A recent European report on noise said the sectors with the highest percentage of workers exposed to noise all and almost all of the time are agriculture at 40 percent, mining 34 percent and manufacturing 19 percent.
Another report from Europe said farming, construction and mining are occupations that are at a greater risk than others for causing hearing loss. Musicians are also at risk.
It’s a bit of surprise to see agriculture at the top of the list. I was in Finland a few years ago and was pleasantly surprised that transport trucks do not make those awful high-pitched beeping sounds when they back up. What a treat to be in a beautiful city like Helsinki and not hearing those beeping sounds.
It was the same in the other northern capital cities I visited — no loud beeping sounds when trucks back up.
You know what I’m talking about. All trucks and construction machinery here are equipped with loud beepers that produce a noise of high density and high frequency every time the equipment is operated in reverse.
I can tell when our township road crew has a backhoe operating in the area ––you can’t miss the annoying noise.
The idea of a beeper is to prevent accidents with pedestrians. Why not produce a noise that can only be heard just in the vicinity of the thing backing up? Why all that racket? Pedestrians are probably ignoring the beeping. Our lives are surrounded by man-made noises.
My round baler has annoying beeps. To the right of my ear is an electronic control box that is mounted on a bar by the cab window. When the box gets a signal that the bale chamber is full, it makes two high-pitching beeps, which tells me to slow down and stop as soon as twine goes around the bale. Two more beeps tell me the bale is tied and I can pull the hydraulic lever to dump the bale. It beeps again and then beeps twice when the opening is closed. So many annoying beeps.
When the baler was purchased we thought we could take the box apart and stuff insulation in it to muffle the sound. That worked with the other round balers. This box has no space for any kind of sound proofing. Nothing could be done to reduce the noise. The only thing is to move the box. But where? It has to be eye level. It’s the ideal place for the box — a spot where the electronic switches can easily be seen. But not near my ear.
Now after making a few thousand bales of hay the sound of the blasted thing isn’t as high-pitched as it was when it was new. But it’s still too noisy! Why can’t manufacturers make things that produce less noise?
Another good example of terrible beeping noise is the price scanners at some stores.
Some noises never soften. Why is the music at wedding receptions so loud? Is it because they don’t want people to talk and socialize?
Cattle and pigs can make awful loud noises. But at least they aren’t man-made.
A man had an interesting letter in a newspaper last year. He wrote: “Why, oh why, do people with postage-stamp suburban lawns insist on having loud, smelly, polluting two-stroke gasoline-powered lawn mowers?”
He’s right. Why do folks with tiny lawns have noisy lawnmowers and noisy weed whackers?
Chainsaws, weed whackers, leaf blowers, motorboats, vacuum cleaners, compressors … to mention a few — why can’t they be made to run quietly?
I bought a scythe last summer. You know, the side swipe old-timers had to cut hay? It’s great for cutting weeds and long grasses around the yard and at the cottage. It’s light weight and brand new.
And it doesn’t make noise.
