The Pandemic’s Affect on Acoustics
The morning of January 1st, 2020 is usually supposed to be a time for new beginnings for most, people begin to manifest the rest of their year by creating New Year’s resolutions, wishing that their year will be full of fun and traveling, and maybe try and make new friends. As all this wishing and hoping is going on a virus is slowly starting to spread throughout China changing the world for good before we know it. No one could ever think that in a few short months the whole world would be going into lock down.
In the United States our lockdown began in March of 2020, this month is pretty vivid in people’s memories because of how scary the unknown was becoming. Our knowledge of the virus was slim to none, we had no idea what the cause of it was or how to prevent it from coming to your state. The first case in Missouri was something that I remember quite vividly. It was a few weeks after my 20th birthday, it was Sunday March 15th and I just got done celebrating with family and friends and was attending my churches youth group gathering that occurs every Sunday. Here is where our former priest was joining us to give the weekly talk, he began to speak of the Covid crisis assuring us that it is not something to fret about and that we will be fine, being me and knowing I freak out over everything, the thought of not knowing anything about it was making me tremble, especially when I learned that we got our first case in St. Louis Missouri and it being closer to home than I even realized. This day will forever be a core memory for me because the affect Covid-19 has had on not only me and the people close to me but the whole entire world. Shortly after that Sunday things began to quickly change throughout the world. Schools, restaurants, businesses, and stores were all shutting down by the minute. Toilet paper and paper towels became the new hot commodity, hundreds of stores were selling out as soon as they opened, and it was nearly impossible to find. In 2019 going to the store was just something you would not even think twice about but now it was something that was so terrifying because you didn't know what was out there.
In time, people began to adapt to working and staying at home for long periods of time, being in your somewhat quite home way from tons of people was becoming normal for everyday life. Having everything being virtual really change the world in how they used to view it, people began to forget how loud and exciting outside life really used to be. Now in 2021, people are finally getting back to the way life used to be since the vaccination has been produced world-wide. Students are returning to in person school, restaurants are at full capacity, masks are not mandatory anymore, and employees are getting back into the office.
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Now more than ever people are finally seeing the affect that acoustics have in a common space. Being stuck at home for a long period of time where the space isn’t being overcome by tons of people is affecting you and you didn't even know it. Your ears are not used to loud noises and the demand for acoustics is flourishing because of this exact reason. Your typical workday is not what it used to be, that noisy coworker is louder than you remembered, that meeting down the hall is more interesting to listen to now, and you just can’t seem to stay focus. Having all these distractions in an office can fully impact you and the work you are doing, something that used to take an hour now takes two because of all the distractions and noise that surrounds you. The virtual life has taken over the world and many businesses are staying virtual because of the efficiency it had and the employees are stating they would rather stay home because they can’t get the amount of work they would get done at home in the office. The distractions and unwanted noise need to go, it is destroying businesses and relationships because your patience for distractions is not where it used to be.
- Juliana Linhares