Noise in the Park

The photograph shows the entrance to a Bangkok park. A daunting set of signs indicates activities forbidden in the park. But there is no prohibition against making sound or noise. How could there be? The tall poll rising above all the signs carries a six sided loudspeaker which broadcasts songs (at least they are Thai melodies), and radio programmes in all directions and at all hours, needless to say, at loud volume.

Parks are places of refuge from traffic, noise, hurry, and the advertisements that intrude in city space. They are places where a city dweller can delight in the quiet peace of nature, see flowers, trees, and other human beings in relaxed mode.
But in Bangkok do not expect quiet. As in every public space the loudspeaker is considered indispensable ‘entertainment’. As soon as one walks past a speaker and the sound diminishes a little, the next one appears to take up the round. The other curse of the Bangkok park is the aerobic dancing groups which generally gather in the hour of early evening when one would most wish for quiet. Good in themselves no doubt, to provide an hour of vigorous exercise to the young female, it seems that a particularly penetrating, pervasive, and, above all, loud rhythm of music is required to make the dancing, prancing movements of the leader more compelling. The NOISE penetrates to even distant corners of the park and denies all the other pleasures that a park might provide.

There is much debate on a suitable level for sound in parks. It seems that a rigid rule would be counter to the relaxed habit of park culture. Some freedom for entertainment should be granted, but there must also be a rule to limit intrusion on the quiet of others. Legislation in a country noted for a proliferation of lawyers often settles on 60 dBs at 50 feet distance as a criterion, and courts are called on to decide cases exceeding this level. If we consider the levels of annoyance reported by people exposed to different noise levels, serious annoyance is reported for levels of 55dB. Moderate annoyance is felt for a level of 50 dB. We certainly should not want even moderately annoying noise in our parks so perhaps a level of 45 dB might be reasonable. But in reality we would wish our parks to be as quiet as possible, allowing us to hear birdsong, the rustle of leaves in the breeze, the trickle of water in fountains and streams. Denmark has proposed attractive levels for its parks of 40 dB from 7.0 am to 6.0 pm and 35 dB from 6.0 pm to 7 am with some variation in times at weekends.
Meanwhile in Bangkok we labour under a universal standard of 70 dB as a permissible limit, and that is more honoured in the breach than in the observance. Park administrators appear to have no concept of the creation of a natural sound environment.