Increased blood pressure, stress. Researchers observe day after day the damage that noise causes to our health, both physical and mental. So maybe it’s time to find some calm. Far from the noises of civilization. But also, perhaps those of nature.
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Somewhere between the Vanoise glacier and the Grande Motte glacier (Savoie) lies the largest uninhabited region in France. The Datamix site, based on data from Insee, drew a blank circle with a radius of nearly 10 kilometers. A region certainly calm. Or at least, in which it is possible to escape from everything noise of civilization.
Just as, according to a survey for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), a 500m by 500m square of bog on the Kielder Mires side, a few miles from Scotland, in the county of Northumberland. The place was declared in 2006, “the most peaceful place” of the country. A distinction which was not only awarded with regard to the decibels, but also, according to the definitions proposed by the participants themselves, based on soothing visual elements.
In the United States, it is One Square Inch of Silence of the’Olympic National Park (Washington) who wins the prize. It is one of the most pristine and untouched, but also ecologically diverse places in the country. And it is said to offer a rich natural soundscape combined with periods of deep calm.
Among the other quieter natural places, Kelso Dunes, the largest dune field in the mojave desert. The Cenote Taak Bi Ha underwater cave located in the Yucatan Peninsula (Mexico). You would barely hear the occasional drops of water falling. Or the Haleakalā crater on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The sound level would not exceed 10 decibels. Or that of our own breathing. Because yes, in extremely quiet places, it is possible to hear the noises made by our body. Like the hum of blood flowing through our veins.
An anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboratories (Minnesota, USA) is one of the quietest places in the world. It is said that a human being can hardly bear to stay there for more than 45 minutes. © Hot Potato, Twitter
A relative silence… or artificial
Note also that the notion of calm can be quite relative. Coming from the countryside, a place in which 50 decibels sound can be considered noisy. While it will be perceived as calm to the one who leaves the Paris metro. And speaking of the metro, precisely, know that the World Hearing Index has established a list of cities according to the noise level prevailing there. According to him, the city least affected by noise pollution would therefore be Zurich (Switzerland). It would be followed by Vienna (Austria) and Oslo (Norway). At the back of the pack come Cairo (Egypt), Delhi (India) and Guangzhou (China). And note that Paris is in the top 10 of noisiest cities in the world !
Finally, the place quieter in the world was built by men. Since 2015, it has been a laboratory imagined by Microsoft at its head office in Washington (United States). A anechoic chamber, More precisely. A room isolated from all outside noise and designed to completely absorb the reflections of sounds inside. Tests recorded an average background noise of… -20.35 decibels (A-weighted)!
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