Hörstadt / Acoustic City - Anti-Noise Day 2009
Press Information
Thursday 23 April 2009
Acoustic City, Linz09’s key initiative in this field, is staging an extensive program of events to mark anti-noise day: Free hearing tests in the Centralkino Acoustic Refuge, presentation of the book “Hörstadt. Ein Reiseführer durch die Welt des Hörens” (A Guidebook to the World of Hearing) with star columnist Hans Rauscher, and the kick-off of a visionary urban planning study entitled “The Whole City – Half the Noise” that will assess the feasibility of cutting noise pollution in half.
Launched in 1996 in the US by the League for the Hard of Hearing, the anti-noise day has established itself worldwide as a day for concerted, high-profile action against noise. One is a symbolic gesture: a minute spent avoiding making any noise at all from 2:15 to 2:16 PM.
Free Hearing Tests
As an initiative working on behalf of an audible environment that’s fit for human beings, Linz09’s Acoustic City project is actively involved in the anti-noise day effort. In cooperation with Von Ohr zu Ohr, Linz’s organization for the hard-of-hearing (www.vonohrzuohr.or.at), Acoustic City will be offering auditory screenings, information and counseling about hearing-related issues in the Centralkino Acoustic Refuge from 12 Noon to 7 PM. Trained technicians will utilize a standardized test to evaluate subjects’ hearing. “I highly recommend taking advantage of this health check-up,” advised Dr. Reinhard Jäger of the Occupational Medicine and Health Care Service, who will be presented as Acoustic City’s official medical spokesperson on April 29.
Book Presentation
The Centralkino Acoustic Refuge has been very well received. After 4½ months of operation in mid-April, attendance has surpassed the 10,000 mark. At 7 PM on April 29, the facility will host the presentation of “Hörstadt. Ein Reiseführer durch die Welt des Hörens.” Authors Peter Androsch and Florian Sedmak will engage in a casual chat about their work together with Hans Rauscher, a top newspaper columnist who himself places great importance on acoustic quality of life. “In this guidebook, we have given accounts of all our experiences and collected all of our insights in the field of acoustics, and presented them in a highly readable and hopefully entertaining fashion,” said Peter Androsch. The 184-page work published by Vienna’s Christian Brandstätter Verlag is divided into 29 chapters (for example, Hearing and Work, Hearing and Violence, Hearing and Music). It will be available in bookstores for €12.90.
Cutting Noise in Half in Linz
On International Noise Awareness Day, Acoustic City will launch the next big step in its fight against noise pollution in Linz: A study entitled “Urban Vision Linz. The Whole City – Half the Noise.” An interdisciplinary team of experts has been commissioned by Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture to assess the feasibility of attaining a goal that might still seem somewhat utopian at the moment: cutting noise pollution in half in this city.
The study’s background: With the official adoption of the Linzer Charta, the City of Linz has acknowledged that its inhabitants have the right to a healthy auditory environment. The status quo does not live up this ideal. In many areas, noise has become excessive and an endangerment to people’s health. Moreover, noise problem is also a social issue: Whoever can afford to flee from noise does so; whoever cannot is left at its mercy.
Urban Vision Linz will look into the questions of whether and how vibrant city life is even possible if noise has been cut in half, where to get started and what preconditions have to be put in place. The area under investigation is the neighborhood surrounding the intersection of the A7 motorway and the proposed route A26. The authors of the study are experts in the fields of acoustics and air pollution (TAS SV-GmbH), mobility (AXIS GmbH), urban planning (TOPOS III), community research (Institut Retzl GmbH) and environmental medicine (Dr. Thomas Edtstadler). Preliminary results will be presented in Fall 2009.
http://www.hoerstadt.at/
