Medicine: The Noise Haters

"I hate noise," says Los Angeles Physicist Vern O. Knudsen. "Noise is a human plague."

What concerns blunt, balding Dr. Knudsen—and many another U.S. scientist—is that the U.S., already perhaps the loudest nation in the world, is growing still noisier. Ever more numerous jet planes scream overhead, unmuffled trucks roar through city streets, sports cars whine along once placid suburban roads, and missile-age workers are being exposed to the highest and most dangerous noise levels in history. "Noise," says Physicist Knudsen, "is the bane of our existence."

Old Noise Hater Knudsen, former...