Noise abatement is futile because sound cannot be prohibited outright

Evidence

The outright prohibition of sound being impossible, and all exercises in noise abatement being consequently futile, these negative activities must now be turned to positive advantage following the indications of the new art and science of acoustic design. — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 794 (#expands, via linked claim)

Moreover, fighting noise is not the same as preserving silence. Our typical anti-noise strategies—earplugs, noise cancellation headphones, even noise abatement laws—offer no real solution because they do nothing to help us reconnect and listen to the land. — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 21 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Absent the idea of absolute silence to strive toward we have no way to measure, and therefore to fight against, the torrent of noise of all descriptions with which the mass-media/consumer system floods our sensory organs. If we don’t fight against that torrent, however, we cannot think clearly. And if we cannot think clearly, we lose control over our lives. — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 616 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Prohibiting sound is futile, so acoustic design must replace noise abatement — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 794; Anti-noise strategies fail because they cannot restore listening connection to the land — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 21; The unattainable ideal of absolute silence is necessary to resist noise’s control — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels: The Quest for Absolute…, 616 (+3 more)

Related

• Prohibiting sound is futile, so acoustic design must replace noise abatement (similarity 0.94)
• Anti-noise strategies fail because they cannot restore listening connection to the land (similarity 0.90)
• Anti-noise devices fail because they do not restore listening connection (similarity 0.86)
• The unattainable ideal of absolute silence is necessary to resist noise’s control (similarity 0.83)
• Extreme acoustic congestion can erase the ability to distinguish any signal (similarity 0.82)
• Perfect silence as an unattainable absolute still functions as real and necessary (similarity 0.81)
• Unlike sight, hearing cannot be voluntarily shut off. (similarity 0.81)
• Proscription’s honor makes silence the ultimate acoustic power (similarity 0.80)
• Quieting internal mental noise precedes acoustic redesign work (similarity 0.79)
• Absolute silence cannot exist because the body always produces sound (similarity 0.79)
• The act of hearing itself makes total sensory silence unattainable (similarity 0.79)
• Acoustic design improvement must begin with internal mental silence (similarity 0.79)
• Noise represents wasted energy in any engineered system (similarity 0.79)
• Noise is fundamentally subjective rather than an objective property of sound (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Prohibiting sound is futile, so acoustic design must replace noise abatement #expands (0.90) — Schafer, Murray R, The Soundscape- Our Sonic Environment…, 794
• Anti-noise strategies fail because they cannot restore listening connection to the land #corroborates (0.70) — Gordon Hempton, John Grossmann, One Square Inch of Silence- One Man’s…, 21
• The unattainable ideal of absolute silence is necessary to resist noise’s control #complicates (0.60) — George Michelsen Foy, Zero Decibels, 616