Why are leaf blowers so frustrating for people?

Ah, the sounds of fall. For some, it's a delightful experience — biting into a fresh apple, hearing the crunch of leaves underfoot. For others, however, the sounds of autumn can be grating, especially when it comes to the whir of leaf blowers.

Leaf blowers are like garden tools on steroids. Powered by either electric or gas motors, they blast air through a nozzle to send leaves and grass flying. Unlike lawn mowers, leaf blowers are arguably the most reviled tools in lawn care. They're not just loud, but with their year-round use, the noise they produce is often deemed intolerable by many.

In the mid-1970s, as leaf blowers became widespread across the United States, two cities in California took early action by banning the devices. Carmel-by-the-Sea and Beverly Hills deemed leaf blowers a noise nuisance, a stance later adopted by nearly two dozen other California towns and hundreds of cities nationwide, writes Charles Mostoller for the Miami Herald.

What exactly makes leaf blowers so disliked? Is it the noise they produce? The constant hum? Or are there genuine health risks associated with their use or their impact on those nearby? More and more, it seems the answer is "yes" — to all of the above.

Let's Discuss Dust, Baby

While leaf blowers are great at sending leaves and grass flying, the 180-280 mph (290-451 kph) winds they generate also stir up a cloud of fungi, spores, herbicides, and microbes. This swirling dust is especially bothersome to those with allergies, asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory conditions, leading the American Lung Association to advise staying away from leaf blowers altogether.

On top of that, leaf blowers are incredibly loud. When you're having a conversation, you're exposed to about 60 decibels of noise, according to the Center for Hearing and Communication. A passing car registers around 70 decibels. But a leaf blower, even from 50 feet (15 meters) away, can reach up to 75 decibels — a level that can seriously harm your hearing.

"Labeling noise as a nuisance is akin to calling smog a mere inconvenience. Noise must be recognized as a health threat to everyone," former U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart told the Miami Herald.

Any noise exceeding 75 decibels poses a risk to hearing, but many individuals are constantly exposed to sounds that go beyond safe thresholds, according to the World Health Organization. This includes those who use leaf blowers, which can reach noise levels above 90 decibels up close, as well as anyone nearby.

Then there's the issue of air pollution. Running a commercial leaf blower for one hour releases as much pollution as driving a 2016 Toyota Camry from Los Angeles to Denver — roughly an 1,100-mile (1,770-kilometer) journey. Using a single leaf blower for an entire year would be comparable to driving 80 cars for 12,500 miles (20,116 kilometers).

Most leaf blowers rely on a two-cycle engine, known for its light weight and low cost. However, these engines require a mix of gasoline and oil to operate because they lack separate chambers for fuel and lubrication. Approximately one-third of the fuel-oil mixture is wasted during operation, releasing carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, and hydrocarbons into the air.

These three toxins are primary contributors to air pollution from leaf blowers. Carbon monoxide contributes to smog formation. Nitrous oxide plays a key role in acid rain and is linked to global warming. Hydrocarbons are carcinogenic compounds that also help create smog.

Misunderstood or Misophonia?

Misophonia is a relatively new condition in which people become irritated by body sounds such as chewing, swallowing, knuckle-cracking, or breathing. While leaf blowers aren't directly mentioned in the diagnosis criteria, it's plausible that misophonia could be linked — even if indirectly — to the annoyance people feel towards noisy yard tools, particularly because those affected are especially sensitive to sound. This often begins in childhood.

"I was incredibly sensitive to dogs barking, and I mostly disliked dogs because of the noise. Everyone would tell me, 'Calm down,'" a magazine editor told New York Magazine under the condition of anonymity. "I would reply, you don't understand; this noise is literally destroying me. It's driving me insane."

Early research suggests that individuals with misophonia may have an unusually sensitive connection between their auditory system and the limbic system, the brain region responsible for emotions. This hypersensitivity to sound is so intense for misophones that they can be shocked when others don't share or react similarly to the same noises.

Expanding beyond misophonia to the general population doesn't resolve the issue of leaf blower frustration either. Erica Walker, a Ph.D. student at Harvard University's Chan School of Public Health, discovered that producing noise is far less bothersome than hearing it. In a survey of 1,050 residents across several Boston neighborhoods, Walker found that most people felt powerless to control or escape noises like leaf blowers and believed no one cared about the nuisance. Additionally, leaf blowers have become a crucial part of commercial lawn care, which is deeply embedded in residential areas.

So, don't expect the noise to diminish anytime soon in most areas — while a leaf blower may sound like nails on a chalkboard to you, for the businesses that depend on them for part of their income, it's likely music to their ears.