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Illustration by Salva Modarres
Issue 7 - Fall 2020
Issue 7 - Fall 2020

The Noise Issue

In the first days of the pandemic, an eerie hush fell over Toronto. As the familiar background hum returns, it's worth remembering that the sounds of the city are not neutral or inevitable. How noise, and our clumsy attempts to control and police it, shapes city life.

In this issue

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Feature by Matthew Braga

How Noise Shaped a City

Toronto’s anti-noise movement began in the 1930s. Ever since, noise policing has been inextricably linked with issues of race, class, and power.

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Feature by Wendy Glauser

Are Noisy Hospitals Making Us Sick?

The constant beeping, talking, and overhead paging aren’t just an annoyance—they can lead to delirium, longer recovery times, and even sleeping pill addiction.

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Essay by Ben Berman Ghan

The City Below the Sound

As someone who’s half-deaf, I’ve always moved between two Torontos—the surface city and the muted, shadowy one beneath it.

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Feature by Daniel Rotsztain

FAITH/VOID Was a Thriving DIY Venue. Then Came the Noise Complaint

Fights around Toronto’s unofficial music venues reveal a stark reality—there is noise this city values, and noise it doesn’t.

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Feature by Samantha Edwards

As the World Grew Quiet, Inside Got Loud

Overlapping Zoom calls, fights between siblings, enraging neighbourhood pool parties—the maddening, unending sounds of a stay-at-home crisis.