2012-03-21  FIHK         Noise pollution

Hong Kong is one of the busiest places in the world. It's also one of the noisiest.
Noise is something that foreigners notice when they come to Hong Kong:
- the noise of gas/electricity/water/telephone companies as they conduct a regular competition to dig
up the same street as many times as possible
- the noise of traffic on HK's narrow streets
- the level of noise in restaurants...meaning you often have to shout to be heard
- the noise of people doing renovations in their homes right through the night
- the noise of partying revellers shouting and laughing loudly outside convenience stores from mid-night to dawn
- the noise of announcements at MTR stations and on the MTR trains. The MTR seems to have a rule
that a silent minute is bad for business.....customers need to hear the same announcement over and over again

When I put "Hong Kong noise pollution" into Google, one of many items to appear is a HK government website which has the words:
"As Hong Kong's economy has grown in recent decades, so too has the noise that comes from transport, construction, commercial and industrial sources in this compact, densely populated city. If left unchecked, this sort of noise can lead to mental stress and hearing loss, and also can interfere with daily activities such as doing homework, watching television, talking on the telephone and sleeping. That's why the Government has made sure that major forms of environmental noise are under statutory control"

But as you can see from some of the blogs which appear in the Google search, there are many forms of noise for which there is no legislation in HK. I hope something can be done about this soon before we all become deaf.

Which reminds me: Did you hear about the two elderly deaf people having a conversation?
Person A: I just bought a new hearing aid. Now I can hear everything really clearly.
Person B: How much did it cost?
Person A: It's just after 2 O'Clock.