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Points:

Causes of noise pollution in Singapore include:

Expressways, MRT tracks

Construction Sites

Densely populated places like shopping malls, hawker centres and playgrounds

Average outdoor sound level is 69.4 decibels which exceeds NEA’s recommendation of no more than 67 decibels

Constant exposure can lead to hearing impairment, health problems and mental health problems

Measures:

Tighter enforcements of construction sites

Urban planning regulations

Doctors recommend use of hearing protection to protect hearing

Afterthoughts:

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Points
- The inevitability of facing construction noise has cause tremendous levels of stress among neighbours
- Noise interfering with business productivity because more people work from home

Thoughts
there is a noise level limit set by the NEA, but how to regulate and enforce?

Is it fair for people to complain about something they have no control over?

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- Cities generate a lot of noise, and increased numbers of city-dwellers means more noise
- Long-term exposure to noise can lead to health problems
- Affluence of neighborhoods affects noise levels (poorer neighborhoods are noisier)
- Solutions have pros and cons
- Noise is not all bad, pink noise helps increase productivity by reducing audibility of distractions. It also gives character to one's life in the city (liveliness)

I was surprised by the fact that poorer neighborhoods would be noisier from the statistics, as I felt that richer neighborhoods would be able to enjoy entertainment systems that produced a lot of noise, but it's not the case, probably because people in poorer neighborhoods may have to settle for noisier, outdoor social activities like basketball
It also kinda struck me that certain low-frequency noise increases productivity.

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1. Cities are already loud, and are projected to become louder with populations set to increase

2. Poorer neighbourhoods have been proven to be 2 decibels louder than more affluent neighbourhoods, which gives rise to health problems when faced with prolongued exposure, resulting in premature deaths

3. Innovative designs have been introduced into construction to prevent such overwhelming noise

4. Pink noise has been introduced to combat complete silence, too

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- excessive exposure to loud noises can result in health problems
- noisier in cities than in rural areas
- using big data to better map areas where there are more noise, so they can setup safeguards eg sound absorbant materials

afterthoughts:
noise pollution can actually cause physical issues

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Points:
- WHO recommends <70dB to not get adverse effects. NEA recommendation is 67.
-Adverse effects include hearing impairment, psychological/relationship (irritability->anger)
-Protecting self is limited in effectiveness
- Other than MRTs and roads, noise also comes from playgrounds, food courts and malls
- In SG, more than a quarter of data recorded outdoors exceeded 70dB. Mean noise is 69.4dB

Afterthoughts:
- Despite having its own recommendations, NEA does not seem to be doing much
- Noise affecting people is going to be more common in the future because development is inevitable in the most populated areas
-

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Points:
- Noise pollution affects health (e.g. mental health, hearing loss)
- Caused mostly by stress and noise annoyance
- We are regularly exposed to large amounts of noise (e.g. transport systems)
- Solutions such as electric vehicles and big data can be used to resolve the issue

Afterthoughts:
- Noise is indeed an overlooked issue that can lead to many negative effects
- Perhaps we could treat noise pollution similar to how we treat other forms of pollution?

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1. it is the densifying of cities that intensifies the pollution
2. impact on the poor: health problems like high blood pressure, heart attacks and diabetes
3. possible solutions: thicker walls, better insulation, playing white noise constantly
4. thoughts: even with these solutions, it seems to be exclusive for the rich only because the cos to build, install and run these equipment is expensive, and does not solve the bulk of the problem which lies in the poorer communities. as city centres continue to grow, especially when economic growth is concentrated there, it is only natural that the city continues to get denser which probably will continue to intensify the plight of these people with regards to noise affecting their health

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Points:
1. Noise impacts worker productivity by impairing some parts of cognitive function
2. Despite being encouraged to stay at home, people are driven out of their homes due to not only noise but other environmental factors that make a setting not conducive for wok or study.
3. Social responsibility can be exercised right from within one's own home because noise can travel out of your living space and into others'.

Afterthoughts:
+ Has a public campaign on noise targeting neighbourhood flats been done before?
+ Does this problem vary between each neighbourhood region in Singapore?

