Do people want silence or quiet?

by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition

Photo credit: Abigail Harrison

Do people want silence or quiet? That question jumped into my mind when I read an article from a website in India titled “Why Silence is the Loudest Answer to a Noisy World.” Writer Kaushal states that silence is powerful.

“Silence is not weakness. It’s not avoidance. It’s strength, clarity, and control. In a noisy world, silence speaks the loudest,” Kaushal says.

I haven’t thought much about silence as a spiritual practice but I think that people don’t want tomblike silence in everyday life. It’s uncomfortable. In fact, when people spend time in an anechoic room, most can only stay a short time before leaving.

I think that what most people want is quiet: quiet so they can hear birds sing when they walk down the streets in their city or town; quiet so they can hear what their dining companion is saying in a restaurant; and quiet so they can enjoy their home without auditory assault from noisy landcare equipment or from aircraft flying overhead.

To me, the answer to a too-noisy world isn’t silence, it’s activism. We can’t afford to be silent or even quiet about noise. We have to speak up! We can learn about local noise ordinances and report violations every time they happen. This includes reporting cars and motorcycles with illegally modified exhausts. We can make sure that our municipality requires landcare companies to switch to battery-powered equipment, which also has the benefit of reducing air pollution.

Those of us with scientific, engineering or health care backgrounds can do research about noise, or at least let our elected officials know what the research being done by others shows about the dangers of noise.

If enough people make noise about noise, eventually their elected officials will listen. A quieter world will be a better and healthier world for all.