20 | Historical noise activism - with Walter Alfredo Montano

Everything old is new again -- and that includes noise issues and activism. From the ancient Romans through the industrial revolution, people have tried to solve the issues of urban and workplace noise. In this episode, we talk with Peruvian-based researcher Walter Alfredo Montano about some of the interesting historical artifacts and anecdotes he's uncovered about noise and its impact on human health.

Transcript

Cary (00:05):

This is episode 20 of Soundproofist. And my name is Cary,

Phill (00:11):

And this is Phil.

Cary (00:12):

And we spoke with Walter Alfredo Montano to learn some of the history of noise. Walter is an acoustician and researcher from Argentina, and he's currently based in Peru. He's been digging through newspapers and archives to find stories about the earliest noise complaints and solutions. And he published his first article in "Noise News International," which is the official magazine of the I-INCE. That's an acronym for the International Institute of Noise Control Engineering. So what we're going to talk about today is some of the earliest known complaints about urban noise and how people thought noise impacted human health. We'll also talk about historical solutions and materials they used in their buildings and their machines. And we'll look at some of the organizations that they formed to address noise issues and activities to educate and engage the public. But first, let's get a little background about Walter.

Walter (01:18):

I have to explain something about my background because first of all, I have my secondary education -- it was in Argentina. But in technical high school, I don't know if they're similar in the United States, but we learned all the skills in one school during the day. In day hours, we learned like regular high school, but in the afternoon we learned -- in my case -- electronics. But after that, my intention was to study electro-acoustic or acoustic. But back in 1985, there was no acoustic school in Argentina. So I had to make my own education through it and tried to learn by myself, but always I had to involve in the hard part of the acoustic. Designing, doing measurements, not in the human way of the acoustics. And because of my work, I have to be involved in many, many social problems due to the noise. In one big company, they said, "okay, why do people complain about noise?"

Walter (02:36):

Because the limit is, I don't know, 45 dBs. And people and consultants, they measured 40 dBs. So why are they complaining? So this situation was in the middle of the Amazonian rain forest. And the problem for me was simple because everybody measured in dBA, not in the whole spectrum. So I have to translate this technical problem into a human language. So in 2012, I came back to my university and I got a degree in social science and historical science. So I realized there the importance to study the history and also philosophy. So when I was studying, I discover a new world about history of science, and perhaps why I was involved with, for this special project for INCE. I met Marion Bourges in 2018 in Hiroshima, a congress, for the Acoustics Congress in Hiroshima. And I shared with her some findings that I made, because something that I studied in human science is to look and to see the original source of the information, not just the secondary information. She was very amazed for my discoveries. She shared some news that I found to Eoin from NNI magazine and they said, okay, if you want to write some articles about what you found, okay, you are free to do it. I am here involved with this special project.

Cary (04:35):

I know you've done a lot of research about the history of anti-noise activism and anti-noise complaints. But can you tell us what you've learned about how people associated noise with health issues in history?

Walter (04:48):

Well, it is interesting. The way through the ages, or eras, people thought about this problem, like problems to human health. I think that the first time that we have to put a reference is perhaps about 1513, no 91. A German oncologist. He said the problem of deafness is not a problem of the soul. We have to think that the problem is natural. Okay. We are talking about the Renaissance era 1591, that era. The second-most important thing that he talked about deafness is about how it's not the same -- the congenital deafness to the deafness that a person can acquire because of an accident or something like that. I think the other was perhaps what they thought about the deafness -- people deafness, of course -- in ancient days, they said they thought that the deafness belonged only to worker peoples. Only workers.

Walter (06:08):

No, they never talked about the deafness is produced by human noise. The first encyclopedia that analyzed the noise problems at the workplace was done by Romasini, an Italian doctor. And after that, I don't know if perhaps more than 150 years. Romasini wrote the encyclopedia in 1713. It wasn't until 1813, that for the first time, one physician -- he's from England -- wrote in Lancet magazine, like for the first time, scientifically it published one article about deafness in humans. But there are six or seven other physicians that did an important work. But it wasn't until 1895, that one neurologist from Germany, he said human noise can produce mental illness. And the word, the most famous word was "neurasthenia." They said the human noise produced neurasthenia. And after that, we can talk for just this modern concept, but I think that was the first time.

