Chronic construction roar, not blasting, proved the unbearable feature

Evidence

The blasting was only intermittent, and it went on no more than a year. But from the huge pit came also the harsh, staccato, machine-gun-like yammer of the jackhammers, the deep rat-tat-tat of the drills cutting holes for the dynamite, the clank and grind of the treads of the bulldozers, the hoarse bellow of the huge earth-moving equipment, and the heavy, jarring pound of the pile drivers driving down the shafts of steel called “long rock anchors” to strengthen unstable formations and, where the ground was soft, piles that would last for centuries—all combining in a roar that made the air shudder. The blasting was bad enough but the roar was unbearable. “It was the drilling, the constant drilling. You just heard it constantly through the day hours. You never got used to it.” — Robert A. Caro, The Power Broker, 3711

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s soundscape material (Zero Decibels, The Soundscape) on how continuous low-grade noise is more damaging than dramatic bursts.