Sound Project

Neighborhood Sounds

Walking around my neighborhood in Laurelton, Queens, the sound is a hybrid of an urban area and a rural area. Three blocks west, I can hear the sounds of the main street, Merrick Boulevard. The sounds of cars rumbling past on the gravel, and a child screaming for her mother. On my block though, it is completely silent, save for a couple of leaves rolling around in the autumn wind. Once in a while, a car will drive by the street, most likely heading for the highway that is about a quarter mile east of my housE. This is a neighborhood where people mostly travel from rather than where people travel to. In the direction of the highway, I hear the long Island Railroad arriving to take the passengers into the city where they will go to work or to school. The train has a very distinct sound that is like no other, a constant chugga-chugga-chugga. A minute or two of relative silence and the occasional car pass by. Overheard, I hear a huge sound that I am so used to, I barely notice on a regular basis. But since my ears are so sensitive to sound right now, the sound of the airplane flying overhead is nearly deafening. I live very near the JFK airport so the planes fly very low over my house. It almost looks as if it is going to land right in front of me. I am so used to the sound though that when the 15+ planes fly over my house daily, I automatically raise up the volume on my TV or talk louder to my sister without even realizing that it is due to the planes overhead. These are the sounds of my neighborhood.