Quiet UK

Author: kchristian1

  • Sound or Noise? What are you hearing?

    Sound or Noise? What are you hearing?

    I’d like you to imagine a scenario. You’re sat at home, on your sofa, you’ve just finished work and you want to wind down. What do you do? My first thought would be a cold glass of alcohol-free beer. My second would be, ‘how about some music.’ So, if you’re like me you turn on your wireless speaker, connect your phone and depending on the kind of day you’ve had the music coming out could be anything from opera to country western, heavy metal to the songs of Disney (just me?). You listen and you relax. This is sound.

    Now I’d like you to imagine another scenario. This time you are standing up on a commuter train (standing, of course because there are never any seats by the time the train gets to your stop). A person opposite you is listening to the music they like. It’s probably something to relax them during their equally miserable commute. It’s probably music that you would normally enjoy in any other circumstance. But, today, right now, the tinny, ptz ptz ptz and muffled lyrics are driving you to distraction. You feel you heart race, your fists clench and you start thinking homicidal thoughts (again, just me?). You don’t want to listen, you can’t relax. This is noise.

    Noise or sound?

    So, what’s the difference between the two scenarios? Technically, there is no difference between sound and noise – they are both caused by vibrating air particles that generate pressure waves and are detected by the ear before being translated by the brain into something that you hear. But from a hearing point of view the difference is highly subjective. Sound is something we hear. Noise is something we don’t want to hear.

    The difference between a sound we want to hear and one we don’t is listener intent. More than likely, a sound that we have had some agency in creating or agreeing to listen to is preferable to one that is being created by or forced upon us by someone else.

    For example, my husband loves classic music and likes to play it in the car. In contrast all I hear is the scritchy, scratchy violins and once I detect them, that is all I can focus on. If I’m in the car, the stereo is getting turned off. The sound is the same but translated very differently by our brains.

    There are several factors that may change a sound to a noise:

    • the volume – it doesn’t have to be loud, sometimes a quiet sound can be more annoying.
    • the characteristics – for example, the frequency
    • the duration – a dog barking once or twice is probably ok, but what if it barks for several hours?
    • the time of the noise – again the dog barking during the day might be ok, but at 3am?

    And these are all subjective. One person’s noise is another person’s relaxing soundscape.

    But how does this help people who have sensitive hearing, who find there is more noise in their life than sound? For me, thinking about the difference between sound and noise has helped a bit (definite work in progress based on my reaction to my neighbour mowing his lawn today!). I don’t live in a world of silence; I create sounds that might escape into other people’s worlds and give them a bit of a tic. I’m sure not everyone appreciates my lively renditions of Let it Go or Total Eclipse of the Heart.

    Some tips to reduce noise in your life

    If the noise is coming from in your home, try explaining how it impacts you to the person making it – my husband now only plays his guitar and piano when I’m out of the house.

    Can you change your commute? Not a simple solution for everyone but sometimes changing your train or bus to the one before or after your usual one can make a massive difference to the amount of people and therefore noise. Or could you walk part of your commute – stress busting in itself and saves you money!

    I would say use the quiet carriage but from experience those are a greater source of noise and stress than the buffet car!

    Noise cancelling headphones are an option. My mum swears by her’s but I feel claustrophobic in them. I recomend you try out a friend’s pair before shelling out for some – they are not cheap.

    At the moment I’m exploring how I can learn to live with some noise and also how to find the quiet that some days my head craves so much it hurts. As I try things out I’ll share the results with you (good and bad). The above tips are just a couple of things that I’ve found to help – and they won’t always help or they aren’t always possible but they are something to try and see if they work for you.

    Feel free to share your experiences of noise and how you have coped or what you have changed to improve your sound experience of the world.

  • Travelling in peace, or the search for a silent minibar

    Travelling in peace, or the search for a silent minibar

    So, hands up, who can’t wait to book their next holiday?

    I love to travel and I really love hotels. I don’t understand people who say, “it’s just a place to sleep.” Ok, sure, if it’s an overnight stop on the way to your destination then a motorway motel will probably be ok.

    But if I’m spending more than a night there then I need comfort, quiet and at the very least a rain shower. The key word there is quiet. A hotel can be the fanciest place, in the hippest new destination but if they have noisy lifts or a humming minibar, then I’m out of there.

