Sound Ledger¹ (Noise Cancelling, Polluting, Leveling)

Audio culture by the numbers

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

200: Total potential improvement, in percent increase, of AirPods Pro (2nd generation) for noise cancellation

30: Number of years during which it is estimated that noise pollution increases two-to-threefold

65: Percent of Europeans estimated to be living with hazardous noise levels

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¹Footnotes

Airpods: [cnet.com](https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/airpods-pro-2-hands-on-crisper-sound-better-noise-canceling/). Noise: [wapo.st](https://wapo.st/3xwmC1G) (read without subscription).

*Originally published in the September 20, 2022, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via [tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet).*

Sonic Verbs (68)

What are your favorites?

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Each issue of This Week in Sound ([tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet)), I close the introduction with a different sonic verb. Last night it was “bawl.” Here’s the list for the past 68 issues:

babble, bawl, bay, blow, bombinate, burble, burr, buzz, cantillate, cheep, chirr, chirrup, churr, clang, coo, crackle, croon, drone, echo, echolocate, fissle, gasp, groan, gurgle, harmonize, hiss, howl, hum, intone, keen, mewl, moan, mumble, murmur, mutter, nasalize, oscillate, psithurate, purr, resound, ring, roar, rumble, rustle, scream, screech, shout, shriek, sibilate, sigh, sign, snore, sough, squall, squeal, susurrate, swish, thrum, thwack, trill, vibrate, wail, whimper, whine, whir, whisper, yell, yelp

Do you have a favorite sonic verb that’s not on this list?

Skills We’ve Developed

The deaf community and electric vehicles

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

This is a letter to The New Yorker from Madan Vasishta of Ellicott City, Maryland, writing in response to John Seabrook’s [recent article](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/08/what-should-a-nine-thousand-pound-electric-vehicle-sound-like) about sounds for electric vehicles. The key issue is the matter of the “skills” developed by the hearing impaired. The ability of the deaf to safely navigate streets is not a refutation of the importance of car sounds; it’s an affirmation of the fact that being a pedestrian isn’t a neutral state. It requires effort, attention, and experience. This letter appeared in the magazine’s September 12, 2022, issue.

>I read with great interest John Seabrook’s article about making sounds for electric vehicles, or E.V.s (“On Alert,” August 8th). Although I learned much about how these soundscapes are made, I was disappointed that Seabrook did not mention the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. The million deaf people in the U.S. typically cannot hear internal-combustion-engine vehicles, or even their horns — yet we manage to survive! Silent E.V.s put the public in the same precarious situation that deaf people have been in since the automobile was invented. Perhaps our perspectives, and the skills we’ve developed to protect our lives, could usefully inform the work of those thinking about the future of E.V.s — as well as heighten the awareness of anyone encountering these cars.

*Originally published in a special, experimental September 16, 2022, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter. Get it in your inbox via [tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet).*

twitter.com/disquiet: drums, Eno, Rajaniemi

From the past week

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

I do this manually each Saturday, usually in the morning over coffee: collating most of the tweets I made the past week at [twitter.com/disquiet](https://twitter.com/disquiet), which I think of as my public notebook. Some tweets pop up sooner in expanded form or otherwise on Disquiet.com. I’ve found it personally informative to revisit the previous week of thinking out loud. This isn’t a full accounting. Often there are, for example, conversations on Twitter that don’t really make as much sense out of the context of Twitter itself. And sometimes I tweak them a bit, given the additional space. And sometimes I re-order them just a bit.

▰ Gotta feel bad for Brian Eno, who has to presumably leave out albums Brian Eno worked on when he’s coming up with his list of his favorite albums.

▰ Me to my guitar teacher via Zoom: “Is that a drummer I hear taking lessons?”

My guitar teacher: “Yes. And from the next building over.”

▰ Find someone who follows up with you like your guitar teacher emails you a page of chords the next morning after class.

▰ I like how CGI realism within the pre-electric fantasy of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power means overhead shots that emulate photography done with modern drones.

▰ Unfamiliar with this icon. Must read up.

▰ The lore of Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi (The Quantum Thief) is so dense that this detail edges near unintelligibility for those who haven’t read the novel. Suffice to say the Summer City is where the dead live on and a “luz” is a soul’s essence in etheric-corporeal terms. (That’s intended as a compliment. I’m really enjoying this book.)

▰ Have a good weekend (if it’s your weekend and good is within reach).

Locate instrumentals, isolated tracks, and alternate takes of your favorite songs.

Write down the first thing you hear each morning.

Watch an unfamiliar-to-you film scored by whoever scored your favorite film.