#006: Power of Silence: How Noise-Cancelling Headphones and Earplugs can improve our life

Noise Pollution is a problem of cities and our modern life

So we’re largely living in cities these days, and the cities are not our natural environment, and that creates a lot of problems. One of these problems is noise pollution! 

If we're no longer in our natural environment, e.g. in the woods, in the countryside or in nature, we have to face noise pollution. For example: I live at the outer part of a medium sized city. 300,000 people, so not that much. 

And even at night, there is a noise level of 25dB in my room. I measured it last night and during the day, it is obviously a lot higher. If you live in a big city like London, New York, Singapore or Hong Kong, the noise level is even higher than that. 

So, for example, if you are at Times Square in New York during the day or at the Piccadilly Circus in London, you are exposed to a sound level of 85 to 90 dB and this is absolutely insane. 

This is extremely loud and damaging, obviously. So if you live in the city, you constantly have to deal with this noise pollution and this is not natural. Our brain is not made for it and our brain can't handle the constant noise. The definition of noise is: unwanted sound.

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We are no longer at the mercy of noise pollution because of technology

Noise canceling headphone technology gives us back the control over our senses, especially the hearing sense. We're no longer at the mercy off other people if we want to enjoy silence. 

In the past, when I wanted to have silence, if I wanted to meditate or wanted to focus on something or wanted to do a powernap in the evening, I was at the mercy of other people. 

I had to hope and pray, that they are silent and usually that is a bad idea. What if your neighbor suddenly decides that it's time to mow the lawn again? Well, then you have a problem. 

You can't do anything about it. Or if someone decides that he wants to have a have a party, you are not going to be able to sleep. And with the noise canceling headphones, it does no longer matter. 

You decide when you want to have silence and nobody else. And I really see these noise canceling headphones as my modern day survival-tool because they're so useful to me. 

With the noise canceling headphones, I now have the privilege again to enjoy silence, and that is such an important and beautiful thing.