolving soundscape, this paper examines 1) the segments of the public most concerned about noise, 2) the noises the public is most concerned about, and 3) what the public wants done about noise. In addition, developing a National Noise Policy requires understanding two key changes that have taken place: 1) the middle class and wealthy no longer can be certain of buying quiet and 2) political support for noise control spans typical political divisions.