In memoriam: Arline Bronzaft, anti-noise pollution advocate
By D Menzies
I didn’t hear about it until this week, but I’d be remiss in not acknowledging the passing of Dr. Arline Bronzaft on Oct. 29, 2025.
Bronzaft was a pioneer and humble titan in the field of environmental psychology; she helped write NYC’s present noise ordinances, and her studies informed knowledge about how broadly adverse noise can be along with the inequities that noise pollution can help prosper — like the way noise can help to mask issues that would be completely unacceptable where residents have enough money to ensure otherwise.
Bronzaft’s work also informed knowledge on a tenet of equitable learning: it’s much easier in a quiet atmosphere, whether that be at school or at home.
If you lived in NYC and could get in contact with her it was possible she would go to your noisy neighbor’s residence and try to talk to them about noise pollution.
Yes, really.
I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Bronzaft, who was generous with both her time and thoughts about noise pollution. It’ll always stand as a particular honor. My impression was of someone who was both idealist and pragmatist at once.
Unregulated capitalism has had a way of encouraging noise — both the technology that makes for more noise and people’s seeming indifference, sometimes their seeming pleasure, at other people being disturbed by it.
That’s what made Bronzaft’s work so important; it all boiled down to a very simple notion of how invaluable it is to cultivate a certain level of peace and quiet as a right, rather than a privilege, and how that reflects the way we as individuals and as a society value other people. Or don’t.
“So much of the noise that exposes us to adverse impacts that affect our health … if people were civil, if people were respectful, if people were kind, we'd have a different world, wouldn't we?” - Arline Bronzaft, from our interview as linked below
From "N(J)oisy City," an interview with noise pollution expert Dr. Arline Bronzaft
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