Cary (07:36):

Wow. That's very interesting. It goes all the way back to the 18th century, which I didn't realize.

Walter (07:41):

Yes, but it is important about the timeline of a specific author. Because another thing to share in this moment is one French doctor. The question was that the deafness [in] workers, they said it only belonged to boilermakers, or ironmakers, or metal artisans. But in 1854, a French doctor investigated the deafness on train drivers in 1854. They actually, he and another physician, they associated the deafness for train drivers as some kind of infection, internal infection because they observed that the train drivers, they conduct the train, the locomotives in the middle of the vapor in the middle of all the smoke. And they said, okay, the deafness is produced by high noise level inside the smoke. And they said, okay, perhaps the deafness in this kind of worker is produced by infection.

Cary (08:53):

Infection. Interesting. So this sort of segues into the history of people talking about noise pollution in cities, not just as a health issue, but noise pollution in genera. Have you found that the history of noise in cities is sort of parallel to the history that you're finding about health and noise?

Walter (09:17):

It's interesting that the common people, the general people, they thought that the noise is, or human noise is that perhaps after the middle ages, when the city grew in manners that no one knew before. Or perhaps the human noise is because of the mechanical train or the mechanical cars or industrializing factories inside the cities. But this is not completely true. I found an interesting research that the first time that it's written in history -- okay, I mean the first people, the first country that used writing was the Sumerian. So it's interesting because the...one tablet, or many tablets written in clay is about 2000-1500 before Christ. The name of that writing is the "Epic of Gilgamesh." And they said that a prophecy, because one god talked to Gilgamesh about the noise in the city is so high or so annoying that the gods, they wanted to put an end of that noise.

Walter (10:40):

The epic is quoted: in those days, "The world teemed, the people multiplied, the world bellowed like a wild bull and the great god was aroused by the clamor." Enlil, the god, heard the clamor. And he said to the gods in council, "the uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel." So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. So the epic recounts how our great storm and flood was brought to the world by the god Enlil for the noise and confusion they brought to the world.

Cary (11:25):

I'm thinking they didn't have earplugs back then either.

Walter (11:28):

No, we are talking about 5000 years ago...

Phill (11:33):

Yeah. Well it also, it seems like a dire warning, y'all, you know, everyone at home, keep it down, or we might, you know, the sea level's gonna rise -- you're too loud. It's very dangerous. The gods will smite us. That's amazing. I never realized that the Epic of Gilgamesh had noise pollution as a central theme. That's amazing.

Walter (11:53):

Yes. I think this, the 11th tablet they wrote about this kind of problem, that it was interesting because no one realized that. I think the historically speaking, the first ordinance that regulated not only the noise, but also the acoustic sonification matter of safe is about 600 before Christ. It was a city -- Sybaris -- in Southern Italia, Italy... in Southern Italy. And they wrote a specific ordinance to keep the workers outside the city. And they proposed acoustic sonification, it's really interesting. The source of this information is not yet the original investigation is from 1929. I could find the article, but the article, the magazine is in London in the library archive, but no one can access it now because of Covid. So they told me, okay, Walter, you have to wait after COVID recedes and we'll send these [archives]. Because at the moment, people talk about this ordinance, but no one knows specifically what it says.

Cary (13:18):

What were some of the historic remedies for noise pollution that you've uncovered in your research?

Walter (13:27):

I think one of the first issues that we find is perhaps about the year 44 in Rome. They asked about using leather to cover the wheels. Because the noise produced by the carriage, the wagon, was so high. And they also asked to put grease in the axles. So I think that perhaps it's the first written remedy. In the middle ages, there are so many mentions about monks and churches. I think that the first people that complained about noise were religous people. Not the commoners. Because they said, okay, I need silence in order for the gods to hear my thoughts. So they said, okay, I need silence. These thoughts, this behavior, it was taken for centuries until the 19th century. So the middle ages in the charge of the monks or Greece, they said they need silence. So for remedies, they ordered to construct -- to build walls in the middle of the windows, because they had to block the noise.

