If you are looking for some good old peace and quiet, this map is for you. The National Park Service recently conducted a study of noise levels across the U.S. The map above show visually the quietest places in the United States — the bluer the quieter.
Noise levels are based on readings of median daytime summer sound levels. It is not surprising that that areas far from human activity are the quietist, but temperature and precipitation also play a roll.
“Westerners are quite lucky,” says Kurt Fristrup, senior scientist with the agency’s Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, which conducted the study.
“A lot of the deep-blue places are here in the West. At the same time, noise is extending into the landscape in these spider-web patterns, along roads. Industrial development is now penetrating places that were recently wild.”
One of the quietest place found in the United States is Idaho’s City of Rocks National Reserve. The sound of running water and rustling vegetation is just about all you will hear in the beautiful landscape.
Source: High Country News (hcn.org).