In The Eternal Words Of Jimi, Cover Your Ears!

The Lexington Avenue local stops are loud — really, really loud — and The Villager’s Chad Smith finally figures out just how loud they are:

A grumble at the end of the tunnel builds into a roar, then a thunder. It’s a familiar noise in many New York City subway stations, the sound of an approaching train. But at the subway station at Spring and Lafayette Sts., servicing the Lexington Ave. line, the noise doesn’t end there. Instead, at this station with four separate tracks, when the 4 or 5 train whizzes past, or when the 6 train halts at the platform, the screech of the trains’ wheels against the metal tracks is so loud that conversation is inaudible, and people plug their ears while others wince.

. . .

Since transit doesn’t keep decibel readings of its stations on file, this reporter, last week, brought a sound meter, purchased from Radio Shack, into the subway station at Spring and Lafayette Sts. As the 6 train halted at the platform, the sound meter averaged 99 decibels. As the 4 or 5 express trains passed the station, the sound level meter averaged an even-higher 105 decibels.

These numbers were 10 to 15 decibels higher than readings taken at other subway stations around the Village and Soho. All measurements were taken under similar conditions — at structurally comparable stations, with four separate tracks, two express, two local.

. . .

Transit had no comment on the sound readings showing the Spring St. station is indeed an aural nightmare.

At this rate, for the everyday commuter who listens to a 105-decibel noise one or two minutes each day, the noise can do permanent hearing damage over time, according to Dean Mancuso, an audiologist and manager of aural rehabilitation at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. However, Mancuso noted, the token booth attendants at Spring St. are at greater risk, because they are exposed to the noise for hours each day.

When asked about the constant, high-pitched screeching from the 4 or 5 train — measured at about 103 decibels near the token booths, an unacceptable amount of constant noise, according to hearing experts — token booth operators on both the Uptown and Downtown platforms said they’ve grown accustomed to the trains’ noise.