Walter (14:51):

And perhaps because of that, they have specific names or because [of] isolated monks, but it was for their health to be isolated from the street noise. And the other measures that they took were to construct a basement. All during the middle ages. But what I found about, specifically talking about the materials it's around 1835 in one physics book., They analyzed the electrical, mechanical and other properties from different materials. And one material that was used for, I don't know, a century or more, it was the India rubber. The material that was used in cars and everything. But it was for me, interesting that in 1835, the person, the researcher, the philosopher that did those kind of measurements, you know, they described that India rubber has a low sound transmission. After that they used India rubber to mitigate, not just noise...

Walter (16:11):

I mean vibration. And I found, I don't know if it was true, perhaps it was an announcement for one company that they used India rubber in 1848 to reduce the train vibration. They used this India rubber also. They said the cars were mounted on India rubber springs. And they used it in the Stonington Railroad. It was a railroad from New York to Boston, through Connecticut. And it is interesting, but I didn't find any news if it was true or not. But it's like today -- a company will say, okay, I will reduce the noise, but I don't know if it was true. Another interesting thing, the materials I found is really amazing because in 1849, the Labour Friends Association from London, the architects, they proposed to build special or specific houses for workers. And they said we have to use hollow bricks because hollow bricks are important to improving the condition to deaden sound.

Cary (17:37):

Hollow? That seems like -- it seems like the opposite of what would be effective.

Walter (17:43):

Yes. We have more knowledge, but we are talking about 1849. The noise spectrum is very different today. And other interesting material that someone proposed -- but again, I don't know if it was true or not. But some researcher, he said the asphalt membrane is useful to deaden sound, and he patented a system to use the asphalt membrane between walls.

Cary (18:19):

Oh, that was a good idea.

Walter (18:21):

Yeah. Well it's 1865. Eighteen hundred and 65.

Cary (18:28):

Well that probably helped.

Walter (18:30):

But I mean, we know we'll accept how he proposed that asphalt membrane, but this is the pattern that he used. And the other material proposed in the 19th century is cork. I think cork and India rubber together are the most important materials. Because I don't remember now -- a lot of names in my mind -- writers in Europe -- they put cork on their walls and they said it was important for them because the cork deadens human sound. The intrusive sound. It was around 1857 I found this mentioned. But the use of cork, like architectural material or engineering material for isolating noise is from 1872, the "Scientific American" magazine published a technical article. And they say they use of cork between walls is enough to deaden sound.

Cary (19:43):

And it's still used today between floor and ceiling, a lot. A lot for impact noise.

Phill (19:49):

Well, this gives me another do it yourself. soundproofing idea. If I have some friends that make their own wine, so there's a lot of wine corks around. So again, this would be a long and slow process, but to mount a lot of wine corks onto a board or something. And that maybe would be more useful as like a acoustic treatment rather than a noise reduction. Maybe more as a sound dampening for like a recording studio situation.

Cary (20:17):

Yeah. Yeah. It wouldn't stop noise from coming in, but it might improve the sound quality inside the room.

Phill (20:24):

So my next idea is I'll rip up a floor board in my apartment and I'll just throw all of the leftover corks in there. And if I drink enough wine and I fill the floor cavity with corks, then I won't hear the Chinese restaurant that's below my apartment.

Walter (20:41):

There is an acoustic company in Portugal. They have plantations -- ecological planatations -- in Africa for, I dunno, 50, 60 years ago. And they made specific cork membranes. Bigger ones. And they are using the cork membranes or cork panels,, bigger ones. But as far as I know, they're using them only in Europe, because you also said you have to drink a thousand bottles of wine...

Cary (21:17):

Motivation. So we covered this a little bit, I think. Can you recall a few of the names of some of the early advocates for reducing noise in the cities, people who were activists and advocates in the earlier days to reduce the noise?

Walter (21:34):

Yes. As I was telling you what I found, I'm really convinced that the first advocates of noise reduction were people involved in religious activities, because silence is important for reflection and their thoughts can be heard by the gods. The second advocates were from Greece, the philosophers and thinkers of ancient Greece, because they complained that the noise or the murmur of the city street noises, they didn't not allow them to think properly. The Greek philosophers, they had many political influence. There are some Greek poets that wrote about a noise complaint, but they didn't do anything against noise. So they had to go out of the cities, far from the people. The other situation that I believe is after religious people...wealthy people were the ones who advocated against the noise because wealthy people, they have enough time -- and money of course -- to have influence in life.

