Organizer: University of Toronto’s School of the Environment

Nearly a century has passed since public pressure led to the establishment of the New York City Noise Abatement Commission in 1929. Ordinances, laws and regulations around the world were similarly trying to address this new and unintended side-effect of modernity as industrial machinery, trucks, cars, trains and airplanes were built and used with little regard for those exposed to the sounds – the receiver – produced by their operation. While there have been notable reductions in noise at source and during transmission, one can argue that the receivers (e.g., people) are in the same predicament they were 100 years ago, in large part because of our subjective experiences of sound and the challenges of controlling sound waves as a physical phenomenon. This seminar will provide an overview of predominant approaches to characterizing, understanding and controlling environmental noise exposures, and highlight contextual and cultural nuances that complicate the goal of noise reduction in Toronto and Canada at large.

Register and More details: https://www.environment.utoronto.ca/events/environment-and-health-seminar-series-fleeting-yet-insidious-when-sounds-city-become-health