Los Angeles is blaring classical music at subway station to chase off homeless people

LOS ANGELES (TND) — Los Angeles is reportedly attempting to drive people out of a subway station by playing loud classical music through a public address system.

Accompanied by the blinding effects of bright floodlights, the music from artists such as Beethoven and Mozart is "louder than officials claim," according to the Los Angeles Times.

It's all reportedly part of a pilot program launched in January that seeks to use royalty-free music to drive homeless people away and "reduce crime."

L.A. Metro operations told the Los Angeles Times that it cooperated with law enforcement to install the loud music and lights at the Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro, which is near the city's downtown area.

The idea is to create an atmosphere that is comfortable for spending short amounts of time transiting through our station, but not conducive to hours-long loitering," L.A. Metro reportedly told the LA Daily News.

The decibel level of the music is reportedly high enough to be compared to gasoline-powered lawnmowers and leaf blowers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website says noises that loud can cause hearing damage after just two hours of exposure.

Critics are reportedly against the use of the music, with some arguing that it's "inhumane" and others arguing that it does nothing to truly address the root causes of the issues the city and subway station face.

Others claim the loud music is just outright unpleasant or annoying. The publication "Curbed" went as far as to claim LA was "using classical music as a weapon."

A spokesperson with the L.A. Metro claimed to the Los Angeles Times that "the music is not loud" at MacArthur Park's station, saying it was being played at only 72 decibels (dB). The Los Angeles Times claims a handheld dB meter showed the music was being played at "an average" of 83 dB and, during some parts of the songs, reached as high as 90 dB.

For comparison, the CDC says that the average sound level of a "soft whisper" is around 30 dB and "normal conversation" is around 60 dB. Loud city traffic may reach 80-85 dB, according to the CDC, and an "approaching subway train" is 100 dB.

At or above 80-85 dB is when damage to a person's hearing becomes possible, according to the CDC. Some other factors, such as a confined space like a subway, may amplify a sound's intensity when sound echoes off metal and concrete surfaces.

The risk of damaging your hearing from noise increases with the sound intensity, not the loudness of the sound," the CDC explains. "If you need to raise your voice to be heard at an arm’s length, the noise level in the environment is likely above 85 dB in sound intensity and could damage your hearing over time."

Some people who spoke with the LA Daily News voiced their displeasure over the music.

"We want it off. It is driving us crazy," a 31-year-old Cody Johnson reportedly said.

Our blood pressure is going up. People are getting more irritable with this music. I don’t think that it is working," Johnson added, according to the LA Daily News.

The city should address homelessness and people with mental health problems. You can’t close your eyes and expect people to go away. So-called hobos riding trains is an old American phenomenon," Stop LAPD Spying Coalition organizer Hamid Kahn reportedly told the publication. "It doesn’t solve the problem in the long run. You are just pushing the problem somewhere else."

Using music or sound as a deterrent or punishment isn't anything new, although the practice is routinely criticized.

Chile's notorious General Augusto Pinochet and his regime used music to torture and while torturing victims from 1973 to 1990, according to CNN.

Prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were subject to loud, unpredictable music that "deprived" them of the "control of sleep," The Guardian reports.

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents used "the Blues Brothers rendition of 'Rawhide'" to interrogate a detainee, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee torture report.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's (LAHSA) 2022 report says that there are 41,980 homeless people accounted for in Los Angeles, which is a 1.7% increase from 2020.

In Los Angeles County, LAHSA says there are a total of 69,144 homeless people, which is an increase of 4.1% over the same time period.