Noise In The News: Weekly Round-Up

by Quiet Communities Staff

Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio

NYT does a feature piece on soundwalking 

Quiet is finally getting its day, it seems. This summer, we’ve seen momentum build in the fight against data center noise, babies wearing hearing protection at soccer games, and, finally, in a recent article where the New York Times calls it the ‘summer of the soundwalk.’ The piece follows artist and researcher Jacek Smolicki through Central Park, where he uses custom-built microphones to amplify sounds well below the threshold of human hearing, from water moving through tree roots to the scraping of aquatic snails on algae. His work is a reminder that the fight against harmful noise isn't just about turning the volume down. It's also about learning to listen to what's around us. 

Sephora announces “quiet hours” program

Sephora announced that it is rolling out its "Quiet Hours" program to stores in every region it operates, making it the first global beauty retailer to do so. During designated hours, stores will lower music volume and adjust screens to create a calmer, less overstimulating shopping environment. The initiative followed a pilot in 32 stores across eight markets and was shaped by direct input from the neurodivergent community, a promising and inclusive step in the right direction for the beauty industry. We at the Quiet Coalition can only hope more retailers will follow Sephora’s example.