    Tips for finding a quiet hotel room

    • Look at TripAdvisor. Honestly, I take many of the reviews with a pinch of salt – one person’s too-hard bed is another person’s best sleep ever. But one thing that stands out is the complaints about noise. From paper thin walls to slamming doors to the bane of my life, the humming minibar, you can guarantee that someone will have mentioned it.
    • Ask if the hotel has a quiet zone – some of the bigger chains have been introducing these.
    • Or if they don’t have on ask for a quiet room. And this is where being extra polite can help. Even when booking online I become the nicest person in the world (I’m quite nice anyway, but I really dial it up a notch) putting lots of pleases and thank yous in the comment/ request box.
    • Ask for a high floor – although do check if the hotel has a rooftop pool or bar – if so, you might be better off with a room on a middle level. High floors aren’t a guarantee of quiet but especially in cities they can put a few more metres between you and people and traffic on the street.
    • Ask for a room that is away from reception. You might have a bit of a hike with your luggage but a room further away from reception should mean less footfall going past your door. Corner rooms are quiet for the same reason – and less likely to have a lift nearby.
    • Big one – ask for a room away from the lift. Lifts are noisy – beeps and dings and creaking doors, and they are an area that attracts people; and depending on the speed of the lift can leave those people standing in the corridor, repeatedly pushing the button and loudly discussing what they want for breakfast.
    • Do you really need the stunning view? Especially if between you and it there is a four-lane highway or trams that run until 2am? If you prefer peace over mountains or sea, why not opt for rooms at the back or facing over the courtyard? Bonus – these rooms are normally cheaper.
    • After doing all this, make sure you get what you asked for. When checking in mention that you requested a high floor/ away from lift/ quiet room. Sometimes requests can be missed on booking and this gives the receptionist a chance to help you out and save you and them time.
    • And, finally, if you get to the room and it is noisy, ask to move. Hotels don’t want unhappy customers writing bad reviews so most will move you – and sometimes you even get an upgrade!

    Here is my standard request when booking a hotel room:

    Hi, please can I request a quiet room on a high floor and away from the lift. Many thanks for your help and I’m looking forward to staying with you.

    And remember if the room isn’t quiet or there are annoying noises, report it to the hotel first and give them a chance to rectify the issue.

    TripAdvisor and other review sites are great sources of information so please help your fellow quiet travellers and write a review – good or bad – to let them make the best choice. I’m going to commit to writing reviews that highlight noise (or lack of) in the title so you can spot them easily.

    I hope these tips help you when you book your next holiday. Happy travels!

  • Hearing therapy and what it’s taught me about tinnitus

    Hearing therapy and what it’s taught me about tinnitus

    Walking down a grey corridor in an unloved NHS community hospital, the curled edges of leaflets about coping with old age poking out of wire stands, I’m feeling a bit suspicious about how hearing therapy could help me. I enter a large room, peeling magnolia paint, tiny cell-like window, two chairs in the middle of the room. And there sat on one of the chairs my therapist. A vision of serenity with a genuine smile, she beckons me to the chair opposite hers.

    The last time I had therapy was with a slightly intense therapist, who stared too much and in one session had a giant bogey sticking out of his nose – I didn’t go back. That was for grief and anxiety. I really didn’t know what to expect from therapy for my ears!

    Tinnitus, from a medical point of view, really sucks. For a start it’s difficult (and subjective) to explain what you’re hearing – how loud is loud, what does the ringing sound like? Next, there’s little understanding of tinnitus and it’s causes, mainly because it’s not very sexy from a medical research funding point of view! You also can’t measure tinnitus – there’s no version of a thermometer or stethoscope that can give your doctor numbers to put on a chart or table. Despite this, there are things you can do to help manage your tinnitus. Such as hearing therapy…

    That first session I was asked a lot of questions – how, what, when, where my tinnitus affected me and set a couple of tasks – keep a diary of the sounds and think about what stress relieving activities I could incorporate into my life. I left feeling more positive, tinnitus still there, but I’d been able to ask the questions that had been worrying me: will it get worse, will it go away, will it spread to my other ear (I have unilateral tinnitus in my left ear). The therapist had answered the questions she could and been honest about the ones that she couldn’t. I trusted her and agreed to see her again the following month.

    Over the next year or so, I went back every few months. We discussed how I was getting on, celebrated breakthroughs such as a reduction in tinnitus perception, set objectives and agreed how much I should push myself. We also discussed sharing my needs with my family and friends – when my tinnitus is bad I get a throbbing pain in my ear, temporary reduction in hearing and inability to cope with more than one sound. After one session I went home and explained to my partner how he needed to say my name when talking to me to get my attention and that sometimes when driving I can’t cope with sound from the radio and also having a conversation. It’s little things, but they made a massive difference to how I coped with tinnitus and everyday stress. And the world was good for about a year.

