7: Number of times the word “silence” appears in the pages of Don DeLillo’s 2020 novel The Silence
108: Number of times a Buddhist temple bell is rung to note the year’s end
36: Number of “noise cameras” currently installed in Taiwan (December 2020)
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¹Footnotes: 108 bells: [latimes.com](https://www.latimes.com/travel/california/la-trb-hawaiian-islands-bell-ringing-buddhists-20151227-story.html). Noise cameras: [focustaiwan.tw](https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202012010018).
*Originally published in the January 4, 2021, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter ([tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet)).*