City dwellers become functionally deaf to a constant low background urban hum

Evidence

but in a society that pays no attention to aural environments, a culture that Greg Miller calls “functionally deaf,” I took it for granted, I suppose, as sound-the-city-makes. — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 94

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 94
• XREF: connects to: Noise-cancelling headphones can abruptly eliminate a city’s pervasive low-frequency hum — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 126; Hearing is mostly internal neural processing, not raw external sound reception — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 561; Unbearable chronic noise can trigger a sudden resolve to seek out silence — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 33 (+7 more)

Library Connections

• Hearing is mostly internal neural processing, not raw external sound reception #expands (0.80) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 561

Broader Connections

• The hearing system actively filters and modulates sound more than passively receiving it #expands (0.75) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 558
• The brain sends more neural signals down to the ear than it receives #expands (0.70) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 559
• Unbearable chronic noise can trigger a sudden resolve to seek out silence #responds-to (0.65) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 33
• Headphone listening reveals sounds ordinarily outside awareness #expands (0.65) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 279
• Noise-cancelling headphones can abruptly eliminate a city’s pervasive low-frequency hum #expands (0.60) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 126
• Lo-fi soundscapes erase the distinction between signal and noise #qualifies (0.55)