[yeetaccount4]

A long time ago I moved from a big city to the country and the difference in noise was remarkable. In retrospect, I’d say noise level adjustment was actually the biggest pain point. I went from being fairly desensitized to constant noise to being hyper sensitive to something like a blade of grass being bent outside my bedroom (“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?”), to finally acclimating to it. Nights were difficult. Any animal going through the yard sounded like a person to me and I couldn’t sleep. Now I can generally tell what’s outside by the sound it makes and it doesn’t bother me. I can’t stand being in densely populated areas anymore.

[frereubu]

I had a similar feeling moving from London to deep English countryside with my parents as a kid. But it was the sheer silence of the place we moved to that unnerved me, and it took me a good few weeks for me to go to sleep normally. (There were plenty of small animals, but my bedroom was on a high first floor, so I couldn’t hear things scuttling about). I live in a small city again now, and really miss the true quiet at night. Funny enough, the pandemic lockdowns in the UK were reminiscent of being in the country - far fewer cars and public transport meant that there was real quiet for once and the reduction in pollution meant that you could smell al sorts of things that were normally dominated by ambient exhaust fumes. I remember one time in particular when i realised I could hear a train in the far distance for the first time since I moved here.

[dghughes]

> But it was the sheer silence of the place we moved to that unnerved me

I live in a small town in Canada and I can travel outside the town just a few minutes and be in rural area. Although it's getting increasingly longer to get outside sprawl.

When I am there I often think to myself how quiet it is. At times it feels like my skull is going to collapse from the negative pressure of lack of sound.

And where I live near (~500m) the main hospital it seems to be with the increase in population comes an increase in ambulances. They at times seem to be constant on weekends or warm sunny days. Plus the emergency life flight helicopter. Maybe that's why the silence of rural areas is such a contrast to me.