[bayindirh]

Can you be underestimating how sound propagates in silent environments, and our brains are so efficient at filtering background noise?

Since the pandemic started, traffic around my home decreased tremendously and, even smallest traffic became bothering. In sparsely populated areas, that oddball sound is much more disturbing to residents which are used to silence.

BTW, getting angry to people who we don't know personally is not very productive IMHO.

[VBprogrammer]

I'm intrigued about which part of that response you thought was angry?

The front elevation of my house is less than 15ft away from a reasonably busy road. I'm no stranger to the perils of noise pollution. In fact, around one week a year, last week in fact, the M25 (the London ring road) is diverted overnight along our road. This means we have heavy trucks passing our home all night long. We also live under the departure route for Heathrow (though that's been relatively quiet this year!).

I think people should live and let live though. Otherwise we end up in a situation where people are constantly trying to ban other people's hobbies. Off-road driving, motorcycles, horse riding, light aircraft, playing the drums, road cycling, caravaning, beer gardens, smoking weed, barbequing, DIY, fixing up old cars etc. They all have something someone else could find objectional if they lack joy enough in their own life to want to cause misery in someone else's.

[bayindirh]

> I'm intrigued about which part of that response you thought was angry?

From your general tone, but I'm not a native English speaker, so I might be mistaken. I won't be insistent.

I won't dispute about the noise levels of your home, but you might be more tolerant to noise then people in quiet places, because auditory subsystem learns to ignore it, and it decreases noise sensitivity somewhat.

> I think people should live and let live though.

I'm not against that, but I don't agree that one's hobby can bother others under the name of freedom. We see a lot of similar stuff done by local governments. UK is installing "decorative" items on the walls and benches in parks to prevent skaters from using walls for tricks for example. Contrarily, I'm sure that there are specially built skating parks for who want to board and skate.

In the same perspective, I'm not against biking. It's a nice culture. It's important, however loud pipes, dangerous driving under the name of increased visibility, etc. are not acceptable in my book. Similarly, if a quiet country is ruined by excessive motor noise, I can understand the residents' reaction. As I've said somewhere in the comment, my father was a rally driver. I'm no stranger to powerful engines and cars, yet I don't like the noise of a modified car screaming through a nearby street in the silence of the night.

Ford's latest Mustangs have a "neighborhood mode" when the engine is first started, which enable all mufflers and disable resonators. That thing sounds like a family sedan in that mode. If a car manufacturer is installing something like that to a naturally loud beast, it's telling IMHO (and I applaud them for their ingenuity).

If we (not in the terms of you and me, but in the terms of general public) can apply some empathy to the issue, it's possible to find a nice middle ground around this issue.