How do we begin to estimate the loss in dollars from the loss of the right to be heard? What is the dollar value of an idea lost? How do we tot up the loss in creativity? Creative people are finding it increasingly difficult to function in our noisy cities. A playwright told me, "My mind's eye has my characters on stage. I'm working out a problem. Suddenly a siren knifes by. The characters leave the stage. It takes me quite a while to get them back on again. I find the city stimulating, but the noise inhibits my output."
Many writers and other creative people must leave the city to finish an assignment, and the cost is paid not only by the individual, but by the city that is left behind. Many large corporations—and the middle class—have been leaving cities such as New York, fleeing to the "quieter" suburbs. The cities are in bad enough economic shape already, without being further drained by the tyranny of noise.
Noise-ridden city hotels might enjoy a higher occupancy rate if they could provide a quiet night's sleep. Many exurbanites are starting to write off even the occasional weekend on the town, as did one insurance executive and his wife:
"Alice and I," he said, "moved to the suburbs to get away from the racket. But we couldn't live without coming back to the city to do the town, see some plays, eat at a nice restaurant, and stay overnight at a hotel. But we found that the longer we lived in the suburbs, the less we could stand the noise of the city at night. Now we still come in occasionally, but just for a few hours. We go home for a good night's rest."