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Points:
1. Lowers the productivity of adults and students around who are doing work, decreasing cognitive functioning
2. Socially responsible to minimize noise produced
3. "Push" factors of why people are leaving their homes

Afterthoughts:
- Is there a specific age group that is responsible for making the most noise, a lot of the examples listed in the articles point towards a older age group
- With no reason other than "its the nice thing to do" what other reasons do people have for acting socially responsible
-

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Commentary: For your neighbours’ sake, turn the volume down this stay-home period

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Commentary: For your neighbours’ sake, turn the volume down this stay-home period

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Calvin & Karl

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Commentary: For your neighbours' sake, turn the volume down this stay-home period

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With many people now staying at home, and some getting to enjoy a long break from work, unsurprisingly, many are making the most of their home entertainment systems. LOTS OF NOISE AND LOUD MUSIC As I continued exercising, I wondered how students engaged in home-based learning or workers who are currently telecommuting might be coping with all of this.

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Uptick in complaints about renovation noise as more people work from home

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Uptick in complaints about renovation noise as more people work from home

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Tyen Raay

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For those who are affected by the noise from neighbouring homes, the general advice is to make plans to get out of the house during the renovation period, said Michael Ong, the assistant secretary of the Singapore Renovation Contractors & Material Suppliers Association.

If going out is not possible amid the pandemic, there are other suggestions.

"If the unit being renovated is opposite your apartment, open your windows but close the doors. If the unit being renovated is above or below yours, open the windows and the doors. If not, you will contain the vibrations inside the house," Mr Ong said.

He also recommended ear plugs or noise-cancelling earphones if needed.

If the noise is too much to bear, he said neighbours can make requests - within reason - to stop the renovation works temporarily.

"You must be mindful that work must still go on, but if you say: 'Can you stop for one day? My kid is having a big exam today.' We will try to stop," said Mr Ong.

"But the maximum is three days, any request beyond that I don't think our clients would entertain," he added, citing the need to keep up with project timelines.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU'RE RENOVATING
Mr Ong said those renovating their homes should speak to their new or existing neighbours personally - beyond merely informing them about the work through a notice.

"A couple of my clients bring cookies for their neighbours as a gesture of goodwill so they'll be happier. Then even when the renovation starts, they can bear with it," he said.

Mr Ong added that in Singapore's dense, urban housing environment, it is important to have a spirit of neighbourliness and understanding "that these situations are inevitable".

"The key is both parties must be reasonable," he said.

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Uptick in complaints about renovation noise as more people work from home

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SINGAPORE: Taking Zoom calls for work can be tricky for Theodore Tan, whose flat in Admiralty is surrounded by units undergoing renovation."I have to mute myself, I speak only when I really need to and I have to hope there's no hammering, drilling or hacking going on," said the 26-year-old resea

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Living with noise pollution: Serangoon, Bukit Timah and Clementi among the noisiest neighbourhoods in Singapore

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Living with noise pollution: Serangoon, Bukit Timah and Clementi among the noisiest neighbourhoods in Singapore

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Bryan & Danielle

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For the past three decades, Mr K.C. Tang, 72, and his wife have been communicating by shouting at each other.

Even then, the couple can barely make out what each other is saying, due to the unceasing cacophony of horns, sirens and revving engines from the Central Expressway (CTE) around 40m away from their three-room flat at Block 115, Potong Pasir Avenue 1.

Said Mr Tang, a retiree, with a sigh: "We have grown used to this."

Over in Yew Tee and Choa Chu Kang, where MRT tracks are within spitting distance from some Housing Board blocks, residents say that they, too, have become accustomed to living with noise.

Choa Chu Kang resident Nadia Begum, 29, whose home is some 30m away from a stretch of MRT track where a train rattles past every few minutes, said: "Closing all the windows is not sufficient. We have to use pillows over our heads to muffle the noises at night."

Serangoon is noisiest part of Singapore

A total of 18,768 sound measurements were recorded over a 21/2-month period in a new study on noise by NUS audiologist William Hal Martin and graduate student Diong Huey Ting.