Walter (22:57):

And the noise was disturbing them. Since the wealthy people, they began to have a political influence. They advocated against the noise. As I was telling you about 44 before Christ, there are months that decision was taken, but wealthy people, they said, okay, we don't want the noise around our homes or our villages. In the middle ages or after the middle ages, wealthy people were advocates for [against] the noise. After wealthy people, musicians were advocates. It's a lot of, it's some interesting painting from 18th century that one can see an open window with a musician holding his hair and he's screaming. And it's kind of an ironic painting, because in the street they don't paint a carriage or a wagon. They painted, ironically, street musicians. So I don't know if musicians advocated for noise [control] because they don't want competition with street musicians.

Phill (24:23):

Do you know the name of this painter or the name of this painting?

Walter (24:28):

I don't remember now because I have a lot of things in my head. It's Howarth, it's 1764 or something like that. Howard, something like that. There are two ...or one or two paintings and many comments about [it]. The other people who advocated for the noise, or against the noise. We can find just in the late 19th century. Because the morality of the Victorian era was really influential. Because the Victorian era, we already know, it was wealthy people with political influence and the beginning of human rights. I mean human rights for 19th century, we are not talking about the human rights in this century. Of that age...okay. In late 1819, there are a lot of groups of people that advocated for noise...against noise. But like an isolated group. What I found is wealthy people, such as doctors and lawyers, but only of that people who belonged to lodges. Because lodges -- at the end of the 19th century -- they had a lot of political power.

Walter (25:56):

And it's possible to find out, for example, the creation of one anti-noise group and in the books of the lodges, the Masonic lodges, they say, we're happy about the creation of the anti-noise group that was done for our brothers. It is interesting. They think -- talking about the modern age, I mean -- these influential people in this society, they have access to the press. And they could publicize the anti-noise campaign. I think the constant, this is in 1906, when Ms. Rice from New York, she created the Society of the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise. But as I wrote in the article that was published in NNI magazine, I mentioned another anti-noise group advocate from London. One is from 1906 and it disappeared very soon. And the other one was created in 1901. Why is this important? Because in 1908, Mrs. Rice from New York and Lord Bowden Green from London and Theodor Lessing from Germany, they had a special meeting in London in 1901 in order to create an international anti-noise movement. In order to advocate against noise.

Cary (27:40):

Interesting. Now I think in your research, you've also found that there were groups that formed to protest against the anti-noise groups. In other words, they were pro-noise. Can you tell us something about that?

Walter (27:54):

Yes. I'm smiling because last week I finished one article for a Spanish acoustic society magazine, because before talk about this situation, a special and funny situation that took place in Barcelona in 1934. I think pro-noise people during the 19th century, prominent people perhaps were physicians or ancient in, they didn't know about deafness, or they didn't know about mental or illness problems due to noise. The problematic situation that I found is from 1878, because it was a really important trial against the elevated metropolitan train in New York. Because, I don't know, more than 100 physicians and lawyers, they presented a complaint before the jury, the grand jury. But this company, I mean, we are talking about 1878. It was a huge company with a lot of money. And they presented three different memorials. They sent memorials before the grand jury. They say, no, the noise is important for human life. But we are talking about 1878. At that time, noise...

Cary (29:26):

Noise is important?

Walter (29:26):

Yeah. And the grand jury said, okay, the noise is important for society because we need the train noise for the people to go through the city. So perhaps we could talk about pro noise, but we have to put in that era. Why I talk about this situation? Because there is another, I don't know if it's a legend, if it is true or not, but Edison, he was invited for the train company to make solutions. He couldn't do anything. They didn't do anything. But I found several articles that the quotation of that newspaper, they said, "Edison has invented a machine for condensing the noise of the elevated railways of New York. Running it down a pipe to the battery, loading it in a steamboat and dumping it near Brattleboro city." And they say, "Great man, that Edison, the people of the city expect to calm the noise. And perhaps they can sell it for the Fourth of July celebration."

Cary (30:48):

That's great.

