Lavender Suarez presents a PSA on the wheezing and clanging companions we've grown used to in our homes, like the notorious radiator.
Sssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh CLANG! CLACK! BANGBANGBANG!!
What often starts as a hissing whisper eventually explodes into relentless metal banging all throughout my home. This aggressive sound emerges at inopportune times, such as when I’m on a Zoom call, trying to meditate, or sleeping. The acoustic antagonizer in question is my prewar apartment building’s radiator system. For some, the sounds of their radiator may be comforting; a hush of soothing white noise, but my experience is akin to a Einstürzende Neubauten concert.
New York City is known for its exuberant summer soundscape: parties in the street, fireworks from June to August, bike bells, ice cream truck jingles, speakers from cars, and Bluetooth stereos blasting music at all hours. After being trapped inside throughout the pandemic, I’ve begun to consider winter to be the noisiest time here, personally. Radiators are frequently cited as one of the main noise pollutants inside our homes, along with outside agitation from construction, sirens, and noisy neighbors. The intimacy of my apartment shifts to the whims of my radiator, which creates a constant tug-of-war fight for silence. I cherish the moments when the radiator is off and feel a sense of dread when I hear it start to activate its chaotic soundscape.
The radiators in my apartment all carry their own tune, emitting different frequencies; some tend to blast high-pitched squeals while others grumble and bang. Radiators are always in flux - expanding and contracting as they heat up and cool down. They’re sensitive - the slightest malfunction in their mechanics can generate an orchestra of harsh metal mechanics. A radiator’s job is to radiate heat, therefore, if that task is met, landlords will rarely heed any complaints about the noisiness they create. The hiss sounds from a radiator are created by air escaping out of it, while water trapped within it creates the banging sounds. In some cases, the excessive sounds are created by a boiler issue. I’ve used a heat-safe blanket on top of my bedroom’s radiator to muffle the racket, but the sounds continue to overpower every room.
In 1918, most radiators in New York City were replaced following a mandate by The Board of Health to keep windows open in response to a deadly flu pandemic that killed approximately 50 million people in one winter. The new radiator models were installed directly under windows, so that fresh air could continue to circulate while keeping tenants warm.
In December 2021, New York became the largest city to ban new buildings from utilizing gas stoves as part of an initiative concerning air and climate pollutants. Gas stoves are a silent killer that have been shown to create pollution even when they’re not in use. This initiative should inspire future upgrades of other outdated and potentially harmful systems in apartments, like radiators from 1918.
Some entities, like Quiet Mark, an appliance certification organization celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, are encouraging companies to reconsider the acoustic design of their products. The organization “identifies the quietest products in multiple categories spanning many sectors, including: home appliances and technology.” Quiet Mark assesses acoustic product data in a dedicated test laboratory across multiple appliance categories; the products that meet between 10%-20% of the quietest, best performing products are awarded Quiet Mark certification. Unfortunately, many products which meet Quiet Mark’s certification are often more expensive than their noisier competitors. Hopefully in the future, products designed with the consumers' aural health and wellbeing in mind won’t be subject to a heftier price tag.
In The Sound of Silence (2019), a Columbia University music theory graduate turned self-professed “house tuner” guides his clients through calibrating the sound-generating elements within their apartments to create more pleasing musical pitches. He contends that toasters, refrigerators, light bulbs, and of course radiators, all have a base pitch that can be out of tune with the other sound producing elements within an apartment. In the opening scene, the house tuner is accessing a client’s apartment that has been suffering from generalized anxiety. After pensively listening to every room in the apartment, the house tuner determines that the client’s detuned noisy radiator is the cause of their anxiety. Suddenly, the rising hiss of my bathroom’s heating pipe takes over my hearing and the film becomes barely audible.
One of the key figures in David Lynch’s Eraserhead (1977) is the “Lady in the Radiator,” an oddly cheery, yet unhinged figure who appears to the protagonist, Henry Spencer, in visions. The radiator’s omnipresent hissing and clanging is a major sound design feature in the film. While watching Eraserhead, I asked my friend to raise the volume on my speakers as my radiator was blocking out the sound again. When my friend turned the volume up, he also mistakenly turned the speaker’s subwoofer up, thus amplifying the low-frequency hum that carried throughout the movie. A deranged symphony emerged featuring the sounds of my apartment’s radiator, the radiator in Eraserhead, and the eerie hum sounding grander and more intense than most concerts I’ve been to. I found myself quite literally in a fetal position for most of the film, swaddled up like the mutant baby, terrorized by real life and diegetic sound. It’s not that far-fetched to believe that someone is physically in our radiators, activating these intrusive sounds to challenge our sense of peace in an ever-expanding industrial world.
When we’re spending more time than usual at home, our domestic experience becomes amplified. Domestic sounds that were once ignored, suddenly have the power to distract and overwhelm us. We find ourselves going about our routines where every movement, every shift, every step - in our kitchens,bathrooms, or bedrooms, seem to have a compounded auditory presence. We can no longer consider noise pollution to be an “outside” issue and must be vigilant as our domestic spaces continually grow in literal and perceived loudness, to create a healthier experience in life.
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This article features an audio mix from volunteers who sent in the sounds of their radiators. Listen to the full piece here:
Radiator Sound Contributors: Chuck Bettis, Will Brant, Rick Brown, Hillary Dvorkin, Lindsey Griffith, Pat Gubler, Paco Libis, Asa Nakagawa, Noomi, Zachary David Palmer, Dave Public, Ian Ryan, Lavender Suarez, Neil Verma
The audio narration also includes "In Heaven (Lady in the Radiator Song)" (often referred to as simply "In Heaven"), a song performed by Peter Ivers, composed by Peter Ivers, with lyrics by David Lynch. The song is featured in Lynch's 1977 film Eraserhead.
More radiator goodness:
