Do you hear what I hear?

There is a song by the band Panic at the Disco that includes the line, "...haven't you people ever heard of, closing the goddamn door."  This line was recently brought to mind as I listened to some students in the washroom across the hall.  Their voices reverberated around the tiled walls, bounced around the corner of the modern, door-less facility and wandered happily across the hall to where I sat, trying to mind my own business, not really interested in how many people you know who actually take a dump at school.

I am an eavesdropper of epic skill.  While living in Montreal and Victoria it wasn't unusual for me to miss my metro or bus stop, rather than miss the end of a juicy conversation.  I usually had a book open, feigning an interest, and I almost always had the headphones of my small portable tape player in, although the music was usually turned way down, or even off.   My eavesdropping has always been good-natured;  I have only rarely entered into a conversation, "...'Scuse me, I couldn't help overhearing...".  In fact, I could have helped it, I just tend to choose not to.

I recently found myself relaxing at a hot spring.   I had a pool noodle under my neck and my feet up on the edge of the pool.  My husband actually drifted off to sleep that way, but my ears were working overtime.  Even partially submerged they fought to catch snippets of conversation.  I heard many languages; German, Japanese, possibly Mandarin or another Asian language, some Scandinavian language and the language of a lower mainland city dweller who has just discovered and fallen in love with the Kootenays.  "What are the house prices like? How big is the hospital?  Do marijuana growers really make up that big a part of the economy? Are the hippies a problem?"  My answer, go home.  There isn't enough work for those of us that live here, it is because of the lifestyle immigrants that our house prices are so high, and no the economy is mostly driven by tourists like you, and what exactly do you consider a hippie?

Anyway....

There is a vast difference between eavesdropping on an intimate conversation and being subjected to the opinions, ramblings and profanity of those who are simply loud talkers; those who don't have an inside voice, those who need to speak at top volume whether they are in a bathroom, on a bus, or across a lake or a hot spring pool.  Perhaps these people are unaware of the properties of water that makes it an excellent sound conductor.  Perhaps because of our awareness of sounds around us, my husband and I tend to hushed tones, or silence if the venue demands it.

We talk about air pollution, water pollution and even light pollution; what about sound pollution?   To me it is a demonstration of extreme arrogance to believe that everyone and everything in the campground, or neighbourhood wants to listen to your music, let alone your conversation.  I remember laying in bed listening to a house party, feeling almost nauseous as Cher bellowed out her third song in a row. My husband I like to listen to music too, but we are almost hyper-conscious of keeping it to ourselves.  I wonder what makes us so different from those who feel it's okay to crank up the satellite radio's country station, open all the doors on their overly large, probably diesel pick-up truck (which they will idle for what seems like forever in the wee hours of the morning) and force everyone within a huge radius to listen to their music.  The crowning touch on one camping trip was when they finally turned the music down, they cranked up the diesel generator for the next two hours.