"The hills are alive, with the sound of music" ... oh no... no Silent Night .
"Moving to the countryside to get some peace and quiet" could backfire, especially in farm areas.
The real me covering his ears. You see Dan blew all his dough to move to the countryside (however of Taiwan, almost highest population density country on earth) thinking that he could get some peace and quiet, but instead got radios, bird-clearing rockets, kareoke, hunters' and their dogs and rifles, 24-hour radios to scare monkeys away from crops, smudge pots (smoke from fire to prevent cold damage to crops), also of course weed whipper motor noise and far floating pesticide odor.
Asking neighbors to cooperate doesn't always work.
Not long after moving to the hills, an international air route even appeared over my head.
There are folks who think it's great to go to the country and sing kareoke. However, their invisible neighbors for kilometers around don't necessarily wish to share the experience.
By the way, in Taiwan, schools often have bells and loudspeakers pointing outwards, so the surrounding community must share in each day's internal affairs.
Below I attempt to address solutions to some items. Of course if one can provide the equipment to the neighbors, this might better facilitate the solution.
Easily improved noise problems where alas a lack of cooperative spirit exists are the worst.
Usually a radio is placed in a shack, to provide coverage for e.g., one hectare. However, this forces those people on the 500 hectares beyond to also listen along.
The key is long range speakers should not be used to solve a short range problem. A radio containing rechargeable batteries can be placed on a cart near ones work site in the orchard, or in ones pocket... works great. The worst solution is radios or speakers using fixed position sockets. They must often be turned up very loud in order to be heard at the desired position, which of course forces other innocent people in the area to "listen along".
To determine the source, one can tune into the same station with one's pocket radio, and use speed of sound, 3 seconds per kilometer, to estimate the distance of the delay. Make sure it is the same station when you visit the source, to avoid bothering other parties. (Also note some programs a broadcast via networks over several stations, each with their own internal delay, skewing the times!)
(One can see, with this level of concern, one will be busy for years. Why not just give up and head for the hills... oops that's where we already are. Or move back to the city and do something interesting to take one's mind off...) Average folks don't pay that much attention to surrounding noise pollution, they are too busy with their own business, as compared to us more empty headed types.
One can indeed listen clearer in every corner of the farm as compared to when one just hangs the radio in the shack. One can also change stations, etc.
Try providing a pocket radio, with rechargeable batteries and charger. (Note we are not talking about a "walkman" with earphones. Earphones are not needed!)
Indeed, hanging a (rechargeable) battery powered radio (just) a few meters away in a tree one can even listen to AM stations without worrying about reception changing while walking.
2007:
Buy boxes of brand name quality pocket radios and chargers and batteries, as gifts. For FM band listening there is no need for the user to extend the antenna making pocket use inconvenient. We merely need to attach an equally long length of flexible wire, skin removed at the contact point, to the compacted antenna's end! Also bring the local tourism brochure, mentioning that we want to make a environment suitable to tourism.
Home stay and tourism agriculture operators would not be happy to see guests not coming back due to noise.
And then there's the older listeners, already hard of hearing. So they have to turn the volume up even more. The largest hearing aid ever.
2004.11.8 I returned home to find on a hilltop 500 meters away, two loudspeakers, each 60 watts, at full blast, 24 hours a day. Like an announcement truck parked at one's door.
Fortunately they allowed me to replace them with many face sized (20cm) flat speakers, further back behind the hill, with a timer to turn them off for extra measure, as monkeys are diurnal.
Now they use an electric fence, mentioned below.
Unfortunately, when fruits are ripe, sound might be the most economical monkey scaring method for farmers.
I hear there is now a system where when a monkey breaks an infrared beam, and electronic firecracker sounds. Sounds like progress, but I just hope it can shut itself down at night, as perhaps swaying tree branches etc. might block the beam...
2007: Actually most farmers soon realize the long term ineffectiveness of radios upon monkeys, and use instead walls of black plastic cloth usually with electric wires beneath. Satellite image example.
Farmers say such noises have little effect. Maybe they can try alternatives.
Farmers sometimes use a few firecrackers wrapped at intervals along a stick of incense to scare birds and monkeys of the daytime. But if not timed right, this can end up exploding through the night, wakening neighbors. The flash is gone before one can look, so one can't tell where the problem occurred unless there is enough smoke.
There are some pesticides that stink for days or at each rain begin stinking again. Perhaps the neighbor can try a different pesticide.
Pigeon ransoming bird nets must be eliminated with police assistance, to get rid of criminals loitering.
Looks like a major investment. Also trying hearing protection muffs...
Note: as weather gets colder, sounds transmit more clearly. Also natural masking sounds, e.g., crickets, decrease.
When the sun comes out rising air currents create somewhat of an isolating barrier effect.
Aren't there some noise control laws? Yes, but they were written for the city, not quiet countryside. Any more than asking the environmental or police authorities to informally ask the person to cooperate might end up in a survey that only confirms the legal status of the noise.
Using a decibel meter will never solve the problem, as the laws require a surveying position of that of the incident reporter, or the boundary of the land of the noise producing source. That might work in the city, but in the country with such large distances... Thus it is always best to attempt to plead with the noise producing person, instead of attempting any legal settlement...
To repeat, in the countryside, one cannot just wave a noise meter at a "certain distance" in "front" of speakers. One must first step back to the boundary of the property, as shown on a cadastral map. Note often mountain roads run over private land. Therefore trying to bring in law enforcement might only just reinforce the permanent legality of the perpetrator.
Therefore I do not recommend legal routes... nor illegal routes...
Seems like one needs the cooperation of many neighbors to be able to go from day to day.
Just like organized crime, "organized religion" just can't resist "sharing" via loudspeakers... Almost makes a vegan give up on vegetables.
The amount of burning in the countryside is not small (lot of smoke).
Acoustic ecology, urban birds, ovenbird noise.
Stationary (neighbors', not hunters') dogs, chicken calls are easy to get used to, as are even some air routes overhead.
Alas, I was raised in the semi-comfy USA suburbs (EVanston, ILlinois.). If I grew up in Taiwan, I probably would not be affected.
All the tension mentioned above could easily provoke depression.
Protective headsets as the kind construction workers use are more comfortable than earplugs.
One can experiment with just blocking one ear. Has something to do with brain hemispheres. At least one can still hear neighbors calling one's name.
"People differed dramatically in their ability to keep irrelevant items out of awareness." [Ref]
If you don't allow hunters in, they will vandalize your property.
2011/12/8: "arms race". One neighbor couldn't handle the other's noise so spent NT$10000 on a public address speaker system to blast back. Crazy.
A friend asked me "I want to move to the countryside and grow organic vegetables!" Ha -- stick to the city, tons of pals to hang out with every night.
What are the chances that each and every one of 100 neighbors are "playing with a full deck" mentally?
One ends up hoping for rainy days, to keep noisy farmer neighbors from coming to their farms. The deeper the night the better. Typhoons best. Electric power outage days like national holidays. Happiness upon seeing the smallest approaching cloud on the satellite weather map.
Google personal noise map attempt (for English remove ".tw" , names romanized to "protect the innocent".)
A web pal commented, "With loudspeaker playing music publicly like that, aren't there some intellectual property rights implications?"!
Often the news has court decisions of monetary reparations for each year of psychological damages -- give your nasty neighbors some newspaper clippings.
Silence is golden. Pee-wee Herman: Shhhhhh
Last modified: 2012-04-24 07:09:24 +0800