Did you know, the average adult spends 61 minutes (4.3%) of a 24hr day in the kitchen?

Prepping meals, in and out grabbing drinks and snacks, loading and unloading the dishwasher (or washing dishes in the sink by hand) and an unknown amount of time eating and snacking those meals wherever they may be.

When you add it all up, this is an excessive amount of time spent in one’s life dealing with the noise it creates.

Also, housemates or residents of the home spend a lot of time hearing and listening to the noise.

According to a study, 51.2% of Americans prefer ‘open concept’ homes, which means that kitchens are creating more noise openly that can be heard in the living rooms and areas.

We now have plenty of research that proves loud sounds create stressors and distractions in our lives.

Consider other factors when looking into harmful house noise

If you’re emotionally exhausted from work, taking care of children and family, lacking sleep, or any combination of these circumstances, pay attention to changes in your hearing, particularly after you’ve been exposed to a short-term stressor.

Scientists at the Karolinska Institute and Stockholm University’s Stress Research Institute in Sweden looked at how sensitive people were to sounds immediately after a few minutes of artificially induced stress. The study builds on past research showing a link between stressors, emotional exhaustion, and hearing problems such as tinnitus (constant ringing in the ears).

“We know that stress and hearing are related, and that those with stress-related disorders often display maladaptive reactions to acute stress,” explains Dan Hasson, PhD, an associate professor in the Karolinska Institute’s department of physiology and pharmacology who is also affiliated with the Stress Research Institute.

Hasson and his fellow researchers decided to dig deeper by investigating the effects of acute stress on hypersensitivity to sound in people with different levels of chronic emotional exhaustion. After they rounded up all the data they noticed that people recovering from artificially stressful situations had noticeable sensitivity to sounds over 60dB. Dish noise has been documented to be over 90dB depending on the proximity you are to it. What does this mean for the average person?

How do you improve high noise and sound levels in your home?

Well, it’s clear all of this may have implications for the average person. If you suffer from irritability or sensitivity to noise, talk to your doctor. It may also be a good idea to find ways to make home become more quiet and peaceful to help you relax.

With all of this in mind I cannot imagine a world where someone would sacrifice the “option” of having existing dishware be completely soundproof when desired by simply spending a few extra dollars on a soundproof dishware set in the not so distant future. This is part of the reason ‘Quietware Dishes’ was formed!