Walter (30:49):

Yeah. Now after this funny situation is October or November in 1934, that took place in Barcelona and also in Madrid. But it was more strong, the protest in Barcelona. Because the authorities -- the Catalonian authorities --- published an ordinance to ban the use of horns and to avoid the unnecessary noise, especially at night. Otherwise they would charge the drivers high economic fines. This thing was replicated by newspapers all around the world. In all languages in Europe, but also in Australia, we can find this article. Why? Because many car drivers, bus drivers, and cab drivers, of course, they activated them at any time, the horns. And they said, why? Because it exists in ordinances. It's banned, the use. But they said, "no, no, no. I have to use my horn because the traffic law requires us to use them because the horn is to announce and warn pedestrians of the presence of the car." So they could only curse. They said all car drivers and all cab drivers were driving around the square honking, BOM, BOM, BOM against, and in protest of that ordinance.

Cary (32:28):

Lovely. Sounds like New York. I think you also uncovered some information about a silence week that used to take place. At least it was planned. Did it actually ever happen? And what was it?

Walter (32:44):

Yes. But as I was telling you, the first advocates against noise were religious people. So during the 19th century, it's possible to find a religious pamphlet that they suggested a week of silence... Or day of silence, whatever. But only talking about their thoughts, their religions situation. But the first to talk about the week of silence was the day of silence,. I found in 1916, the first mention of having a specific day to take care of the human health. That was an initiative from Swarthmore College of Philadelphia. In that college, they studied industrial engineering. And they had an initiative that they called "Fatigue Elimination Day." And they celebrated this fatigue elimination day every first Monday in December of each year. They decided that day was not for work in college, just to discuss the problem of any fatigue, stuff like that. But an industrial engineer from England, Henry Spooner, the well-known acoustician and mechanical acoustician...

Walter (34:10):

He proposed a silent day in November in 1877 to do this Fatigue Elimination Day in college in England, a northern college. They took seriously the noise problem. And he proposed to his students in 1951 a special competition to write different essays about fatigue and noise. Because of that, he realized that the noise is a strong factor of mental fatigue. So he proposed in 1922 to propose a day of silence. According to what I could read, the American industrial engineering. They proposal of having a silent date all around the United States. But I don't know if it took place. I didn't find any information about that. but talking about having a silent week, yes, it was proposed by Randall Kleiser. He was a Canadian Methodist speaker. And it is interesting because he wrote a letter to the major newspapers, the principal newspapers around the world. The letter I didn't find yet, but I found a pamphlet, an abstract of his letter.

Walter (35:33):

And I quote...because he was a religious man, a Methodist. But it is interesting, his proposal. I quote: "An anti-noise week observed once a year, will mean to the community an economic gain in thought, feeling, energy, health, and self-discipline. The elimination of unnecessary noise does not imply dead silence nor inertia, but increases voice and power with which to do more efficient work. And anti-noise you could say is one of the greatest needs of our time." It's amazing. Okay. Finally, it was written in June or July of 1927, and I found that many newspapers from London and from Paris, they took the idea and they wrote, perhaps it is important to our authorities to implement a week of silence, or silence week.

Cary (36:37):

It could be pretty difficult to enforce for a week, depending on how you interpret silence.

Walter (36:43):

Yes, according to what I was reading, I think it was a silent week, but I think it was only for acousticians, physicians, and researchers. It took place in Belgium in 1935. There is a lot of information, but it is interesting that we can find it on the internet. This was a really silent week back in 1935 and also it's possible to find a picture because it was women marched with banners and they said, "We want a silent week for women."

Phill (37:22):

That was really interesting. Thanks for sharing all that history. And I'm pretty impressed at all the dates and names that you remember. I also found that painting it's called "The Enraged Musician," by Hogarth, William Hogarth, 1741. It was actually an etching and an engraving. And you know, I think it's important, a lot of the subjects that you discussed and the history of this and how these ideas have evolved over time. Like for example, deafness being an infection. You know, obviously we know that's not the case now, but understanding that history is really important and the same thing with noise mitigation with, you know, the Roman carriages and the wheels, and also the rubber, the trains and using cork and these things. But I have to say that I'm so happy to learn those little nuggets about the epic of Gilgamesh and Edison -- canning the noise, storing the noise in a battery and then saving it for the 4th of July. And that painting ...just.... those are such a great little treasures. So thank you for sharing.

Cary (38:38):

I'd like to thank Walter for speaking with us about his research. If you're interested in learning more about this topic, I'll put a link on the Soundproofist blog to Walter's most recent article, and I can list some other resources like books that also cover some of the history of noise. Thanks for listening. And I hope you learned something new. See you next time.