Low-frequency noise and urban space
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v4i2.177Keywords:
auditory physiology, noise pollution, popular music, urban architectureAbstract
Investigation of the sonic environment of the contemporary city suggests that there is a profound dissonance between the profile of contemporary popular music and the physical character of the urban built environment itself, resulting in living conditions that are in significant respects rebarbative. Central to this problem is the increasing presence of low-frequency noise (LFN) in the urban landscape in general and in popular music in particular. Concerns about noise pollution have grown rapidly since the late twentieth century, manifesting themselves in the actions of private lobby groups as well as in government environmental policies. LFN pollution, however, has been largely camouflaged under questions of volume. In fact, the usual systems of measurement of noise pollution are largely ineffective for LFN, which also has its own distinctive aetiology which produces serious trauma and even death. The proliferation of LFN trauma appears to be the fastest growing component of noise pollution. This paper explores LFN, why it is so distinctively threatening to wellbeing, why it has only recently become so pervasive as to have generated its own proliferating research literature, and why it is such a prominent problem in the convergence of the modern city and contemporary popular music.
References
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Sloven, Piet. n.d. ‘A Structured Approach to LFS-Complaints in the Rotterdam Region of the Netherlands’. In Hansen: 71–85.
Sloven, Piet. n.d. ‘LFN and the A-Weighting’. In Hansen: 219–26.
Subedi, Jishnu K., Hiroki Yamaguchi and Yasunao Matsumoto n.d. ‘Masked Perception Thresholds of Low Frequency Tones under Background Noises and their Estimation by Loudness Model’. In Hansen: 27–44.
Subedi, Jishnu K., Hiroki Yamaguchi, Yasunao Matsumoto and Mitsutaka Ishara n.d. ‘Annoyance of Low Frequency Tones and Objective Evaluation Methods’. In Hansen: 199–218.
Takahashi, Yukio, Kazuo Kanada and Yoshiharu Yonekawa n.d. ‘Some Characteristics of Human Body Surface Vibration Induced by Low Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 249–64.
Takahashi, Yukio, Kazuo Kanada and Yoshiharu Yonekawa n.d. ‘The Relationship between Vibratory Sensation and Body Surface Vibration Induced by Low-Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 265–82.
Takahashi, Yukio, and Setsuo Maeda n.d. ‘Measurement of Human Body Surface Vibrations Induced by Complex Low-Frequency Noise Composed of Two Pure Tones’. In Hansen: 283–302.
White, Glenn and Gary Louie. 2005. The Audio Dictionary, 3rd edn. London: University of Washington Press.
Zajonc, R. B. 2004. The Selected Works of R. B. Zajonc. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Axelsson, Pär, Kjell Holmberg, and Ulf Landström. n.d. ‘Low Frequency Noise and Annoyance in Classroom’. In Hansen: 61–70.
Bengtsonn, Johanna, and Kerstin Persson Waye. n.d. ‘Assessments of Low Frequency Noise Complaints among the Local Environmental Health Authorities and a Follow-up Study 14 Years Later’. In Hansen: 119–29.
Benton, Stephen. n.d. ‘Low Frequency Noise Annoyance and the Negotiation Challenge for Environmental Officers and Sufferers’. In Hansen: 227–44.
Benton, Stephen, and Orna Abramson-Yehuda. n.d. ‘Low Frequency Noise Annoyance: The Behavioural Challenge’. In Hansen: 131–6.
Cusick, G. Suzanne. 2006. ‘Music as Torture/Music as Weapon’. Transcultural Music Review 10. http://www.sibetrans.com/trans/trans10/cusick_eng.htm
Duden, Barbara. 1991. The Woman Beneath the Skin: A Doctor’s Patients in Eighteenth-Century Germany, trans Thomas Dunlap. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press. First published by Klett-Cotta, 1987, as Geschichte unter der Haut: Ein Eismacher und seine Petientinnen um 1730.
Gittoes, George, dir. 2004. Soundtrack to War. Film documentary, prod. Gittoes and Dalton Productions Pty, with the Australian Film Commission.
Hansen, Colin H. (undated; these are reprints from the Journal of Low Frequency Noise, covering the period 2000–2005 inclusive—see ‘Introduction’, vii—though the individual papers are not dated or sourced). The Effects of Low-Frequency Noise and Vibration on People. Brentwood, Essex: Multi-Science Publishing.
Imaizumi, Hiroyuki, Yasumori Takahashi, Motoharu Jinguuji and Sunao Kunimatsu n.d. ‘Blast Densification Method: Sound Propagation and Estimation of Psychological and Physical Effects’. In Hansen: 157–76.
Inukai, Yukio, Norio Nakamura, and Hideto Taya. n.d. ‘Unpleasantness and Acceptable Limits of Low Frequency Sound’. In Hansen: 7–13.
Inukai, Yukio, Hideto Taya and Shinji Yamada n.d. ‘Thresholds and Acceptability of Low Frequency Pure Tones by Sufferers’. In Hansen: 45–53.
