Cacophony

ca  .  coph  .  o   .  ny /noun/  a harsh, discordant mixture of sounds; noise, discord, dissonance, uproar

The synonyms associated with cacophony, our word for this week, are a commentary on the prevailing tone of our age.  It is no exaggeration to say  that ours could be called the  Noise  Age. We may delight in Edgar Allan Poe’s “tintinnabulation” of the bells, but loud, inharmonious  sounds are unsatisfying and harmful.

A few months ago, I was stopped at an intersection, waiting for the green, when I heard a booming sound coming from the car in the lane next to mine. I took a furtive glance and saw an ample figure laid back in a white Cadillac, the decibel level from his music literally going through the roof. He seemed to be at peace with himself. We are surrounded by noise all the time. In the streets, yes,  but also in our homes from the television, the dishwasher, the refrigerator, a discordant combination  of background irritation constantly assaults our ears.

Some experts define noise  simply as “unwanted sound,” but what may be unwanted for some, like me, is perfectly comfortable for others, like our man in the white Cadillac.  Many are deaf to the noise pollution, so that what passes for communication on radio and television talk  shows  flourishes in a noisy mix of shrill voices, with people talking over one another. The one who can shout his or her opinion the loudest is heard, and is actually listened to by millions.  The noise in the media is exacerbated by “chatter” from Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and even texting. Everybody’s talking–at once.   The air becomes agitated, as if  a thousand bubbling kettles were all whistling at the same time.

In the midst of all of this, some people may honestly ask, “What noise?” They love the cacophony. It energizes them, makes them feel that they’re alive. Could this be one reason some individuals switch church congregations? For them it may be too quiet in one place, so they find another venue with a higher pitch level because they equate noise with personal enjoyment. But something happens when all that noise is “loosed upon the world,” to borrow a phrase from William Butler Yeats.  It works to the detriment of the environment as well as to the physical being.

Even the youngsters are in on the noise pollution and seem to be loving it.  One of my teachers came to me one day to complain about her disruptive class of twelve-year-old first formers. She was a gentle soul, and her students were making her life miserable. She catalogued their sins, and reported  that they had yelled, ” ‘Let’s make noise!’ ”  I didn’t laugh, although I found what she said and how she said it humorous.  Her students were echoing the disc jockeys they listened to regularly. The idea that was being transmitted to them was that noise equaled fun and happiness. Unfortunately, what passes for music among the young and vulnerable ones is merely amplified noise.

Today environmental scientists are reporting that noise is a health  hazard.  According to Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP),  “Worldwide, noise-induced  hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard.” And noise has its negative effects beyond the hazardous workplaces. There is growing evidence  that excessive volume is the cause of  many health issues.  Besides hearing loss and tinnitus,  the non-auditory effects of noise include cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, increased stress hormones, hypertension, and cardio vascular diseases.  Constant exposure to noise “ramps up the body’s stress hormones,” the EHP report states.

We live in a noisy world, and anti-noise activists are fighting to reduce our exposure to high decibel levels. As  a  result,  there are changes being made at airports, in hospitals, in the automobile industry, and of course, in work environments where people are directly affected. Researchers suggest that young people change their environment and their behavior, as audiologists are fitting more and more of them with hearing aids.  For adults, change of environment may be too late, but they can avoid unnecessary exposure to high levels of noise.  Have the TV volume at a moderate level, and avoid listening to programs that tend to pit speakers against one another in argumentative contests, thus affecting not just the hearing but also the body’s hormones. We can do our part to  tone things  down.

It is indeed a noisy world, but we have  a biblical guide to  creating a quiet space in our environment:  “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  He is the One that is higher, nobler,  and more glorious than all else,  the One who can help us live above the din. Let us exalt Him.

Blessings,

Judith

*****

“A happy life must be, to a great extent, a quiet life,
for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live.”
– – – Bertrand Russell