According to the data, the noisiest parts of Singapore (based on planning zones) are:

*Serangoon (73.1 decibels)

*Orchard (72.8 decibels)

*Outram (72.8 decibels)

*Bukit Timah (72.6 decibels)

*Clementi (71.8 decibels)

*Kallang (71.5 decibels)

*Marina South (71.0 decibels)

*Downtown Core (71.0 decibels)

*Yishun (70.8 decibels)

*Rochor (70.3 decibels)

The noisiest regions are:

*Central region (70.0 decibels)

*North-east region (69.9 decibels)

*East region (69.8 decibels)

*West region (67.8 decibels)

*North region (66.3 decibels)

Separately, The Sunday Times took average noise readings over a five-minute duration at two sites.

The measurements were recorded by noise monitoring firm Dropnoise.
MR K.C. TANG'S HOME
Location: Block 115, Potong Pasir Avenue 1

Main source of noise pollution: Central Expressway

Indoor average noise level: 66.6 decibels

Outdoor average noise level: 74.2 decibels
MS NADIA BEGUM'S HOME
Location: Block 537, Choa Chu Kang Street 51

Main source of noise pollution: MRT tracks

Indoor average noise level: 60.5 decibels

When a train goes past: 73.2 decibels

Mr Tang and Ms Begum are among the tens of thousands living next to busy roads, MRT tracks, construction sites and shopping malls around Singapore, who are coping with din just outside their homes.

A new study from the National University of Singapore (NUS) found that Singapore's average outdoor sound level throughout the day is 69.4 decibels, which is equivalent to the noise made by a vacuum cleaner.

This exceeds the National Environmental Agency's recommendation of no more than 67 decibels averaged over an hour, and is a whisker shy of the World Health Organisation threshold of 70 decibels a day. Consistent exposure to that level can cause hearing impairment.

The study - led by NUS graduate student Diong Huey Ting and Professor William Hal Martin, who heads the university's masters in audiology programme - took 18,768 outdoor sound measurements between last December and February to determine how noisy Singapore is. Worryingly, around 27 per cent of the gathered data exceeded 70 decibels, said Ms Diong.

The study also identified the noisiest places in Singapore. Serangoon tops the list of planning zones, with an average of 73.1 decibels from more than 100 noise readings.

Said Ms Diong, 27: "In densely populated Singapore, common amenities like shopping malls, hawker centres and playgrounds all contribute to community noise, on top of that created by traffic."

Noise pollution is inevitable in big bustling cities around the world and Singapore is experiencing it too.

While there are no comparative studies, anecdotally, the city has become noisier over the years as it continues to develop - with more expressways, longer MRT lines and the cycle of construction and demolition playing out over and over again.

This is on top of new trends like the growing popularity of integrated mixed-use developments, with retail spaces, offices, transport hubs and homes in the same complex.

This worries Mr Spencer Tan, 30, of noise monitoring firm Dropnoise. "Even those who live on the higher floors will not be spared since sound travels upwards."

To try to mitigate against noise pollution, the Government has put in place several measures, including tighter enforcement of construction sites and urban planning regulations. Several solutions are still undergoing trials and may be rolled out in the coming years.

But some are concerned that these measures may not be able to keep pace with a growing nation.

Mr Tang's home became noisier when the CTE was widened from a three-lane to a four-lane dual carriageway in 2012 to accommodate more traffic. Said Mr Tang in Mandarin: "We complained then, but nothing much can be done about it since it is impossible to fight progress."

Dropnoise, which produces noise reports for residents and condominium managements, has seen business boom since it started the monitoring service last year.

Mr Tan gets more than three inquiries from frustrated residents to attend to every week. Its reports can be used in court action against noisy neighbours, or submitted to regulatory bodies as proof of noise pollution.

Within Mr Tang's home, for example, Dropnoise, using a sensitive sound meter, recorded an average of 66.6 decibels over a five- minute period.

