Hearing music is typically an enjoyable experience, but the setting is often equally as important. What about that man on the subway or streetcar who insists on playing music or videos from their phone at full volume? Or the neighbour whose stereo sends bass and drum vibrations throughout your home?
Even music can be considered as noise.
No More Noise Toronto is an organization that is taking on what is said to be the No. 2 public health issue (after air pollution).
No More Noise Toronto aims to tackle the urban health hazard of noise with action and engaged citizens. Founded by Ingrid Buday, the organization currently has the support of a number of groups, including residents’ associations in north and south Toronto, Yorkville and beyond.
The plan is to create working groups and task forces of people with similar concerns in order to tackle specific noise sources. Their initiatives include working towards a ban on gas powered lawn care equipment.
Their recommendations and actions are based on data that is gathered via phone apps and other devices. In doing the work, they provide professional work experience to geography and environmental planning students at the University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University.
According to the City of Toronto report titled How Loud Is Too Loud: The Health Impacts of Environmental Noise (2017), residents are routinely exposed to noise levels over 55 dBA, particularly those living in low income neighbourhoods.
As the report points out, the World Health Organization established a health-protective guideline of 55 dBA outdoors for both daytime and evening exposures, and ideally 40 dBA for overnight — although they acknowledge that level is difficult to find in an urban setting.
Health impacts include:
The City of Toronto’s bylaws already govern the time limits and sound level limits for different types of events and situations. The city’s own guidelines, however, don’t always comply with the WHO data. Indoor sounds limits range from 42 dBA to 57 dBA from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., however noise from idling vehicles is set at a 92 dBA limit.
No More Noise Toronto’s Ingrid Buday has a varied background in the travel, process design, data and IT industries. The noise issue was brought home to her during the pandemic, when her sleep was disturbed by vehicles travelling on neighbourhood streets at night.
“Initially, I thought I was the only one who was annoyed by this,” Ingrid explains. Reaching out on social media taught her differently. The more people she contacted, the more sources of noise she learned about.
The main sources of unwanted noise include construction and traffic. “Vehicle noise is by far the biggest annoyance,” she says.
She became determined to find others who were impacted, and work toward change. It began with her purchase of her own sound meter to collect data on noise levels from her bedroom window. She shared the data with City Hall.
Today, No More Noise Toronto has over 1,500 members, and counts the support of local councillors. The organization has collected noise data from over 50 locations in the GTA.
While noise surrounds us all in the city, it’s not often that it comes up specifically as an issue.
“That’s one of the biggest things that we’re up against,” Ingrid says. In fact, more traffic and noise can be spun as a positive development — the sign of a bustling economy. “It’s a big city, just suck it up.”
At the same time, it affects everyone. “We know that noise has a big impact on our health,” she says. She points out that we have no real defences from background noise, and our bodies respond even whether we’re aware of it or not.
“We’ve been dealing with this old problem in old ways.”
Data and specific action are the keys to effecting change. With its impacts on cognitive function and the ability to rest and sleep properly, it’s particularly important to consider location, and noise sources near institutions like schools and retirement homes, for example.
Toronto Public Health, for example, has no authority to intervene in situations where the main issue is noise. The organization has nonetheless developed useful relationships with the City’s various departments to work on the issue.
“We’ve already had some success on the municipal level,” she says. “There [are] absolutely things we can do.”
When it comes to noise on the streetcar, or invading the quiet space on the GO Train, advocating for courtesy may seem like a difficult task. But, simply recognizing that not everyone wants to hear your conversation, music, or other sounds coming from a phone is a good start.
“Not everybody else wants to hear what you’re hearing.”
The City itself has no specific mandate to reduce noise levels, leaving it up to advocacy organizations like No More Noise Toronto to take up the challenge. Part of the organization’s goals are to educate people to the point they can advocate for themselves and their own situation.
“Over 60% of Toronto residents have noise spikes during the day,” she says. That comes largely from proximity to arterial roads.
“It’s for people to collectively rest and restore our nervous systems,” she says of NMNT’s ultimate goals. “If we can’t get a good night’s sleep, we’re just that much more on edge.”
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