If you sometimes feel your home city speaks to you on some level, you could be more right than you think.
While some of the noise around us is natural, it's pretty obvious from this map compiled by the National Park Service that all the loudest hotspots are centered on cities. Those big sources of man-made sound can hit up to 67 decibels in the highest population density areas. That's like having someone speaking quite loudly, directly into your ear, all the time. Every day. Everywhere you go. And our noisy world is only getting louder. No wonder ear plugs are becoming so popular!
Major highways, air planes, and city traffic are all culprits. On the flip side, there are expansive areas in the western half of the nation - including lots of sparsely-populated desert and mountain regions, where the volume levels are blessedly low. No matter how you look at it, the loudest places in the U.S. are the places where the most of us live. Being a human is noisy business.
Until next time, be safe and do the right thing.
Tom Bergman, Vice President
Ear Plug Superstore
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