![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Today has not been quiet in the sense of not doing much. I've been frantically busy in lab, working on a project that is not going well, worrying about how much work I still have to do. It is only quiet in the other sense. I hadn't realized how important that is to me.
Last week, at a group lunch, I asked if anyone could recommend a way I could listen to audiobooks on the bus. The pseudo-security announcements every 75 seconds, loudly reminding passengers to tell the driver about unattended bags, overwhelm my tape or CD players even on the loudest settings. My noise-cancelling headphones are designed not to interfere with that kind of occasional noise, presumably on the theory that people being shouted at need to hear it. They are also designed not to block traffic noise, which contributes a lot of the noise in buses, as well as in apartments or on sidewalks along busy streets. One of my colleagues suggested the industrial-strength earmuffs he uses when working with grinding equipment -- they're huge, heavily-padded things, and he sometimes wears earbuds inside them.
I tried them today. I didn't expect it to make much difference, most of the time. I was the only one in the lab all day, the only one in the building most of the time. Except when I had to use a mixer or pump for a few minutes, the only noise came from the ventilation system. I set up the CD player (with the Stephen King audiobook) in the pocket of my labcoat and turned the volume to 28 so I could hear everything. I have to turn it to 32 in noisy places, like walking along Mass Ave or in the mall, or on a quiet bus. In very noisy places I can't hear enough to follow stories. I realized I didn't want to fuss with putting the padded earmuffs on and off when I used the mixer, so I just put them on. Then I turned the CD volume down to 14.
Then I turned the CD off for a while, and just enjoyed the quiet. The earmuffs are heavy and uncomfortable, and it was still incredibly relaxing to wear them. I found them less uncomfortable than the kind of earplugs that go inside my ears, as well as being much more effective. (I know it's most effective to use both kinds at once. It just hadn't occured to me to try a really good set of external hearing protectors alone...at least not in the last 8 years when I've been spending all my time in such noisy environments.) I want to get a pair I can take home and use in my apartment with the door locked. Maybe even in the bathtub.
Last week, at a group lunch, I asked if anyone could recommend a way I could listen to audiobooks on the bus. The pseudo-security announcements every 75 seconds, loudly reminding passengers to tell the driver about unattended bags, overwhelm my tape or CD players even on the loudest settings. My noise-cancelling headphones are designed not to interfere with that kind of occasional noise, presumably on the theory that people being shouted at need to hear it. They are also designed not to block traffic noise, which contributes a lot of the noise in buses, as well as in apartments or on sidewalks along busy streets. One of my colleagues suggested the industrial-strength earmuffs he uses when working with grinding equipment -- they're huge, heavily-padded things, and he sometimes wears earbuds inside them.
I tried them today. I didn't expect it to make much difference, most of the time. I was the only one in the lab all day, the only one in the building most of the time. Except when I had to use a mixer or pump for a few minutes, the only noise came from the ventilation system. I set up the CD player (with the Stephen King audiobook) in the pocket of my labcoat and turned the volume to 28 so I could hear everything. I have to turn it to 32 in noisy places, like walking along Mass Ave or in the mall, or on a quiet bus. In very noisy places I can't hear enough to follow stories. I realized I didn't want to fuss with putting the padded earmuffs on and off when I used the mixer, so I just put them on. Then I turned the CD volume down to 14.
Then I turned the CD off for a while, and just enjoyed the quiet. The earmuffs are heavy and uncomfortable, and it was still incredibly relaxing to wear them. I found them less uncomfortable than the kind of earplugs that go inside my ears, as well as being much more effective. (I know it's most effective to use both kinds at once. It just hadn't occured to me to try a really good set of external hearing protectors alone...at least not in the last 8 years when I've been spending all my time in such noisy environments.) I want to get a pair I can take home and use in my apartment with the door locked. Maybe even in the bathtub.
