ADHD

I'm gonna tell you about the most successful prank I've experienced.

My work had nice stereo speakers setup on space near the ceiling (weird layout). There was a back door to a tiny parking lot that we probably paid more to have (windows and stuff not available to all offices in a shared space).

Fucking leaf blowers show up. They're out there, we can see them. They just won't stop! About an hour in, my buddy complains that they're giving him a headache. Someone agrees they should go away. Another of my friends (to this day, that shithead) starts laughing so hard. "I can't believe nobody noticed!"

He had set the stereo (hooked to a computer) to a youtube video of leaf blowers. The guys with the leaf blowers had been gone for a long time. None of us figured it out. He's a good friend and I still hate him for that. I think I'll slap his baby to get back at him, I'm so mad (still!) (not really, I love him).

I still laugh with anger at how he duped us so hard.

The HoA at the housing area I live at has landscapers come through every Tuesday, and their gas mowers, weed whackers, and leaf blowers are going nonstop from 9am to 6pm. I cannot fucking stand how much noise it makes. Even with headphones and in my room, it overpowers everything. The only way I can get a reprieve is to just take my laptop and go to the nearest library all day

Harley Davidson's and 2Stroke engines

Highly recommend concert earplugs for when it gets real bad, they drop about 20dB off the sound and cut out those high pitches that scrape at your brain

Constant tones don't bother me as much as varying ones. Tradespeople with saws, hammers and nailguns are ao much worse.

Oh I hate leafblowers so fucking much. The noise is penetrating everything, and, especially with the loudest gas ones, the worker adjusts the throttle constantly. So the brain doesn’t get a second of at least monotonous noise to concentrate on something else, it instantly revs up and commands attention.
And the whole concept is so stupid. Stir up all the polluted dirt so it can get into people’s lungs, houses, and all kinds of surfaces. Blow leaves from the curb on the road, so cars can keep stirring them up, and push them back to the curb eventually. Blow the shit on the guy next door’s driveway, because poor overworked and underpaid landscaper, standing out there in the heat and sun, deafened by the fucking thing and getting lung cancer from the fumes and dust, cannot care less they just need to be done with that one driveway before getting a heatstroke.
Either get a broom or rake for small stuff around a residential property, or the sweeps-and-vacuum machine to actually clean up stuff in larger areas, like parking garages, roads, etc… ban fucking leafblowers, and ban all 2 stroke gas power tools in public places. Amen.

They need to be banned for several reasons. The small particulates they blow up are dangerous to breathe, the noise will ruin hearing.

I took care of lawns when I was a kid, rakes and brooms worked fine, but now morbidly obese are doing lawn care.

Yeah, so loud and annoying. They kick up so much dust and just move stuff from one place to another and often they don't actually pick the stuff up after, not to mention the fumes. Hate them all around.

Battery powered devices have gotten way better and while they may not be able to handle larger properties in one charge yet, the catteries are getting cheaper. I have a mower, and an edger and weed eater that all share a battery. I have a really small lot, but as long as I don't leave the grass to get really long and keep the blades on the mower sharp (both of which mean more torque and thus more power is needed) I never drain the battery totally. And a good broom is way more efficient at cleaning the sidewalks than a blower. And I either bag or mulch the grass, so I never need to rake, so only a little gets on the sidewalks compared to letting the grass go everywhere. And honestly with how heavy those blowers and fuel are, it's probably not that much more effort to use a broom either.

Overall it's significantly less noise (not totally quiet of course), no exhaust fumes for me or my neighbors, and less kicking up dust and pollen that I'm sensitive to and I'm sure others are as well.

Any sounds coming from outside whatever enclosure I'm in is highly triggering. Any/all lawn care devices, loud exhaust/music, arguing/fighting, etc. I hate it

My trigger is a tarp blowing in the wind loudly :| It makes me anxious in a way nothing else does.
Those gas blowers are loud as frig though.

I bring earplugs to any loud-ish things though; mechanic's shop, demolition derby, circus, ...

Depending on your location there may be noise ordinances that limit the allowed volume, hours, and/or duration of use. If it's really bothering you it might be worth consulting a lawyer to find out if any apply

we get to hear it all year long. the leaf blowers turn into light-weight snowblowers in the winter.

https://www.flareaudio.com/en-au/products/isolate

Highly recommend

You can even put headphones on top

Yes. Very.

I can understand leaf blowers. For me it's hair dryers. Just cannot stand the sound!

I don’t think much of it, but my wife hates ‘em. They’re annoying, but they end eventually.

Those can be argued away replaced in the long-term, but garbage trucks are awful: intermittent hydraulic whining combined with fast and wonky plastic sounds combined with truck stop and go sounds...

Not under normal use, but after 6 hours? Yeah, fuck that.

What I've learned is that headphones are my friend. I have them for the PC, the TV, for outside and even for sleeping. I'd go nuts without them.