newyorkthegoldenage:In 1929, the city’s Noise Abatement Commission launched an aggressive scie
newyorkthegoldenage:In 1929, the city’s Noise Abatement Commission launched an aggressive scientific study of what we would today call “noise pollution.” Acoustical experts used scientific instruments developed by telephone engineers that measured noise in a new unit called the decibel (after Alexander Graham Bell). Here they are in the heart of cacophony, Times Square.(On the right is a billboard for “the screen’s first original all talking, singing, dancing musical comedy,” Sunny Side Up, with Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.)Photo: Times Wide World Photos via NY Times -- source link