Noise In The News: Weekly Round-Up

by Quiet Communities Staff

Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio

NYC food trucks are going electric

A pilot program from Brooklyn-based startup PopWheels is helping food carts replace their gasoline generators with the same batteries that power the city’s e-bike delivery fleet. If the program takes off, New Yorkers no longer have to suffer through gas fumes and engine noise for chicken over rice. Started to address sustainability and safety issue caused by unsafe e-bike charging practices, PopWheels’ brand of fire-safe, accessible batteries and charging stations could change the game for fast food workers and eaters alike. 

Fighting noise with noise?

Last Monday, the Minnesota State Patrol deployed a long-range acoustic device, or LRAD, first used by the US Military in Iraq, on protestors gathered outside of a hotel believed to be housing the head of U.S. Border Patrol. Described as a "sonic weapon,” LRADs work similarly to loudspeakers, focusing and amplifying sound in a narrow cone, causing hearing damage, pain and nausea at full power. Though the state patrol maintains that it was only used to deliver commands and disperse a loud crowd, the noise produced by the LRAD has been compared to the booming "voice of god,” raising questions about protestors' right to disrupt and the ethics of weaponizing noise.

Quieter tires on the way

German automotive supplier Continental is developing quieter tires engineered to eliminate the humming noise produced by regular tires. The product is made possible by innovative technologies and a “silent pattern” tread design that deliberately varies the spacing and angles of the tread blocks. As transportation noise remains one of the most common public complaints, this new design could offer a meaningful step toward quieter and more comfortable travel, without compromising safety.