Masking Sounds
Matthew writes the following:
My name is Matthew, and I’ve recently graduated at ***** and found myself lucky enough to be offered a job.
The current project I’m working on is a bit quarky. Ive been asked to
create a compilation of sounds that ‘mask’ the noises that may happen when
one uses the rest room. I was curious what are common things women do to
mask these sort of things.
That’s a good question, but first, an aside. I’m of the general opinion that masking sounds are ridiculous. If you’re going to a big fuss to make a bunch of noise, all you are really doing is drawing attention to yourself. People use the bathroom, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Now that said, masking practices are pretty common. Generally though, people take a fairly low-tech approach using just the equipment at hand – toilets and sinks. The #1 masking sound is a flushing toilet, followed by a running sink. Neither of these is really a great option though, as toilet flushes don’t last very long and sinks aren’t often that loud.
Which could be why things like an mp3 playing toilet and the Shinobu-Chan toilet ringer were invented. The latter promises 100 decibels (!!!) of simulated toilet flushing madness. Yikes!
Anybody using something else to mask the sound of themselves going potty?
4 comments
I don’t tend to hear a lot of “sounds” when I’m in a public women’s restroom. Perhaps that is because many women, like myself, tend to mask sounds by not making them, as much as possible. This would be related, I think, to the phenomenon of “public poopophobia.” However, if you have to make a noise, you can wait until someone else flushes, thereby not drawing attention to yourself. Not that anyone can see you in the stall…Also, “quarky”? I think he meant “quirky.” That’s my editorial contribution for the day…
Thank you, TaylorM.
…and yes I did mean “quirky.”
Yeah, if we absolutely must make sounds, women wait until someone else flushes or preferably until there is no one else in the bathroom. And if those two options are avoidable, you wait forever after making the noises so that you can wash your hands and dash without anyone “identifiying” you as the noisy one.
hmmm.. how about when someone urinates like a flowing river?
or someone has a exploding LBM? Does it count?
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