"This means that the resident is hearing a constant background noise equivalent to a loud conversation. He will have to speak louder if he wants to be heard," said Mr Tan.

Since the problem of noise pollution is here to stay, doctors said residents should be more aware of ways to protect their hearing. These include the use of hearing protection, such as ear plugs and ear muffs, as a temporary solution, said the head of Singapore General Hospital's (SGH's) otolaryngology department, Dr Barrie Tan.

Dr Low Wong Kein, senior ear specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said besides hearing impairment, constant exposure to loud noises can cause health problems such as hypertension and heart disease.

Psychologist Nishta Geetha Thevaraja from the SGH department of psychiatry said personal and work relationships can be affected by irritability and anger issues brought about by noise pollution. Those who have become accustomed to loud noises are "usually unaware of these implicit effects noise pollution has on their lives", she added.

No sound of silence

World Health Organisation guidelines say 70 decibels is the sound level which - if someone is exposed to it consistently for a full day - can lead to hearing impairment. Here's how Singapore and other cities stack up.
SINGAPORE
The mean noise level is 69.4 decibels, according to an NUS study. It is averaged from more than 18,000 sound readings taken over a 2½-month period.
NEW YORK CITY
Noise generally hovers around 70 decibels on the streets of Manhattan, according to measurements taken by magazine NYMag.
TAINAN
A 2009 traffic noise study conducted in Taiwan's Tainan city in 2009 found that 90 per cent of the population was exposed to more than an average of 62 decibels during peak hours.
HONG KONG
In one of Asia's busiest financial hubs, 13.6 per cent of the population is exposed to a noise level of above 70 decibels, according to the government's Environmental Protection Department.
CAIRO
The average noise level in Egypt's capital is 90 deci- bels. It hardly falls below 70 decibels, according to a 2007 study by the Egyptian National Research Centre.
SHANGHAI
Road noise on Shanghai's streets hits an average of 71.9 decibels during the day and drops to 65.9 decibels at night, according to newspaper Shanghai Daily.

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Living with noise pollution: Serangoon, Bukit Timah and Clementi among the noisiest neighbourhoods in Singapore

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A new NUS study on noise has found that Serangoon, Clementi and Bukit Timah are among the noisiest neighbourhoods in Singapore. The Sunday Times finds out what it means to be living with noise pollution. . Read more at straitstimes.com.

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Yi kai & Ian

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The constant roar of traffic, incessant construction noise, piercing sirens, honking horns, shrieking loudspeakers - noise in cities is clearly a nuisance.

But it's also a danger. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described noise pollution as an underestimated threat that can cause hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, cognitive impairment, stress and depression. Some experts go further: they believe exposure to environmental noise could be slowly killing us.

"Noise pollution causes hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart attacks, strokes and death," says Dr Daniel Fink, chairman of the Quiet Coalition, a community of health and legal professionals concerned with the adverse impacts of environmental noise.

Noise pollution is often cited as one of the main factors in the reduced quality of life in large, 24-hour cities like New York (where more than 200,000 noise complaints were recorded in 2016). It causes stress, which has its own adverse effects on health.

While the impact of noise on mental health has not been studied extensively, research has shown that "strong noise annoyance is associated with a twofold higher prevalence of depression and anxiety in the general population".

A recent study by experts at the American College of Cardiology linked noise pollution to increased cardiovascular problems (high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke, coronary heart disease) through the body's stress mediated response - resulting in the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which in turn damages blood vessels.

At a conference on noise organised by the European commission in April 2017, noise was regarded as "the silent killer", with potentially severe consequences for our physical and mental health. And yet its impacts remain unreported and underestimated.

Dr Eoin King, assistant professor of acoustics and author of the book Environmental Noise Pollution, calls noise the ignored pollutant. "Environmental noise still continues to be poorly understood by practitioners, policymakers and the general public," he says.

Though there is no set threshold to establish risk, anything above 60 decibels can increase risk for heart disease

Dr Thomas Münzel

Most worrying, says King, is the impact on children. "Studies considering the effect that noise may have on children have found that tasks such as reading, attention span, problem-solving and memory appear to be most affected by exposure to noise."

