How loud is your neighborhood?—Community Noise

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Nearly everyone has a story about annoying noises—the roommate who plays music at all hours of the night, the would-be dragsters on the freeway nearby, or the airplanes roaring past overhead. Obnoxious sounds can distract us and disrupt the normal balance of our lives. In severe cases, noise can contribute to increased aggression, hypertension, and stress. Long term effects of high levels of noise exposure include hearing loss, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), sleep disturbance, and increased blood pressure. It ...

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Only Hearing Trains at Night? No, You’re not Crazy

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Believe it or not, it is common for people who live far from railroad tracks to hear trains at night and only at night. While this may be due to trains only running in the evening or due to lower overall sound levels in the nighttime, there is a surprising physical explanation why a person might hear a train in the nighttime and not in the day.

Sound waves, like other types of waves, experience bending or refraction when ...

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