    Then a few months ago I realised my tinnitus was back, really back, possibly worse than before. I didn’t panic, I knew it was stress-related – lockdown with noisy neighbours, cancelling the trip of a lifetime and keeping a husband with a heart condition safe had taken its toll. Thankfully, we’d left my therapy options open. One quick call and I had an appointment with my therapist – over the phone of course.

    My tinnitus hasn’t instantly got better, but the phone session gave me an opportunity to discuss what was going on in my world. I could rant about the noise from my neighbours and rather than feeling selfish, I was given support, told I wasn’t on my own in my (slightly/ very murderous) feelings about the people living opposite and given some new ideas to help calm the ringing in my ears. I even joined the National Trust afterwards so I could plan some quiet ‘me time’ at some of the local sites.

    What is hearing therapy?

    Hearing Therapy is a service which can provide information, counselling and practical assistance for people experiencing issues with hearing loss, central processing disorders, tinnitus and hyperacusis.

    The service uses the Tinnitus Retraining Therapy (TRT) approach which includes:

    • education
    • identifying triggers
    • implementing mindfulness-based stress reduction activities

    What has hearing therapy done for me?

    • Answered the worrying questions I had about my condition – or at least provided the information I needed to process my concerns
    • Helped me understand my condition
    • Helped me explore ways to reduce stress and manage my tinnitus
    • Helped to reduce my perception of my tinnitus – it’s always there, probably not going to go anywhere, but most of the time my brain ignores it
    • Showed me that the ‘me’ time I needed to help reduce stress is not selfish
    • Worked with my introvert personality to find the best coping methods and stress-reduction activities
    • Given me the words and concepts to discuss my condition with my partner, family and friends so they can better understand it and my needs.

    Hearing therapy is not a quick solution. You need to put in the time and effort to help yourself. Having an appointment in my diary meant that I had focus on the homework I’d been set – I’m someone who needs deadlines so this this was important for me.

    If you think hearing therapy could help you, please get in touch with your GP or medical provider. From my initial suspicions about any kind of therapy, I am now so grateful for the time I had talking through, addressing and learning to cope with my tinnitus.

    Find support

    More about tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) from the British Tinnitus Association.

    If you need help or support with your tinnitus the British Tinnitus Association support line is available Mon-Fri 9-5 on 0800 018 0527. If you feel like you can’t cope and need help outside of these times the Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123.

    Here’s a link to the Bath and North East Somerset Community Health and Care Services hearing therapy service that I used. This is a free service. A quick look at other NHS trusts shows similar services, but please check with your GP. For non-UK countries please contact your local medical provider.

  • How to find quiet in an open plan office

    How to find quiet in an open plan office

    Buzz, bang, beep, cackle, holler, door screeching slowly closed. These are just some of the noises that welcome those of us that work in open plan offices. After several years of suffering in my own open-plan-noise-hell I’ve discovered there are plenty of things you can do to create quiet in even the most gossip-ridden, Tuesday-fire-alarm-testing, two-hour-speaker-phone-meeting office environment.

    Several years ago, I started working in my first open plan office. I wasn’t a big fan, but we had big windows looking out on to trees and green fields and large desks where we could create our own space. Then the company decided to fit more and more people into the same tiny area. Suddenly we went from two people on a desk to three, then four. I went from having several feet between me and my colleague to practically sitting on each other’s laps. It didn’t help that the intern who sat next to me had no concept of personal space, or indeed a volume button.

    As the noise went up, my stress levels went up and my productivity went down. Open plan offices done properly can improve collaboration, personal connections and create opportunities for people from different departments to mix and perhaps come up with the next big idea. However, they can still be loud and distracting and the background noise can reduce cognitive ability leading to reduced productivity.

    In my case they can also induce a slight murderous rage when the man-spreading senior manager next to me used to take hour long calls at his desk and clearly had no concept of how phones worked or he wouldn’t have been shouting down the receiver.

    But don’t worry there are plenty of ways to reduce the amount of noise in these notorious sound generating environments?

    What can you do to reduce noise levels in open plan offices?

