Unwanted sound. The Oxford English Dictionary contains references to noise as unwanted sound dating back as far as 1125
Any loud sound. In general usage today, noise often refers to particularly loud sounds.
In his "Tuning of the World", Murray Schaefer speaks of unwanted sounds and any loud sounds as noise pollution, that is, detrimental to an acoustic ecology. Although noise is a subjective term in a given society, there will be more agreement than disagreement as to which sounds constitute unwanted interruptions. Soundscape research has been fundamental in terms of the promotion of anti-noise pollution legislation. (Source: R. Murray Schafer (1977). The Tuning of the World. New York: Knopf.)
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