Someday, we shall be able to count the dollar cost of noise, and diagnose its price in physical health. But, in trying to assay a direct dollar cost, we must not lose sight of the fact that this life on earth is a limited one. Noise, no matter how one interprets its impact, does "cost" man a portion of his human existence. I am haunted by the phrase environmentalist Ron Linton used before a meeting of the American Public Health Association: "What is the cost of a living day?"