    A lot of the noise in your office is probably out of your control, but here are a few things that can help create some quiet space for you:

    • Wear standard or noise cancelling earphones. This way you can listen to the sounds you want to. Just make sure they’re not turned up too loud, so you don’t contribute to the problem.
    • Lead by example
      • turn off unnecessary (all in my opinion) notifications on digital devices
      • have conversations away from other people’s desks
      • don’t talk over desks – it’s tempting if you have desk dividers to pop your head over and have a quick catch up with a colleague, but you won’t be the only people hearing the conversation.
    • Explore your office – find the quiet spaces that others haven’t discovered. I found so many ‘secret’ cubbyholes where I could find space and quiet when I needed it. Tip: the canteen outside of peak times can be an unlikely haven.
    • Don’t let things get really bad. Talk to your manager. A simple desk move might solve the problem. Don’t let things build up and bubble over. Address them before they have a negative impact on your health and mental wellbeing. Your manager might not even realise there is a problem. Go to them with some solutions and see how you can solve the problem together.
    • A personal one. At Christmas don’t bring in a musical clock that every hour places a tinny, high-pitched ‘version’ of Jingle Bells. You know who are, Lou!

    Office managers these ones are for you:

    • Create quiet spaces where people can focus on their work away from distractions.
    • Conversely you could create a noisy area – somewhere for huddles, lunch breaks, team training sessions to take place – just make sure it’s not next to the quiet space.
    • Assign quiet times – perhaps post lunch when everyone is in a bit of a lull anyway.
    • Introduce a visual key system so people can show if they are willing to be interrupted. We placed coloured cards on the top of our screens – green for yes, I’m free and happy to speak and red for I’m focussing on a task and do not want to be interrupted. Or there’s the earbud code – one in for happy to be spoken to, two in for leave me alone.
    • Encourage staff to work from home. Yes, I know many companies are encouraging/ forcing workers back to our offices but one or two days a week at home can make a massive difference to the quality of life and productivity of an employee who prefers it quiet.
    • No speakerphone conversations in the office – hearing one voice is bad enough!
    • And leading on from this – no video calls at desks. Encourage everyone to treat video calls as a meeting and go to a designated meeting space.
    • Move noise generating equipment away from desks and quiet areas. It might be a noisy machine, or it could be people congregating and chatting at the printer.
    • Finally, listen to colleagues who say they are struggling with noise. Work together to see how things can change. They might not be the only ones who are having a bad time. Simple changes can make a world of difference to their health and mental wellbeing and your business productivity.

    There are also myriad ways of reducing the sound by, for example, changing the layout, adding acoustic panels and planting living walls. These maybe suitable for your business or not but a quick google brings up loads of options in varying price ranges.

    I’d love to know how other people cope with open plan offices – from both a personal and business perspective. Keeping everyone happy is not easy but as we spend so much of our time at work, we need to learn compassion and respect for our colleagues. I don’t want to silence the loud voices, but equally they shouldn’t be the only voices heard.

  • Why listening to birds is good for your health

    Why listening to birds is good for your health

    “Shag me, shag me, shag me.”

    After weeks of hearing a Great Tit scream this from the tree outside my bedroom, I was ready to sign him up to bird Tinder. OK, so I’m not a bird whisperer, and he might have been saying “Oi lazy, the feeder’s empty.” But it was that time of year when the birds all get a bit frisky and their calls a bit louder, and this poor fellow really did seem to be missing out on all the action.

    Despite this slightly jarring addition to the soundscape of my garden, I love to sit and listen to the different birds coming and going, chatting and scrapping, or in the case of the most ubiquitous of songbirds, the blackbird, announcing the start and end of the day. Each bird has a different story to tell and if you listen closely you can even tell the rain is coming because the sparrows start to cheep and chirrup louder and more frantically — I like to think they are doing a public service by telling me to get my washing in.

    In a study by researchers from the University of Surrey, birdsong was shown to be associated with perceived stress recovery and attention restoration, although not all birds were equal in their ability to calm. Wood pigeons and even chickens were associated with stress reduction, while “spooky” owls and the chattering and raucous magpies were seen as stressors.

    I’m not sure I agree with the latter as I love the magpies that come to my garden (including a playful family of five last year) and often have rambling conversations with them as they scoop up the leftover hedgehog biscuits. They are super intelligent (they drop the hard biscuits in water to soften them before eating) and I feel they appreciate the effort I make to create a bird-safe garden environment. But I can see how the calls they make could be disruptive to others.

