From the BBC: White noise.

Yeah, they’d have to be deaf to put up with their own music. I don’t have much of a problem with my portable music levels, although I’ve had to stop listening on the bus due to the super-high background noise levels. A pair of those fancy schmancy ear plug/buds is on the “would love to have but can’t part with the money” shopping list.

But what gets my goat the most are restaurants that play loud background music for purposes unclear to me. Are they trying to block out background shouting/slanging matches in the kitchen, or traffic noise, or to confuse your senses so much that you don’t realise how crap the food you’re eating is? Whatever the reason, I’m going to stop going to restaurants/pubs that have too much background noise. Compared to the “ambient” noise in restaurants and pubs, personal stereos and gigs are nothing…