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NDCC to go noise free in May

The one-month pilot project will limit music to just the pool and rink
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Anyone exercising at the Nelson and District Community Complex will have to bring their own music if they want to hear any while working out next month. Photo: Thinkstock/Getty Images

Goodbye, Bob Seger. So long, Rolling Stones. The only noise heard in May at the Nelson and District Community Complex will be the sound of silence.

The rec centre is going noise free for one month. Music will still be heard via speakers in the pool as well as in the rink, but the fitness and common areas will be quiet.

The pilot project is the brainchild of Regional District of Central Kootenay director Tom Newell, a regular at the NDCC. He said the idea came to him recently when he had to ask staff to turn down the music so he could hear his own.

“I looked around at the 20, 30 year olds in there and they were being annoyed and wearing headsets,” he said. “We don’t need this sound in here anymore. It’s not appropriate.”

Newell said he thinks at least half the people at the gym bring their own music, podcasts or audio books to listen to.

“They are already doing what they want,” said Newell. “I wondered if the other half, some wouldn’t mind the quiet, and maybe some were ambivalent, it doesn’t matter one way or the other. I thought we’d check it out.”

Noise pollution is an issue that has garnered attention the last several years in Canada.

In 2015, the National Building Code of Canada was updated to further prevent noise heard between newly constructed residences. The Canadian Hearing Society meanwhile advocates for noise control. Excessive noise, CHS says, can cause symptoms such as stress, hearing loss, fatigue and even gastrointestinal changes.



tyler.harper@nelsonstar.com

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Tyler Harper

About the Author: Tyler Harper

I’m editor-reporter at the Nelson Star, where I’ve worked since 2015.
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