The issue is compounded by debate over how much noise it is safe to be exposed to. In its Make Listening Safe guide, WHO states that 85 decibels is considered the highest safe exposure level, up to a maximum of eight hours. However, others - Fink among them - argue this is still too loud.

A car measures 70 decibels, a jackhammer 100, and a plane taking off 120, according to the WHO. "Though there is no set threshold to establish risk, we do know that anything above 60 decibels can increase risk for heart disease," Dr Thomas Münzel, from the Mainz University Medical Centre, has said.

A recent report by the BBC found that parts of the London Underground were "loud enough to damage people's hearing", with noise levels greater than 105 decibels on many lines. The report stated that some were "so loud they would require hearing protection if they were workplaces".

Guangzhou has been ranked as having the worst levels of noise pollution in the world Photograph: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images

Concerned about increased risk of hearing loss in cities, last year Mimi Hearing Technologies created a World Hearing Index to draw attention to the issue. With the results of hearing tests of 200,000 of their users worldwide and data on noise pollution from WHO and Sintef, a Norwegian research organisation, the index plotted levels of noise pollution and hearing loss in 50 cities.

The study found that, on average, a person living in the loudest cities has hearing loss equivalent to that of someone 10-20 years older. Overall the results showed a 64% correlation between hearing loss and noise pollution.

Guangzhou, China, ranked as having the worst levels of noise pollution in the world, followed by Cairo, Paris, Beijing and Delhi. Of the 50 cities, Zurich was found to have the least noise pollution.

Participants in Delhi recorded the highest average hearing loss - equivalent to someone 19.34 years older than them. Vienna had the lowest hearing loss - but still, on average, that of someone 10.59 years older.

"We were able to collect quite a unique hearing data warehouse on hearing abilities across countries and continents," says Henrik Matthies, managing director of Mimi Hearing Technologies. "There is an obvious known correlation between being exposed to noise and decreased hearing ability.

"However, mapping this correlation to cities helped us to get the message out, sparking a debate about noise pollution and hearing in megacities like Hong Kong and Delhi."

But what can be done about it?

"The EU are probably the world leaders at setting out a process to tackle noise pollution," says King. In 2002, it issued an environmental noise directive that requires member states to map noise exposure in urban areas holding upwards of 100,000 people, to develop noise abatement action plans in these areas and to preserve quiet areas.

If we could make planes, trains and ​​cars quieter ​we would solve a lot of our problems.

Dr Eoin King

Action plans usually incorporate a variety of measures such as traffic management strategies, promoting light rail systems and electric buses, reduced speed limits, introducing noise barriers and improved planning processes.

But good intentions only go so far. "The problem is that there is no real enforcement associated with these action plans," says King. "Until there is more of a political will to drive planning decision related to noise, I don't think much will change."

With road traffic by far the largest source of noise pollution in Europe, affecting an estimated 100 million Europeans, concepts like Paris's car-free day could have an impact. For one day every month in the French capital, 30% of the city becomes off limits to vehicles. The project has seen sound levels in the city centre drop by half.

"The most effective way to control noise is at the source. If we could make planes, trains and cars quieter we would solve a lot of our problems," says King. "If all vehicles in a city street were electric, noise would be significantly reduced."

Increasingly citizens can also do their bit to monitor noise pollution in cities by transforming their smartphones into sound level meters.

The NoiseTube app, developed by researchers at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, enables users to record where and at what times decibel levels are highest to produce a detailed "noise map" of the city. Councils can use the data to target noise pollution more effectively, using sound absorbent materials such as foam and fibreglass precisely where they are needed most.

King says there are many such projects looking to harness the potential of big data in the fight against noise - "for example, noise complaint data, or social media chatter related to noise, to better assess public sentiments towards soundscapes. There is a lot going on - which I suppose gives us some hope."
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The constant roar of traffic, incessant construction noise, piercing sirens, honking horns, shrieking loudspeakers - noise in cities is clearly a nuisance. But it's also a danger. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described noise pollution as an underestimated threat that can cause hearing loss, cardiovascular problems, cognitive impairment, stress and depression.

