Posts Tagged ‘noise’

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Keep this quiet: Wednesday is International Noise Awareness Day

April 28 is the 15th annual International Noise Awareness Day, an event promoting awareness of the dangers of long-term exposure to noise.  Founded by the Center for Hearing and Communication (a not-for-profit organization established in New York in 1910), the event aims to raise awareness of the impacts of noise on day-to-day life worldwide.

As part of the event, the public is encouraged to observe a “Quiet Diet” — 60 uninterrupted seconds without noise from 2:15 to 2:16 p.m. this Wednesday.

Most New Yorkers are all too familiar with excessive noise and its impacts on hearing, health, stress, and learning. This year’s event has already garnered some local press, and we hope that greater awareness of noise leads to a “quiet diet” that the city can enjoy more than once a year.

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Tiny ears, big concern

As professional listeners, acousticians are trained in the dangers of noise-induced hearing loss, which is both cumulative over the years and basically irreversible.  Still, nearly anyone with ears understands that loud noise is bad for hearing, and has probably felt the after-effects of noise exposure after a rock concert or a night out.  But what about people too young to understand, or to recognize the physical sensations caused by overexposure?

This week, the New York Times examines the need to protect babies and young children from overexposure to noise.  Noise that is uncomfortable to an adult can be physically damaging to a child, whose smaller ears receive sound pressure with greater impact and sensitivity.  Protecting young ears usually requires earmuff-style protectors, since earplugs are ill-fitted to small ears (not to mention a choking hazard).

The article overlooks the danger of noise exposure from mass transit (including the hometown New York City Subway).  Subway noise levels at the platform can exceed 100 decibels near a curved track or express train—a level that will damage even adult hearing with frequent exposure.  Parents that frequently use the subway with their children should take steps to protect them from noise, since even slight hearing damage as a child will be carried for a lifetime.

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Noise-reducing city canyons

After a nearly two-year editorial process, we are happy to announce that we’ve recently published a technical paper in the peer-reviewed acoustics journal Applied Acoustics.  Performed in cooperation with our acoustic colleagues at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, the research explores what happens to noise as it travels over the city canyons formed by streets and backyards between rows of buildings—such as those common in New York City.

Although the details are rather technical, the bottom line is that these canyons reduce noise—so the more street canyons between you and that noisy highway, and the wider these canyons are, the quieter the noise will become.

This field of acoustics research helps to improve the acoustic models that acousticians and city planners use to predict noise.  Implemented in software, these models can map out how traffic and new development will impact the soundscape of a property, a neighborhood, or even an entire city.

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An amphitheater grows in Brooklyn

Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz is promoting plans for an expanded 8,000-seat amphitheater at Coney Island’s beachfront Asser Levy Park, but yesterday’s New York Times highlights the ongoing community opposition to the project—on the grounds of traffic, crowding, and of course, noise.

Neighbors are concerned that the existing “quiet oasis with a modest bandshell” will be disturbed by what would become the city’s largest amphitheater in a public park.  The 9-acre park’s location as a buffer between Coney Island’s famous boardwalk and nearby residential neighborhoods pits the locals’ need for peace and quiet against a broad desire for “a Coney Island entertainment district that will restore the wider area to glory.”

Although the recently-updated NYC Noise Control Code does not itself restrict amplified sound at public, non-commercial performances, opponents of the project may have found a weapon in the city’s permitting rules—which may prohibit permits for sound devices within 500′ of a church during services.  With a synagogue across the street from the park, this could preclude use of the amphitheater during Friday night and Saturday service—a potentially prohibitive restriction for a facility that aims to draw top entertainers.

(Via Brooklyn real estate blog Brownstoner)

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Restaurants: the newer the noisier

Today’s Wall Street Journal features an article on noisy restaurants, and specifically why newer restaurants are noisier than ever.  Although the physical causes are nothing new—open kitchens, loud music, and hard finishes that provide little acoustic absorption—the article associates recent noise increases with the current economic downturn.  Interior style elements that traditionally absorb sound—heavy curtains, carpeting, linens, and upholstery— “telegraph a fine-dining message out of sync with today’s cost-conscious, informal diner.”

Of course, the clean, modern aesthetic sought by today’s upscale restaurant needn’t necessarily be a noisy one.  Acoustical treatments that absorb sound and reduce din don’t always take the form of plush carpet, soft upholstery, or heavy drapes; modern treatments can match almost any aesthetic conceivable, hiding behind smooth plaster, wood veneer, metal, transparent plastic, and even artwork.  Beyond matching acoustic performance to visual appearance, an acoustical consultant can  also ensure that these treatments don’t go overboard—unnecessarily deadening the lively, energetic feel that many popular restaurants thrive upon.

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Noise is killing Paris nightlife

A recent article in the New York Times highlights the mounting conflict between Parisian revelers and “ever less mirthful” residents that “increasingly demand peace and quiet”.

The contributing causes—high urban density, gentrification that has more than doubled real estate values in recent years, and a 2008 tobacco ban that has sent patrons spilling out onto the sidewalks—closely parallel similar factors in New York City, where noise continues to be the #1 quality-of-life complaint. In response, the 2007 overhaul of the New York City Noise Control Code tightened limits on noise from bars, clubs, and restaurants.

In Paris, such conflicts (and the stepped up regulation that they precipitate) are forcing more and more bars and concert venues out of business, which has in turn lured musicians and DJs to other, more bohemian capitals (such as Berlin). To quote the article — “Paris may soon be dead at night.”

Thankfully, similar circumstances do not seem to have led to such dire consequences here in New York, which continues to enjoy a thriving nightlife—though not always without conflict.  Where a noise problem does occur, an acoustical consultant can help resolve it, either though improved acoustic separation, adjustment of sound systems, or both.  Many bar and restaurant operators, having faced noise issues in the past, work with an acoustical consultant in the design of any new space, to prevent these problems before they happen.

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