Johnson, Bruce. 2008. ‘ “Quick and Dirty”: Sonic Mediations and Affect’. In Sonic Mediations: Body, Sound, Technology, ed. Carolyn Birdsall and Anthony Enns, 43–60. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press.
Johnson, Bruce, and Martin Cloonan. 2008. Dark Side of the Tune: Popular Music and Violence. Aldershot: Ashgate.
Johnson, Bruce, and Shane Homan 2003. Vanishing Acts: An Inquiry into the State of Live Popular Music Opportunities in New South Wales. Commissioned by the NSW Ministry for the Arts, and the Australia Council. Published online at: www.arts.nsw.gov.au and www.ozco.gov.au.
Johnson, Sam. 2009. Personal email to the author, September 11.
Jungberg, Jessica, Gregory Neeley and Ronny Lundstrom n.d. ‘Effects on Spatial Skills after Exposure to Low Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 311–18.
Kitamura, Toshiya, Masaki Hasebe and Shinji Yamada n.d. ‘Psychological Analysis of Complaints on Noise/Low Frequency Noise and the Relation between Psychological Response and Brain Structure’, in Hansen: 191–98.
LeDoux, Joseph. 1998. The Emotional Brain. London: Phoenix.
Manley, D. M. J. P., P. Styles and J. Scott n.d. ‘Perceptions of the Public of Low Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 93–103.
Møller, Henrik, and Morten Lydolft n.d. ‘A Questionnaire Survey of Complaints of Infrasound and Low-Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 105–18.
No Byline. 2009. ‘Liikennemelu hermostuttaa yhä ennemän’. Turun Sanomat, August 18: 5. ‘Noise Reduction with Asphalt-Rubber’, at http://www.p2pays.org/ref/26/25142.pdf.
Panichi, Dave. 2008. ‘Regulation without Representation’. Perfect Beat: The Pacific Journal of Research into Contemporary Music and Popular Culture 9, no. 1 (July): 5–24.
Pawlaczyk-?uszy?ska, Ma?gorzata, Adam Dudariwicz, Ma?gorzata Waszkowska, Wieslaw Szymczak, Maria Kamedu?a and Mariola ?liwinska-Kowalska n.d. ‘Does Low Frequency Noise at Moderate Levels Influence Human Performance?’, in Hansen: 319–41.
Poulsen, Torben n.d. ‘Annoyance of Low Frequency Noise (LFN) in the Laboratory Assessed by LFN-Sufferers and Non-Sufferers’. In Hansen: 177–90.
Poulsen, Torben n.d. ‘Comparison of Objective Methods for Assessment of Annoyance of Low Frequency Noise with the Results of a Laboratory Listening Test’. In Hansen: 137–56.
Qibai, Chen Yuan Huang, and Hammin Shi n.d. ‘An Investigation of the Physiological and Psychological Effects of Infrasound on Persons’. In Hansen: 303–10.
Qistdorff, Frank Rysgaard and Torben Poulsen n.d. ‘Annoyance of Low Frequency Noise and Traffic Noise’, in Hansen: 93–103.
Rayfield, Donald. 2004. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant and Those who Killed for Him. New York and Toronto: Random House.
Reid, Tom. 2009. ‘Loud Bass Music “Killed Student” ’. Metro, December 9. http://www. metro.co.uk/news/805430-loud-bass-music-killed-student-tom-reid.
Sloven, Piet. n.d. ‘A Structured Approach to LFS-Complaints in the Rotterdam Region of the Netherlands’. In Hansen: 71–85.
Sloven, Piet. n.d. ‘LFN and the A-Weighting’. In Hansen: 219–26.
Subedi, Jishnu K., Hiroki Yamaguchi and Yasunao Matsumoto n.d. ‘Masked Perception Thresholds of Low Frequency Tones under Background Noises and their Estimation by Loudness Model’. In Hansen: 27–44.
Subedi, Jishnu K., Hiroki Yamaguchi, Yasunao Matsumoto and Mitsutaka Ishara n.d. ‘Annoyance of Low Frequency Tones and Objective Evaluation Methods’. In Hansen: 199–218.
Takahashi, Yukio, Kazuo Kanada and Yoshiharu Yonekawa n.d. ‘Some Characteristics of Human Body Surface Vibration Induced by Low Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 249–64.
Takahashi, Yukio, Kazuo Kanada and Yoshiharu Yonekawa n.d. ‘The Relationship between Vibratory Sensation and Body Surface Vibration Induced by Low-Frequency Noise’. In Hansen: 265–82.
Takahashi, Yukio, and Setsuo Maeda n.d. ‘Measurement of Human Body Surface Vibrations Induced by Complex Low-Frequency Noise Composed of Two Pure Tones’. In Hansen: 283–302.
White, Glenn and Gary Louie. 2005. The Audio Dictionary, 3rd edn. London: University of Washington Press.
Zajonc, R. B. 2004. The Selected Works of R. B. Zajonc. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Published
2010-11-16
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Johnson, B. (2010). Low-frequency noise and urban space. Popular Music History, 4(2), 177-195. https://doi.org/10.1558/pomh.v4i2.177
