It starts in the morning with a blast from an alarm clock and continues non-stop until late at night, when you finally turn off the TV and go to bed, ears ringing after a day filled with noise.
In between, there is the roar of rush-hour traffic, the bustle of work, the neighbor’s stereo, the jets overhead–a daily cacophony that more and more people wish they could just turn off.
With the warmer weather of spring, more people are opening their windows, cranking their stereos and powering up their lawn mowers and leaf blowers. Amid this crescendo, the volume also is rising in the debate over noise control.
On Wednesday afternoon, the non-profit League for the Hard of Hearing sponsored a global moment of silence as part of its first International Noise Awareness Day.
And on Wednesday night, the Elgin City Council gave preliminary approval to at least tripling the fines for people who play their car stereos too loud.
Throughout the Chicago area and beyond, the fight against noise pollution is growing.
“We live in a noisier and noisier environment,” said Joseph Brown, spokesman for the New York-based League for the Hard of Hearing.
Nancy Nadler, director of the league’s Noise Center, chimed in, “People are fed up, and they don’t want to put up with the noise around them.”
In McHenry County, the next-door neighbors of the Pets in Need animal shelter in Ringwood have filed a $100,000 lawsuit over what they allege are loud barking dogs.
Closer to Chicago, homeowners in northwest Cook County and DuPage County have waged a long campaign to limit the amount of noise generated by aircraft at O’Hare International Airport.
U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) has voiced her support for mayors who do not want trains to blow their whistles as frequently as would be required by a federal law that is to take effect in November.
Residents who live along Illinois Highway 53 in Rolling Meadows are lobbying for officials to erect noise barriers. Area municipal officials also have fielded complaints about sources of noise as varied as water scooters and music at golf clubs.
Elgin’s anti-car stereo measure was modeled after a similar ordinance approved in Aurora in March. This week, Aurora approved a law that makes it easier for police to crack down as well on loud noises from people’s homes.
All of this comes at a time when noise is escalating to dangerous levels in today’s high-tech world, experts said.
More people are suffering hearing loss at a younger age because of noise, according to Dean Garstecki, head of the audiology and hearing sciences program at Northwestern University.
Garstecki said members of the “Sony Walkman generation,” as he calls them, often do not realize they have damaged their hearing.
“Over time, there’s no recovery, and the return to normal hearing doesn’t happen,” Garstecki said. “So you have 19-year-olds with hearing-loss patterns that mimic the loss of older adults, usually over 65.”
Up to one-third of the estimated 25 million to 30 million people suffering hearing loss nationwide are believed to have a problem that stemmed from noise, according to Gloria Wong, audiologist with the Chicago Hearing Society.
A ringing or roaring in the ears can signal a temporary loss of hearing, Wong said. If it continues, she said, it can lead to permanent damage.
“That’s a time when your ears are warning you, `This is too much,’ ” Wong said.
But more is at stake than America’s ability to hear.
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According to Brown, “The response that you have to excessive noise is the same response you have to stress. Your blood pressure becomes elevated. People commit more violent acts.”
Thus, the International Noise Awareness Day, which was sponsored in Illinois by the Alliance of Residents Concerning O’Hare Inc., a group that fights to control noise generated by traffic at the airport.
As clocks in at least seven time zones around the world hit 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, noise-conscious people from New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to Arlington Heights activist Jack Saporito fell silent.
Anti-noise activists across the country passed out pamphlets and more than 130,000 earplugs, held informational meetings, distributed posters and did free screenings for people concerned about ear damage.
Around the world, groups in London, Toronto, India and the Czech Republic also took part, along with the World Health Organization in Switzerland.
In the Chicago area, though, organizers found it difficult to rise above the daily din. Saporito appeared to be the only active participant, passing out earplugs and pamphlets to morning commuters at an Arlington Heights train station.
“We’ve had problems getting people to join because of the political nature of this event,” said Saporito, director of the Alliance of Residents.
The politics of noise play out not only in regional issues such as those concerning O’Hare but in neighborhoods and even within families.
Louise Sussman said she does not mind a bit of noise, but she could not help wincing at a popping noise behind her as she walked through downtown Chicago toward Navy Pier.
Her 6-year-old grandson, Justin Rising, was having a grand time making firecracker-type noises by quickly snapping a trick string.
“It makes my ears ring,” said Sussman, visiting from Massachusetts and walking five paces in front of Justin and his aunt. “It makes me jump too.”
In Aurora, Dean Northrup said he does not understand why neighbors have complained to police about a band that practices next door. With his TV on, Northrup said, he cannot hear a thing.