1. ______________________________________________________________________
Big Bang
•It all begins in silence
6th Century BCE
•Province of Greek Aegean colony
Sybaris institutes first known noise
ordinance, banning roosters, potters,
tinsmiths and other tradesmen from
living within the city walls due to noise
5th Century BCE
•Hippocrates makes first official
identification of Tinnitus (chronic
ringing in ears due to noise exposure)
2.
3. 44th Century BCE
•Julius Cesar passes law in Rome that
chariots are not to be driven along
cobblestone roads after dark
1595
•London passes bylaw forbidding
sudden outcry in the still of night
that might disturb neighbors
1700s
•1713 - Italian Physician Bernardini
Ramazzini links deafness among
Venetian coppersmiths to their trade
•1781 - Invention of steam-engine,
prompting industrial revolution and
significant increase in mechanical noise
4. “The armonica excessively stimulates the
nerves, plunges the player into a nagging
depression and hence into a dark and
melancholy mood that is apt method for slow
annihilation. If you are suffering from any kind
of nervous disorder, you should not play it; if
you are not yet ill you should not play it; if you
are feeling melancholy you should not play
it.”
- Friedrich Rochlitz, German Musicologist
5. 1816 - Stethoscope invented in
France by Rene Laennec
1831 - Dr. John Fosbroke
declares that deafness among
blacksmiths is a direct
consequence of thier
employment; noise recognised
as health issue
1864 - Act for the Better
Regulation of Street Music in
the Metropolis of London
passed into law
1879 - Invention of microphone;
Mary Walton invents method to
significantly decreasing rail noise in
New York
6. 1880 - Rayleigh Disc invented; first noise-
measuring device
1883 - Volcanic island of Krakatoa
explodes, creating loudest noise in
recorded history
1886 - Dr. Thomas Barr conducts first
quantitative study of noise-induced
hearing loss
1890s - Society for the Suppression of
Noise is formed in London due to the new
invention of the motor horn; the world's
first such society
