Choose the correct word.

1. She was banging / tapping her finger on the table, waiting for her brother to answer his phone.

Choose the correct word.

3. I can’t stand people who slurp / drip their soup when they eat it.

Choose the correct word.

4. I had to get up and lock the door because it was hooting / rattling in the wind.

Choose the correct word.

5. The cat arched its back and hissed / whistled at us as we walked in.

Choose the correct word.

6. The engine crashed / roared into life when he switched it on.

Choose the correct word.

7. Johnny’s got a cold, so he’s been snoring / sniffing all day.

Choose the correct word.

8. The little girl liked the way the sweets splashed / crunched in her mouth.

Choose the correct word.

9. It was so quiet in the room that you could hear the ticking / clicking of the clock.

Choose the correct word.

10. We heard the screeching / creaking of tyres as Janet’s boyfriend drew up outside her front door.

Choose the correct word.

11. After the argument, Carl stormed out of the room and slammed / hummed the door.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Complete the sentences with the verbs in the list.

Listen and write the missing words with consonant clusters.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the mini-dialogues using must / might / could I may / can’t or should and the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Complete the second sentence using the bold word so that it means the same as the first.

Listen to someone talking about the percussionist Evelyn Glennie. In what way is she an unusual musician?

Listen again and complete the summary.

Read the article once. What is piped music?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

1. Question:

According to the writer, the main problem with piped music is you can’t get away from it.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

2. Question:

The results of the newspaper poll show that the top three annoyances are all noise-related.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

3. Question:

Piped music encourages the majority of people to shop in a store.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

4. Question:

Elderly people tend to dislike piped music because it’s not their kind of music.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

5. Question:

Piped music can help blood donors to relax.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

6. Question:

The writer thinks Brian Eno’s music probably won’t improve the atmosphere of A & E.

Read the article again and mark the sentences T (true) or F (false).

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

7. Question:

The main aim of the Pipedown campaign is to get rid of piped music in all public places.

Find words or phrases in the article which mean:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

Find words or phrases in the article which mean:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.

Find words or phrases in the article which mean:

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Silence is golden

You hear it everywhere: in pubs, restaurants and hotels, in the plane, on the train, or on the bus. It comes at you unexpectedly down the phone, and it’s even on television ruining perfectly decent programmes. This unsolicited noise is, of course, piped music, an incessant jingle that is almost impossible to escape.

Contrary to popular belief, it appears that more people dislike this kind of music than actually appreciate it. In a poll carried out by a British newspaper, piped music came third in the list of things people most detested about modern life. (The first two most hated things were other forms of noise.) What is more, a recent survey into shopping habits shows that at least 50 per cent of customers would walk out of a store that had piped music. With figures like these, there can be no doubt about the widespread aversion to the noise.

It is people with some kind of hearing impairment who suffer most from the din. This group includes the elderly, who often develop an age-related hearing problem called presbycusis. The condition prevents them distinguishing the individual words of a conversation above the noise of any background music. As time goes by, they find it more and more difficult to interact. In fact, a 2013 survey commissioned by a British bank showed that around 61 per cent of older people consider piped music in shops and banks their biggest bugbear. The reason most of them gave was that it makes them feel alienated.

However, piped music may also be responsible for far more serious health problems. It has long been recognized that unwanted noise produces stress. The listener experiences a rise in blood pressure and a depression of the immune system.
A survey of 215 blood donors at Nottingham University Medical School found that playing piped music made donors more nervous before giving blood. They also felt more depressed afterwards. These results suggest that a hospital might not be the right place to play this kind of sound.

Yet a care institution in London has recently announced that it is going to do just that. The hospital plans to introduce piped music into its Accident and Emergency Department to ‘calm distressed patients’. The music will be provided by legendary musician Brian Eno, who has been supplying ‘ambient music’ to airports for nearly four decades. The hospital’s objective is to make A & E more patient-friendly, but it is likely to have quite the opposite effect.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of Pipedown, a campaign for freedom from piped music. The movement is pushing for legislation to ban its use in public places, especially in hospitals and doctors’ surgeries where patients are in no position to argue or go somewhere else. If the campaign is successful, the London hospital will have to drop its plans.
But for many, this will not be a bad thing.