COLUMN: Walmart is hearing customer noise complaints loud and clear

Here are the sounds of silence.

It’s certainly a fast-paced, noisy world these days, so I was intrigued by a recent announcement from Walmart Canada. For the retail giant, 403 of its stores across the country will introduce “sensory friendly” hours.

What this means is on set days and certain hours the noise will be reduced. They will be able to mute music and limit public announcements unless it is an emergency.

No more “cleaning in aisle 10” or “Household goods: raise the second line for customer transport”.

Tired of jarring, static-filled communication?

Chief Operating Officer Joe Schrauder says, “This is an important step we’re taking to create a more welcoming and positive shopping experience for customers experiencing sensory overload and their families.”

About a third of people experience sensory overload from noise to bright lights, causing discomfort and frustration for shoppers.

According to healthline.com, sensory overload occurs when you receive more information from your five senses than your brain can send and process. It often affects people with autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a traumatic brain injury and even fibromyalgia.

You can imagine how flashing lights, loud music or multiple conversations going on at once could trigger those who are susceptible.

To be honest, it never occurred to me that shopping would be such a source of discomfort for many people, although it would make sense, of course.

Even without this condition, we’ve all experienced heightened anxiety when we’re in an environment where there’s too much going on at once. Your reaction is to escape and go somewhere quiet.

How many times in a day have we all thought, “Why can’t they just give up music?” It really makes it hard to concentrate.

So, good for Walmart Canada for launching this initiative.

These sensory friendly hours will be observed on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from store opening until 10am.

Maybe if it has a good response, other stores can follow suit.

Thrift stores could definitely turn down the muzak volume. I’ve heard people complain about it and I’m told that the local government doesn’t have the power to turn it down or change the music genre. Really?

Local sports bars must be a nightmare for sensitive patrons with all those television screens of competitive sports constantly flashing, not to mention the volume of the crowd. That can definitely bring a headache.

I’m sure anyone who suffers from sensory overload already knows when and where it’s best to frequent. It’s great that they will now have another choice to make things more comfortable for them.

So while I’ll continue to complain about Walmart’s lack of cashiers and overabundance of self-checkouts, today I’ll give them props for being proactive and reducing the volume.