Enjoy the silence

Our increasingly noisy world has been linked to ill health as well as hearing loss. That’s not the only reason we need more peace and quiet

Sam Pyrah

No dogs barking. No lawnmowers. No sirens or car alarms. No planes. No construction work. No delivery lorries. Just pure, blissful silence. My ears could barely believe what they weren’t hearing when I opened the door, stepped into the garden and listened. It was autumn last year and I had just moved from south-east England to Abernethy Forest in the Scottish Highlands. Occasionally, the wind shushed through the tree tops. Then it was quiet again. I lay in bed that night, letting my ears explore the faint thrum of silence, and for the first time in ages I didn’t reach for my earplugs. In the ensuing months, my ears let go, by degrees, of a tension that I hadn’t been aware I was holding. A 2006 study from the University…

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Guardian Weekly (Digital) - 1 Issue, 14 February 2025

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