Of all the places to keep silent – airports?!
Are ‘silent’ airports truly silent? The hubbub of conversations, food service, transactions at shops, and translocation to gates eliminates that possibility. The only silent aspect of silent airports is the absence of amplified announcements, which ironically are the only essential sound in an airport.
Announcements need to be made regardless of the best-laid plans to avoid them, as gate-changes, final calls, and boarding order need to be communicated to passengers. So, after many months of airline staff hollering flight destinations and inviting stragglers to the correct gates, surely missing many passengers in the ‘silence’, silent airports have come up with portable, self-contained microphone sets that airline staff attach to their outfits and use for announcements. This is better than the hollering, but only just, and the main benefits are for the vocal cords of the announcers. Since these announcements take place at the gate, they only reach people who are already in the vicinity, unlike the old-fashioned announcements in non-silent airports that could convene passengers scattered in many zones of the airport.
What is the need for airports to be silent? People had better not doze off and miss their flights. If announcements annoy some, they can make arrangements to damp the input using earplugs or noise-cancelling technology. As long as additional cacophony in the form of music, movies, or TV shows that may not be universally appreciated is not introduced, the natural level of noise or silence in an airport should be fine, and left alone. Airports should focus on other aspects of pollution (e.g., the use of strong chemical cleaners, fragrances, and material for interior décor; and the massive waste – food and disposables - generated in food service) and not overdo this noise-pollution reduction strategy.