    Quite often the sound of a bird is the only thing to give away their presence, especially in urban areas where they might not be as obvious. The song of the robin can be heard long before you spy him hiding on the upper branches of a tree. Sitting and looking out of my office window there is a row of trees between me and the next lot of houses, and it is a haven for regular and just passing avian friends. In the summer when all the leaves are out, the songs and calls are all there is to identify who is lurking in amongst the green.

    Naturally good for you

    The cackling anguish that is a spooked blackbird is easy to recognise, others I have yet to learn, but a new sound is sure to catch my ear, and draw me away from my work for a few minutes of immersion in nature.

    The University of Surrey study showed that birdsong was the preferred natural sound (over water and other animal sounds) and that it could provide a distraction or alternative focus from stressors.

    But, unfortunately, this wonderful, free and natural stress reliever may not be around for future generations as the number of songbirds is in decline thanks to modern farming and building practices that destroy their natural environments.

    Save our songbirds

    We must act now to stop further destruction of these environments before we lose their songs forever. One way to help is to support local bird charities such as the RSPB in the UK or the American Bird Conservancy in the US. Another is to be aware of the sounds around you, learn which feathered friend is visiting your garden, office building or park. The more you listen the more you will be aware of any changes and be able to act.

    And remember, if the birds are singing, then nature has a smile on her face, and so will you.

  • What does tinnitus sound like?

    What does tinnitus sound like?

    EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeEEEeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Annoying right? Welcome to the world of my tinnitus.

    But surely all tinnitus is the same? A ringing sound in the ears. Yes, I thought the same when I was first diagnosed — I assumed that I heard what everyone with tinnitus heard.

    Hang on a minute, what is tinnitus?

    Tinnitus is a sound that is perceived in the ear or the head that has no external source. But the sound is very real to the person with tinnitus. The word tinnitus comes from the Latin for ringing.

    Some people have a fleeting experience with tinnitus, for others, it is a lifelong companion. I’ve had tinnitus since 2016.

    Hearing sounds that no one else can, sounds interesting!

    Tinnitus is not a disease or illness. It is not a mental health condition. Tinnitus has a range of triggers including ear infection, exposure to loud noise, stress and changes to your health and wellbeing. Mine was caused by persistent, high levels of stress throughout 2016 (it was such a crappy year!).

    There has also been a lot of media about COVID-19 and tinnitus. This is something I may revisit once more research has been done. But it’s important to note that tinnitus can appear and peak at times of stress (mine had a spectacular increase during the first few months of lockdown).

    Unfortunately, despite 30% of people experiencing tinnitus at some point in their lives, it is underfunded when it comes to research.

    So what do you hear?

    I hear the annoying list of EEEEEs above — fairly monotone, with the ‘sound’ level increasing during increased levels of stress and anxiety. In fact, my tinnitus often lets me know I’m stressed before I realise I need to put on Headspace. In that way, it can be quite useful, in comparison to when it’s keeping me awake at 3am, seemingly just for the fun of it.

    But you may hear something very different. I recently attended a tinnitus support group where one of the participants had only been diagnosed a couple of months before. Her tinnitus was a whooshing sound that she felt was taking over her head and her life. She was visibly distraught and wanted to know when it would stop. Unfortunately, the answer to that is impossible to know, other than for most people, tinnitus — or your perception of it can improve over time. Her description of her tinnitus was so different to mine — but I recognised in her the stress I’d felt when first diagnosed.

    Tinnitus sounds can include ringing, buzzing, humming, whooshing, hearing your heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus) or even music (musical tinnitus). A family member hears an undulating humming sound — there seems to be no reason behind the type of sound you hear.

    You may have noticed that I’ve used the word ‘sound’ rather than ‘noise’ when talking about what I perceive. Noise is described as a sound that is unwanted (to me this includes Jazz, leafblowers and that annoying beep my washing machine makes when it’s finished its cycle). And yes, tinnitus isn’t the easiest thing to live with. But I find using ‘sound’ to describe it takes away the need to fight against it.

    I can’t promise you’ll make friends with your tinnitus but anything you can do to encourage acceptance will go a long way to reducing its impact on your life.

    Find support

    If you are hearing or start to hear sounds in your ears or head please speak to your doctor or healthcare professional. Very rarely tinnitus can be a sign of something that will need further investigation. They may also be able to refer you to a hearing therapist (I recommend giving this a go — my therapist has been wonderfully supportive and doesn’t take any shit from me about not doing the exercises).

    You can also get in touch with the British Tinnitus Association or American Tinnitus Association — both of whom have excellent support networks.