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Cities are louder than ever – and it's the poor who suffer most

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Cities are louder than ever – and it's the poor who suffer most

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Tyler & Edice & Harjas

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The air on Mint Street is heavy with the clang and clatter of the 08:15 to Liverpool Street station. The east London estate is squeezed into a small space beside a curved train line, and the carriages squeal as they round the bend. All conversations freeze until the racket is over, then a few words are passed between neighbours before the next train comes.

Stand on the pavement and the sound is thunderous, but step inside one of the flats and you can suddenly hear yourself think. A double-glazed indoor balcony full of potted plants buffers the noise to nothingness.

London is densifying. For people not to wring each other's necks, you need to keep the neighbourly love going

Ivan Harbour

"In my flat, we have vent ducts installed in the ceiling," says resident Nick Butcher, 35. "They connect to the quiet courtyard side of the building, not the noisy front, so I don't hear the trains."

The Mint Street estate - a mix of affordable rent, shared-ownership and private sale apartments - was completed by Pitman Tozer architects in 2014 and is managed by the social housing association Peabody. Its 67 homes occupy a site that was previously industrial and considered too noisy for living, but its indoor balconies and courtyard-facing air ducts are innovative ways to stop the boom of a railway breaking into people's lives. In fact, the only noise complaints from residents have been about children playing in the gardens at the back.

Noise from the pedestrianised Sai Yeung Choi Street South in Mong Kok, Hong Kong caused local residents so much distress city authorities reopened it to cars. Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

"London is densifying," says Ivan Harbour of the architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. "For people not to wring each other's necks, you need to keep the neighbourly love going. One way to do that is to make sure that you get peace and quiet."

The wider issue is one facing cities across the globe: how do you deal with the noise of densification?

The biggest din

The UN predicts that, by 2050, two-thirds of people will live in cities. India is projected to have another 416 million urban dwellers than it does now, with China adding 255 million and Nigeria 189 million.

And as cities swell, there are signs we are finding it harder to cope with the noise. In Britain, for example, the government's most recent National Noise Attitude Survey found "a strongly statistically significant increase" in the proportion of respondents who reported being disturbed by road traffic, neighbours, aircraft and construction.

It is the poor who face the biggest din. In the US, research from 2017 suggests poorer urban neighbourhoods are nearly two decibels louder than affluent areas. Noise pollution tracks social segregation. The same study also found that, across US cities such as Detroit and Chicago, communities with larger proportions of black, Hispanic and Asian residents face higher noise levels than other neighbourhoods.

Noise isn't only an irritation. Recent studies suggest it can have dire effects on people's health. High blood pressure, heart attacks and type 2 diabetes are just some of the illnesses doctors have linked to long-term exposure to city clamour, with the European Environment Agency chalking up 10,000 premature deaths a year in Europe to noise.

Noise barrier by autobahn in Essen, Germany. Photograph: Jochen Tack/Alamy

In 21st-century cities we have to contend with sirens, drills, shouts, rumbles, bangs, screams, barks, crunches, beeps, moans and babbles only a wall away. As our homes, schools and offices cluster tighter together, what can we do to stop the ruckus?

The social housing on Mint Street comes with built-in noise control, but elsewhere silence is a premium commodity. If you live in New York and have $24,000 (£18,300) spare, you might be able to treat your ceiling with mass-loaded vinyl and hang it on springs, or place your radiator pipes on sound-isolating mounts. In Mumbai, acoustic consultants for cinemas are selling soundproof walls for home use, but at prices only the wealthy can afford. Another option may be to out-noise the neighbours. Chinese newspapers report that people in Beijing are turning to vibrating motors, propped against the ceilings of their homes, to pump sound through the floors of people living loud upstairs.

Otherwise, the approach to combating noise is often to build thicker walls. In the UK, this has been precipitated by new energy-efficiency building regulations compelling homes to be highly insulated and more airtight to conserve heat in winter. It just so happens that these environmental measures cocoon rooms from outside sound. Two birds, one stone?

