Quiet Communities featured in Grist

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: David McBee

Leaders of Quiet Communities, Inc., a national nonprofit organization educating the public about the dangers of noise, were featured in a Grist article by associate editor Claire Elise Thompson. Thompson starts by stating that noise is stressful, and then goes on to quote QCI’s Mary Tatigian, founder and head of Quiet Florida. Tatigan is a registered nurse and the chair of QCI’s Quiet American Streets program.

“It’s really unbelievable, how noise impacts so many people,” Tatigan said.

Tatigan mentions that noise causes hearing loss, cardiovascular disease, sleep disruption, increases in stress hormone levels and anxiety and depression. My only quibble with what Thompson wrote is that she uses the obsolete definition of noise, noise is unwanted sound. No, noise is unwanted and/or harmful sound.

Jamie Banks, QCI’s founder and president, is also quoted, as is Jamie’s coauthor of a landmark paper on gas-powered leaf blower noise, Erica Walker at the Brown University’s School of Public Health.

Tatigian is working to have noise cameras installed and to have air traffic patterns dispersed, so aircraft noise and air pollution aren’t concentrated over certain neighborhoods. Her longer term goals include a better rail system, to reduce short-distance flights, and increased use of electric vehicles. 

We hope her efforts succeed. A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.