iPod, deafness, urgent alert

Apple has announced on Wednesday 29th March the availability of a computer programme in the US to limit the volume of iPod MP3 players. According to Apple company the programme which can be downloaded from their Internet site allows owners of iPod Nano and of new iPod models to set the maximum volume of their players. The programme includes a security code which permits parents to set the level of the players of their children which cannot be changed by the children themselves.
A group who have taken legal action against the manufacturers, say that iPod can deliver sound levels up to 115 decibels, the level of sound emitted by a chain saw or a pneumatic drill. In France, Apple is forced to conform to regulations which set a limit for the iPod of 100 decibels since 2002. A representative of those taking legal action expressed satisfaction that Apple has finally admitted that the iPod sound level is a serious problem but is dissatisfied that the sound limiting programme cannot protect the owners of older models.
According to a study published in mid-March by ASHA, an association specialising in auditory and cognitive problems, more than half of American adolescents suffer hearing problems due largely to the use of MP3 devices. The association has expressed alarm over the risk of hearing damage from the widespread use of the new digital devices; in 2005 more than 22 million iPod players were sold. The complaint claims that the concept of iPod is defective and that the players do not carry sufficient warning of the danger to hearing. It points out that at the maximum level of 115 decibels, daily use for 28 seconds is capable of causing permanent damage to hearing.

Now Noise on Bangkok Buses

Sometime ago Quiet Bangkok fought against TV on Skytrain. Now a new noise demon appears.
The background noise due to worn engines and gears can be up to 90db; add loudspeakers......

Letter in Nation newspaper 28th March 2006

Bangkok buses need better lighting, not loudspeakers
Is another scam being perpetrated while people are not looking? A few weeks ago, I noticed rows of new plastic discs fitted to the roofs of buses. In my ignorance, I thought smoke detectors had been installed, presumably with some hidden means of combating any fire thus detected.
To my horror, I have discovered I was mistaken. The discs form a noise-distribution system. Who in the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) was conned into agreeing to this expenditure? What was in it for them? There is enough noise on the streets of Bangkok without adding to it for bus passengers.
In the good old days, if a bus driver was trying to drown out the traffic noise for himself, the passengers could take evasive action by moving towards the back of the bus. Now the noise permeates the whole vehicle.
If viable alternatives to the buses existed, I would certainly be changing to those other modes of transport.
If the BMTA really did have money to spare, why did it not upgrade the lighting in the buses? Various levels of government at the local and national levels have launched short-lived campaigns to encourage people to read more.
Travelling time on buses is otherwise dead time, which people could be encouraged to make use of by reading. However, in the evening hours this is difficult, because the level of lighting on most buses, particularly BMTA buses and including the "new" orange air-cons, is not adequate.
Ironically, my experience over the years is that the much-maligned small green "tin can" vehicles score higher on both these criteria than do the red and orange BMTA fleets.
Gareth Clayton
Bangkok

Visual Noise Another Attack on Quiet

Buddhist temples are no longer constructed in Bangkok. Commerce has become the God and he is worshipped in new commercial temples. Paragon is the latest and most pretentious of the temples of commerce where crowds enter in awe and stroll with reverence to worship at the shrines of world trade names. The worship of commerce also requires its local shrines in every corner of the city, the advertisements that engage our attention at every turn. Most recent is the transformation of the supporting cement pillars for express ways, skytrain, and flyovers to be display posters inciting us to worship of mobile telephones, skin lotions, and vitamin pills.
Noise is a message which we do not want, an unwanted sound is audio noise, an unwanted image is visual noise. Driving along the expressway our vision of sky, buildings, and trees is blocked by huge billboards, screaming at us the same trade names. Their repetition is monotonously boring, their function the enslavement of customer choice.
To counter the capture of visual space by advertisements there has appeared the phenomenon of graffiti, colourful, daring, creative, puzzling, diverse. Agreed, sometimes annoying too. But it shows that the human spirit cannot be tamed or limited to consumerism.

Not only in Bangkok: Letter to Nation, 30th March 2006

Hideous billboards are disfiguring Koh Samui
Many of the recent deleterious developments on Koh Samui are likely to be irreversible; however, there is one trend that is still not too late to reverse.
Billboards are sprouting like mushrooms and defacing the landscape beyond recognition. Soon, no stretch of the island's main and only ring road will be spared, as it appears anyone who likes can plant any size signage he or she wishes and in multiples of any number.
An enormous steel frame has been erected at the roadside in Bophut and only awaits what is sure to be a monstrosity of an advertisement of a magnitude completely out of proportion with its surroundings.
If whoever is in charge of Samui's zoning (to whatever extent that exists) is intent on turning the island into a metropolis, he or she is on the right track.
Why not, as other enlightened local governments have done around the world, ban all billboards, so visitors may enjoy what remains of the natural scenery?
Business Owner in Despair
Surat Thani

Fun With Noise

Perhaps we are over serious at Quiet Bangkok! Click the "Sound Entertainment" link on the right. Then click "Sound level", "Sound pitch", and "Strange sounds" under the heading "PERCEPTION".
Have fun testing your hearing

New Horror on Bangkok Streets

Sitting in Bangkok traffic I heard the boom of loud pop music. Usually a pick-up truck with open windows is the source. To identify more easily I lowered the car window and got the full blast of "music" from a motorbike - as if the wretched things don't emit enough noise, a new horror is added. I could see that the source was an ipod fixed to the front handlebar but could not identify the powerful amplifier and loud speakers. However, I have checked that such awful devices exist in full stereo and can amplify sound from any Walkman like device.
The motorbike zigzagged away through the traffic spreading its awful sound for all to hear. As if our streets do not have enough noise pollution already. As if this ghastly pop music is the favoured sound of all the world. As if we have no redress against this new assault. Next one I hear I will remember to record the licence plate and see if anything can be done.