Nineteenth century German philiosopher, Arthur Schopenhauer, couldn't bear
noise and said, "I have long held the opinion that the amount of noise
that anyone can bear undisturbed stands in inverse proportion to his
mental capacity and therefore be regarded as pretty fair measure of it."
Two hours at a Rolling Stones concert is equivalent auditorally to
two hours strapped to the hood of a 20-ton truck on the highway
or to the underbelly of a supersonic transport in flight. Rats exposed
to this level of noise have turned cannibalistic, then died of heart failure.
"Wherever we are what we hear is mostly noise. When we ignore it it disturbs
us when we listen to it we find it fascinating." -John Cage