New Taipei Holds Quiet Revolution for World Listening Day

TaiwanPlus News

After a week of sirens and military drills, New Taipei residents join a unique event that celebrates quietude and raises awareness about noise pollution.

Transcript

00:00Taiwan's cities are bursting with energy, but for many of us, that energy comes with

00:10a cost. Noise pollution is everywhere, from traffic, to city maintenance, to bustling

00:18streets. But in one of the world's most crowded urban areas, a quiet revolution is underway,

00:28one that doesn't march, but listens. This is Taiwan's take on World Listening Day, where

00:34quietude takes center stage. In the heart of New Taipei's urban sprawl, this year's theme,

00:42urban quiet, battles and exercises beneath the noise, invites the public to hear what

00:47they usually ignore, the city's quieter voices. Part experience, part workshop, part civic

00:57dialogue, the event explores how we live with noise, and what happens when we tune in, rather

01:02than tune out.

01:04This活動 actually brings us, like just when we open our eyes, it's actually

01:08just to turn our eyes off, and let us use our ears to hear the sound of the world, and

01:13the sound of the environment, and the sound of the environment is very豐富.

01:16Listening Day is also about raising awareness about noise exposure, particularly for those

01:21who work in loud environments every day.

01:24In the field, we usually use the standard of 90 meters. If you're in 85 meters, it's

01:32over 8 hours, then we'll be able to use the sound of the sound of the sound.

01:40The event comes just a day after Taiwan's annual urban resilience drills. It touches on the

01:45duality of the island's unique soundscape, where the delicate sounds of Mother Nature must compete

01:50with the wails and booms of military exercises and civil defense drills, all part of Taiwan's

01:57sonic identity, one deeply tied to its geopolitical reality. Researchers from Taiwan's leading research

02:05institute, Academia Sinica, are using modern tech to identify parts of the city more prone

02:10to noise pollution. We try to build up the 2D and the 3D real-time noise environment, a noise map in

02:19Taipei. So noise map is a very intuitive way to represent how the environment, how noisy we suffered.

02:28We want to enable the so-called AI recognition on LED, so not only the decibels, but also the kinds of sounds.

02:40In real-time, researchers are helping local governments pinpoint problems, so they can

02:45tackle noise pollution faster and plan for a quieter future.

03:03As sound data turns into city policy, workshops like this become a testing ground, where researchers,

03:09officials and communities explore how to live better with the noises that shape daily life.

03:15Whether it's the wind in the trees or the sirens in the street,

03:19Taiwan's soundscape is rich and complex. In a world that's always telling us to speak up,

03:24here we're reminded to listen, and how to better coexist with the noise all around us.

03:30Eason Chen and Reese Ayers for Taiwan Plus.

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