T he sound of the penny dropping was so loud it hurt. This was upon learning how noise knackers you, mentally and physically. Charlotte Clark, a professor of environmental epidemiology, didnt put it quite like that, but I heard her loud and clear. She points out that our emotional response to sound is an aspect of our fight-or-flight response, evolved to get us up to speed when danger announces itself. A big noise equals big danger, possibly.

Back in the day I suppose this might have amounted to a lion roaring, or an angry neighbour clubbing the door to your cave, swearing vengeance about nicking his kindling or something. I cant think of many other loud noises our ancestors would have had to endure. Thunder must have scared the bejesus out of them C but otherwise, when it came to noise, I think they had it rather easy.

Id like to see them give modern life a try. The noise, the sheer racket, the crashes, bangs and wallops, the engines, the yelling, the bings and bongs of phone alerts. Oh, were alert, all right C dont worry about that. We are all, as my Jewish friends might put it, on shpilkes. On shpilkes all day, every day.

And no wonder, because into our ears all these cursed sounds go, torrents of them rushing into our amygdalas, the bit of our brains responsible for deciding whether the panic button needs to be pressed. And this, logically enough, as Prof Clark told James Gallagher of the BBC World Service, means: Your heart rate goes up, your nervous system starts to kick in and you release stress hormones.

Equally logically, this isnt good for you. If youre exposed for several years, your bodys reacting like that all the time, she says. It increases your risk of developing things like heart attacks, high blood pressure, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

I knew I found noise annoying; I didnt realise it might be making me ill. If I was Prof Clark, to hammer this point home Id assemble a huge tower of Marshall speakers and boom out the message: the din is destroying us. The planet needs shushing.

Our worlds getting noisier. Population growth and urbanisation are factors. Literally, as well as metaphorically, were shouting over each other. And I dont discount my own contribution. Im told my voice carries a long way, at a volume inversely proportionate to the importance of what I have to say. Furthermore, Ive had the temerity to boom out from televisions and radios all these years. Sorry about that.

Noise begets more noise. Its as if were all in one of those bars or restaurants that, like most, has dispensed with soft furnishings. Everywhere is wood and metal. Even when these places are quiet, theyre noisy. The scrape of a chair goes right through you. Then the people arrive and it gets really noisy, really quickly.

It only needs a handful of people to raise their voices a little and everyone else has to raise theirs. The shouting match is under way. Before long, the cave dwellers deep inside us are losing their minds. I say bring back the carpets and the curtains. We need the chintz back in play to help us pipe down.

I acknowledge the possibility that all this is part of getting old. I dont recall feeling this way when I was younger, at least consciously C maybe the caveman inside me had his fingers in his ears even then. But as far as the conscious me was concerned, I think noise spoke of life, of energy, of things happening, of excitement, of possibilities.

Its a strange young man indeed who goes round saying that all he really wants is a bit of peace and quiet. Thats the kind of thing my grandparents said, although by then, to a lesser or greater extent, they were miserably hard of hearing C that most unwelcome late-life access to a little more silence. And its no wonder thats how we end up, given the hammering our ears and brains have to take all our lives. Ill shut up now. Ive done enough shouting.

硬币落地的声音大得让人心惊，这是当我得知噪音对身心的影响时。环境流行病学家夏洛特·克拉克并未如此直白地表达，但我已听得很清楚。她指出，我们对声音的情感反应是我们“战斗或逃跑”反应的一个方面，这是进化后为了让我们在危险出现时迅速反应而形成的。巨大的噪音可能意味着巨大的危险。

假设在以前的时代，这可能相当于一头狮子咆哮，或者一个愤怒的邻居用棍子敲打你洞穴的门，发誓要为偷走他的引火物或类似的东西报仇。我想不出我们的祖先还有多少其他需要忍受的巨大噪音。雷声可能让他们吓坏了，但除此之外，在噪音方面，我认为他们过得还算轻松。

我希望能看到他们尝试一下现代生活。那嘈杂的噪音、响亮的喧闹声、碰撞声、撞击声、引擎声、喊叫声、电话提示音的叮咚声。哦，我们确实警觉了——别担心。正如我的犹太朋友所说，我们整天都处于紧张的状态中，每天如此。

这并不奇怪，因为这些诅咒般的声音全部涌入我们的耳朵，像洪水般冲进我们大脑的杏仁核，这是我们大脑决定是否需要按下恐慌按钮的部分。正如克拉克教授向BBC世界服务台的詹姆斯·加拉格尔所解释的那样，这逻辑上是合理的，这意味着：'你的心率上升，你的神经系统开始启动，你释放出应激激素。'

从逻辑上讲，这对你的健康同样不利。她说：“如果你暴露在这种环境下好几年，你的身体会一直这样反应。这会增加你患心脏病、高血压、中风和2型糖尿病等疾病的风险。”

我意识到噪音真的很烦人；但我从未想过它可能会让我生病。如果我是克拉克教授，为了强调这一点，我会组装一个巨大的Marshall扬声器塔，并大声宣告：噪音正在摧毁我们。地球需要安静。

我们的世界正变得越来越嘈杂，人口增长和城市化是其中的原因。无论从字面上还是从比喻上来说，我们都在互相高声呼喊。我并不否认我自己的贡献。我听说我的声音传得很远，音量与我要说的内容的重要性成反比。此外，这些年来，我竟然敢在电视和广播中大肆宣传。对此我深感抱歉。

噪声引发更多的噪声。我们仿佛置身于那些酒吧或餐馆中，大多数都已摒弃了软装。到处是木头和金属。即使这些地方很安静，但仍然有噪音。椅子刮擦声会直接传入你的耳中。然后人们涌入，很快变得非常嘈杂。

只需要少数人稍微提高声音，其他人也都要跟上。现在开始就是一场喊叫的比赛。不久，我们内心深处的“洞穴居民”就快要发疯了。我说，让我们把地毯和窗帘都拿回来。我们需要再次展示出繁复的装饰来帮助我们平静下来。

我承认，这可能是衰老的一部分。我年轻时没有这样的感觉，至少在有意识的情况下是这样的——也许我内心深处的原始人那时就已把耳朵堵上了。但就我的有意识的我而言，我认为噪音代表了生命、能量、事物正在发生、兴奋、以及可能性。

如果有人整天说，他真正想要的只是一点和平与宁静，那他确实是个奇怪的年轻人。我祖父母也曾经这样说过，不过那时，他们或多或少都听力受损——晚年多获得的一点宁静对他们来说是最不受欢迎的。考虑到我们一生中耳朵和大脑所承受的折磨，难怪我们会这样。我现在闭嘴了。我已经喊得够多了。