Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Other similar beautiful A/B tests followed. One is led by David Luther, a biologist at George Mason University (who also collaborates with Phillips on covid-19 research in San Francisco). In 2015, these researchers captured 17 newborn white-crowned sparrows and raised them in the laboratory. To teach them the songs of their species, they played low- and high-pitched recordings of adult sparrow chicks singing. Six chicks heard the songs without any disturbance; the researchers simultaneously played city noise to the other half.
The results are clear. Birds lucky enough to be spared traffic noise learned to sing quieter, sweeter, more complex songs. But those birds that were disturbed by traffic noise only learned higher, faster, and more stressful songs. From the cradle, noise changes the way they communicate.
Humans also hate noise
You can’t do the same experiment on humans, raising them in a lab to see how noise affects them. (Not morally, anyway.) But if we could, we’d probably find the same thing. We are animals too, and we seem to suffer from man-made noise in a similar way, even though we are the makers of the noise.
Traffic noise has been linked to poor sleep quality, increased blood pressure, heart disease and increased stress.
Numerous studies over the past few decades have linked noise, most commonly the sound of wildlife traffic, to poor sleep quality, higher blood pressure, heart disease and increased stress. A Danish study followed nearly 25,000 nurses for years and found that an extra 10 decibels of noise had a serious impact on them; over a 23-year period, they had an 8% higher mortality rate and a higher rate of almost every bad thing that could happen to you: cancer, mental problems, stroke. (They controlled for other harmful health effects.) As you might predict by now, children fared poorly, too. Researchers in Barcelona followed nearly 3,000 primary school children for a year and found that those who lived in noisy schools performed worse on measures of working memory and attention.
“We think we’re ‘used to it,'” said Gail Patricelli, a professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. “We’re not as used to it as we thought we were.”
There is indeed a trade-off. Many of us know that city and highway noise increases, but we tolerate it because we get the benefits along with the trouble. Cities are full of jobs, connections, and dating opportunities; cars and trucks bring us what we need and increase our personal mobility.
It turns out that animals perform similar calculations. Some species seem to benefit from proximity noise in some way, so they move towards it.
Clinton Francis, a biologist at California Polytechnic State University, and a team studied bird populations near noisy gas wells in rural New Mexico. Most species avoid the commotion of well pumps. But Francis was surprised to find that some hummingbirds and finches preferred it, and by one important measure, they thrived: They nested more in noisy areas than in quiet ones. Additionally, several species hatch their chicks more successfully in noisier locations.
What happened? This noise likely makes it more difficult for predators to hear the birds and hunt down their nests. “It’s essentially a predator shield,” Francis said. His research found that predators prevent 76% of eggs from producing healthy offspring, so this is a significant survival advantage.