During hot spells, do you pay for cool silence or open your windows and let in the din? Air conditioning units hang outside apartments in Shenyang, China. Photograph: VCG via Getty Images

Not exactly. The same energy-efficiency measures that keep homes warm in the winter also trap heat in the summer, meaning people are spending more of the year with the windows open.

"In terms of health effects, this is particularly significant at night when residents are effectively left with a choice of being uncomfortably hot or having their sleep disturbed by noise," says Dr Anthony Chilton, senior partner at the environmental engineering firm Max Fordham.

One solution would be to run air conditioning and keep the windows shut - but apart from undermining the environmental purpose of thicker insulation, this also introduces scope for social division. Do you pay for cool silence, or open your windows and live with the din? As Peabody's Patrick Duffy notes: "You'll have people who can afford to buy and run a cooling system. People in the equivalent flat next door may be social housing tenants and couldn't afford that."

Too quiet ...

If you do manage to block the sounds of the city, there's the risk you make things too quiet, too uncomfortably silent. Michael Jones, senior partner at Foster + Partners, says that as ventilation technology has improved, the low whizz and hum of fans has vanished. In modern open-plan offices the quieter the room gets, the further speech travels. In response it has become common practice to install " pink noise " speakers that emit a constant low fuzz of soothing static - essentially white noise with higher frequencies reduced.

Tailored to the frequency of the human voice, this barely audible whoosh masks background conversations. You don't consciously notice it, but you do when it stops. "You're suddenly aware of everything," says Jones. "Every phone, every cough."

When the software company Autodesk temporarily turned off the pink noise systems in its offices in Waltham, Massachusetts, staff complained about being distracted by conversations 20 metres away.

Harbour, who built a similar noise system into his designs for a business quarter in London's Stratford City, describes it as like engineering a race car: starting with a design that is underweight, then calculatedly adding weight little by little. "If you cut the sound out, you can add noise so it feels right," he says. "It can be tailored in a way that's better for everyone."

The interior of Bloomberg's HQ in London uses Meyer Sound's Constellation system to change the reverberation of spaces. Photograph: Alamy

Bloomberg's European headquarters in London, which Jones worked on for Foster + Partners, uses Meyer Sound's sophisticated Constellation electroacoustic system to change the reverberation of spaces, as well as pick up and isolate voices in vast, busy rooms.

Constellation has been described by the New Yorker as "the sonic equivalent of Photoshop". Instead of pumping background static, it works by using microphones to capture the sound of a space, remodel it with digital systems, then send this acoustically improved edit out via a series of loudspeakers. Because this is all done digitally, sound can be changed on the fly, adding reverberation, or tweaking decay, strength, clarity and warmth. The company has described all this as " invisible architecture ", and while it has mainly been using it with concert halls and theatres, it is testing other uses, including in schools and restaurants.

"You can hear the clinking of glasses and the kitchen noise, and using the system we can zone that over your table," says Helen Meyer, who founded Meyer Sound with her husband. "That means you can actually hear conversations around you kind of happening, but you can't pick up the words. At your table, though, you can talk directly to the person."

"As the technology becomes more accessible, I believe the next step will be to experiment with residential buildings," adds her husband, John. "You could create whole new environments in your house, such as being in the woods. It's really just programming."

Being able to digitally edit the sound of your home to have the acoustic properties of a forest might be the future, but Constellation systems currently cost from hundreds of thousands of pounds to upwards of £2m. For the vast majority of people, those in inner-city areas tucked beside railways and main roads, this is simply an unaffordable solution. More likely for now are thick walls and indoor balconies, blocking noise without killing it completely.

Ultimately, though, sound can be a sign of life: from the chitter of children to the muffled voices from a neighbour's TV. A clang and a clatter can cause a headache, but who wants to live in a city that sounds like a vacuum?
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Cities are louder than ever - and it's the poor who suffer most

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In crowded cities, poorer neighbourhoods often experience the most noise pollution. But advances in architecture and sound engineering could offer solutions