Every year since 1973, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has conducted a survey to find out what city residents dislike about their environment. And every year the same factor has been named most objectionable. It is not crime, pollution, or congestion; it is noise--something that affects every one of us every day.

We have known for a long time that prolonged exposure to noises, such as loud music or the roar of machinery, can result in hearing loss. Evidence now suggests that noise-related stress also causes a wide range of psychological and physiological problems ranging from irritability to heart disease. An increasing number of people are affected by noise in their environment. By age forty, nearly everyone in America has suffered hearing deterioration in the higher frequencies. An estimated ten percent of Americans (24 million people) suffer serious hearing loss, and the lives of...