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You’ve got to shout to be heard in this town — and it’s killing us.
Noise in 98 percent of Manhattan’s public space exceeds healthy levels, says a study co-authored by Columbia University researchers to be released today.
Honking cars or quarreling neighbors raise our stress, but background noise like truck traffic that New Yorkers take in stride may be even worse, said Robyn Gershon, a Columbia professor.
“Noises on the street can be stressful and increase your blood pressure,” said Gershon.
Studies that have measured sound spikes have found “your blood pressure will increase, even if you yourself don’t recognize that that spike is happening,” Gershon said. “People don’t get used to it, and they don’t realize it.”
Even Manhattan’s pocket parks — places with outdoor seating and sometimes waterfalls — had dangerously high noise levels, said the study, to be presented at the International Conference on Urban Health at the New York Academy of Medicine.
Researchers visited 50 sites in Manhattan that had been the source of complaints to the city’s 311 hotline. Another 10 sites were visited because researchers were curious about them — including Times Square and Union Square.
The researchers wore decibel monitors placed near their ears.
Most of the readings were over 70 decibels, more than the noise made by a passenger car.
The noisiest spots were in upper Manhattan, north of the I-95 corridor and along the FDR Drive in the East 70s — both spots with heavy truck traffic.
But not even the vest-pocket parks that are supposed to be oases of quiet are really quiet, the researchers said.
Paley Park, on East 53rd between Madison and Fifth; Tudor City Gardens in the East 40s; Greenacre Park on East 51st Street between Second and Third avenues, and Jackson Square at West 14th Street and Eighth Avenue all had at least 70 decibels of noise at some point during the day.
“People need quiet places where they can go and seek respite. These pocket parks aren’t providing it,” said Richard Neitzel, a University of Washington researcher and another co-author of the study.