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Jeruba's avatar

If things sound different in your area now, how have they changed?

Asked by Jeruba (56061points) March 23rd, 2020

Please mention your area, just for context. Unless you prefer not to, of course; no explanation needed.

In San Jose, I’m not far from the freeway and the busy international airport (which is very close to downtown and not out in the sticks). I’m hearing an amazing frequency of planes taking off when I thought the number of flights was down.

I hear less freeway noise than usual, but there’s still some; we’re not close enough really to gauge, although when the weather warms up it’ll be more audible with the windows open. The big difference is that there’s less routine traffic noise and less sound of everyday coming and going in the neighborhood. Fewer voices, too.

And, it seems to me, more sirens.

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8 Answers

elbanditoroso's avatar

I live a north of Atlanta, about ½ mile from Interstate 85. There isn’t an interchange near my house – it’s about three miles down – but if the wind is right I can hear all sorts of truck traffic, lots of 18-wheelers – from my front window. Definitely fewer trucks on the highway.

I live about ¾ mile from a fire station/ambulance base. Usually you’ll hear the sirens several times a morning going off to deal with auto accidents and things like that. Because there is so little traffic – people aren’t going to work – there are far fewer accidents and concomitantly, fewer emergency ambulance calls.

JLeslie's avatar

I live in The Villages, FL, it has been mentioned on TV in national reports as being an extremely vulnerable population. I’ve said it on fluther before, we are a city of 120,000 55 and up. Median age is 70 years old. Many residents have preexisting conditions.

On my block things don’t seem much different. I still hear lawns being mowed, I still hear neighbors on their back patios (when I sit on mine) and neighbors working in their front yard gardens. Golf carts and cars drive by a little less often, but when I’m inside my house I don’t notice them anyway. People walking for exercise seems the same, although I know some of my friends are doing it more in lieu of exercise classes they used to attend. When I am inside of my house there is no perceivable difference so much has changed.

I haven’t been to the town squares in over two weeks. I honestly don’t know if restaurants are still under orders to only allow 50% full or if eating in is completely off limits now. I know some restaurants have expanded their delivery service. I don’t know if any clothing stores are still open. I just haven’t paid attention to those details.

The nightly live music has been cancelled in the town squares, and I the last I looked at video cams very few people were in the dancing area of the squares at night. I haven’t checked the last few days.

I went out for the first time in over a week on Sunday to pick up medication. The roads had fewer cars, but it was not overly dramatic. The drug store was not eerily empty nor overwhelmed, but it was slightly fewer cars in the parking lot than usual. I drove right up to the drive thru and picked up
my drugs no waiting. The supermarket in the same shopping area had their parking lot half full. Rather typical for 4:00 in the afternoon. I have a guess that people mostly rush to these places early in the morning.

I pick up my mail where our community pool is, and since pools are closed for C19, the parking lot is like when it’s 45 degrees outside, but it’s been 80, sunny and beautiful most days. I did this on Sunday too. I figure maybe the mail is safer on Sunday having sat there 1–7 days.

On Sunday there were people playing pickle ball when I drove by the courts. Also, people were playing golf.

My friends here check on each other by texting and Facebook. A few of us are starting to plan how to do lectures/discussions and exercise classes online to get back to the activities we miss.

lucillelucillelucille's avatar

It’s usually pretty quiet where I live.
The loudest noise I hear are the birds or my dog, barking at birds.
I can live with that :)

Inspired_2write's avatar

The sound of silence.
Very quiet here.

Today someone post a picture on Facebook showing a lone pickup truck entering the Jasper National Park system a ways from the main Gate ( no one manned , since all events etc are cancelled ).

Also a picture of two lone elk crossing a deserted highway…looked eerie.

With all of this shut down its nice to hear the wild birds of nature .

Quite calm and serene. Love it.

ucme's avatar

Birds are still tweeting.
They just love social media.

Jeruba's avatar

Still an awful lot of planes taking off nearby. I’m really wondering about that.

jca2's avatar

I live in NY about an hour north of NYC, what’s called “the Tri-State area” because it’s where CT, NY and NJ meet.

I live on a rural route which, lately due to the “Waze Effect” has become a busy road for commuters cutting off the highway to get to another highway, heading south to busy cities to work. Normally on a work day, my road is very busy with cars. When I wake up in the morning, I can tell that it’s after 6 in the morning, judging from hearing the cars. Now there are very few cars on the road.

Yesterday around 4:30 I took a ride to Walmart and the roads were pretty empty, where usually they would be packed with people driving home to CT. It was eerie.

LuckyGuy's avatar

I live in Western NY near Lake Ontario. It is usually quiet here and still is.
We now have more people walking/jogging on the road. You can hear their voices as they walk along.
The spring bird calls seem more plentiful and brighter.

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