Societal obstacles to Selling and Buying Quiet

Abstract

The desire for a quieter environment, office, or workplace is nearly universal. The technology exists to accurately measure noise emission and estimate the health, functional, and financial impacts on hearing conservation, speech interference, and residential or workplace comfort. Several useful methods for labelling of noise emission have been proposed over the years. Government regulations for certain classes of equipment are already in place in some countries. Why then after several decades of concerted effort is "Selling and Buying Quiet" not commonplace? It may be that the fault lies neither with the quality of the engineering work nor the existence or lack of regulation. Instead, a complex of societal factors including confusion, misinformation, denial, and cognitive dissonance effectively undercut any program. This paper will discuss the societal factors opposing the success of "Selling and Buying Quiet", as experienced by the author, along with some possible approaches for increasing the recognition of noise control engineering in the future.