Acoustiblok Soundproofing Blog Articles

Acoustiblok Quiets Well Motor Noise for California Water District

Liz Ernst — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 13:46:00 GMT

For more info go to http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/05/prweb12749288.htm

Acoustiblok Creates State-of-the-Art Acoustics for First of Its Kind Cinema Complex

Larry Lasseter — Mon, 27 Oct 2014 15:37:00 GMT

Acoustiblok Creates State-of-the-Art Acoustics for First of Its Kind Cinema Complex. P_lease go to this link for more info: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/10/prweb12265819.htm

Fracking: A Controversial and Noisy Energy Process: Part 2 of 2

Larry Lasseter — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 21:25:00 GMT

Fracking is a Noisy Business

Fracking wells can be located near homes, schools, and other places that are normally located away from industrial businesses. Many people and families across the country are publically expressing their concerns about having to be so near fracking gas wells and about the non-stop noise the operation creates for their neighborhood.

Sources of Noise in a Fracking Operation Noise

Anybody who has been around an oil or gas field knows that it is a loud environment. Operating heavy equipment to move earth; shape a padsite; erect a drilling rig; supply the well site with materials, tools, etc. via semi trucks; and run all the equipment necessary to set up and drill a well is a very loud operation that lasts 25-45 days, in most cases. To surrounding neighbors, some of those noises are irritating and offensive, but some of them are harmful. Specific sources of fracking-related noise include:

• Site preparation - Activities that cause noise include ground clearing, grading, waste management , vehicular and pedestrian traffic, and construction and installation of facilities. A quote from an article found online described it as, “It sounds like setting up for a circus more or less. You got them coming in setting up pad sites and putting up the walls, then the trucks start rolling in and you don’t know where they are coming from but they just keep coming.”

• The fracking process – Primary sources of noise during the drilling are equipment drill rigs, and diesel engines.

• Vehicular traffic / heavy trucks - Fracking requires large quantities of sand, water and chemicals at a well site. Trucks also haul away the waste fluids from the drilling. A single fracking job requires hundreds of truck trips, and each well is generally fracked up to ten times. The increase in truck noise on surrounding roads is exponential.

• Compressor stations – To keep natural gas in a highly pressurized state for transport through pipelines, compressor stations are located every 40 to 100 miles along the route. The stations typically have multiple large industrial compressors. Some health impairments sometimes reported by persons who live near compressor stations include headaches, nosebleeds, sore throats, sinus irritation, skin rash, itchiness, cough, difficulty breathing, visual impairments and burning eyes. nausea, vomiting and neurological impacts like dizziness, fainting, ataxia, dystonia, loss of balance

Municipalities Are Requiring Noise Control Action

State and local noise regulations restrict the amount of noise, the duration of noise and the source of noise for fracking companies. There are usually noise level restrictions for certain times of the day. Many municipalities where drilling is allowed are requiring the use of sound baffling materials around a well site. A sound baffle is a construction or device which reduces the level of airborne sound. Sound baffles are a fundamental tool of noise mitigation, the practice of minimizing noise pollution or reverberation.

Many fracking companies say they are working to become better neighbors and address the concerns of community residents who live near the wells.

Fracking: A Controversial and Noisy Energy Process: Part 1 of 2

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 18 Dec 2013 20:01:00 GMT

This is a three part blog about the issue of high volume hydraulic fracturing, known to many as "hydrofracking" or "fracking," and noise issues that surround it.

PART I: The Controversy

According to the Wall Stree Journal, more than 15 million Americans now live within one mile of a fracking well. America is in the midst of an energy boom. It's expected to continue for decades and natural gas is expected to replace coal as the largest source of U.S. electricity by 2035, the Department of Energy forecasts. This energy bonanza is largely due to the combined use of horizontal drilling and fracking.

New oil and gas wells have turned millions of people into the petroleum industry’s neighbors.While many welcome the oil and gas companies who come bearing checks for temporarily leasing their land, others do not. Many people think the operation is noisy, disruptive and risky to human health and the environment despite the financial benefits.

Fracking History

Fracking technology has existed since 1947, but it mushroomed in the late 1980s when companies began to combine it with horizontal drilling to magnify productivity. In the last 15 years, a frenzy of drilling has taken place in the Western states – involving tens of thousands of individual wells (for example, 30,000 in the State of Colorado alone). This has spread into the Midwest and other areas as well. Millions of acres of land have been leased in 32 states by companies that are eager to get in on the “gas bonanza.” There are more than 500,000 active natural gas wells in the U.S. Fracking is also being done in other countries such as Germany, Netherlands, the United Kingdom and others.

Fracking Process

To get natural gas or oil through hydraulic fracturing, companies:

- Clear a well site, drill a bore hole, and drive a drill bit thousands of feet through the earth to reach layers of shale rock.

- Once they reach the strata of shale rock, they rotate the drill bit by 90 degrees and bore a horizontal cavity laterally through the shale seam to access a longer stretch of the deposit— from 1,000 feet to more than 10,000 feet.

- From the well head, they insert explosive charges down the bore hole and into the horizontal opening, and then set them off to perforate the well pipe and burst fissures in the rock.

- The drillers then pump millions of gallons of highly pressurized water, sand, ceramic beads, and chemical slurry into the hole to expand the fissures and hold them open.

- As natural gas or oil begins to flow upward to the wellhead on the surface, the sand and beads prevent the fissures from closing.

- Wastewater and drilling fluids that rise to the surface with the gas or oil are stored in ponds or tanks, or trucked away in heavy tank trucks.

The Issues For and Against

The following are some often used views from opponents and proponents about fracking:

Detractors Say:

Supporters and Industry Say:

Non-stop truck, heavy machinery, and compressor station noise.
The noise is non-stop, 24-hours a day, 7 days per week for about a month.
There's more the companies can do to reduce the noise.
The wells are often located close to neighborhoods and schools.
The chemicals used hurt the environment and are a danger to human health.
The drilling is causing earthquakes and making the earth's rock core unstable.
The chemicals they use can cause cancer.
The process contaminates the local potable water supply. Some people's water can be lit on fire even.
Kills animals and disrupts their local habitat.
The process "rapes" the earth, is an invasive process.
It degrades the environment.

The noise is temporary for one month per well. More steps are being taken to mitigate noise at well sites.
The well sites are temporary and not permanent.
It's a safe process. The process has been made safer over the decades of doing it.
It gives America a chance to be energy self-sufficient for the next 118 years
People don't have "correct" and accurate information about it.
Activists use powerful misleading soundbytes to sway public opinion.
It creates jobs and the growing industry will put more people to work.
It's a clean energy source that is abundant.

The natural gas contained in the shale formations represents a huge storehouse of America's cleanest fossil fuel. The Potential Gas Committee, a non-profit group of natural gas experts, forecasts that this resource base contains 1,836 Tcf of gas. This, plus the proven reserves (238 Tcf ) identified by the US Department of Energy in 2007, means that the U.S. has enough natural gas to last at current rates of use for 118 years.

Some aren’t buying into the fracking hype however and think the risks are too high. Attacks on fracking come from environmental, political, and economical sides. Movies such as Gasland, Gasland2, Promised Land, Down Deep and Unearthed have even brought each side’s issues to the big screen and social media. Polarized by divided allegiances to politics, parties, and popular opinion, many people are left wondering who to trust and what to believe.

PART 2 OF THIS BLOG SERIES WILL COVER:

Noise issues associated with fracking.

Try Shutting Your Earlids When You Encounter Secondhand Noise

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 11 Dec 2013 21:48:00 GMT

Second-hand noise is an unwanted airborne pollutant produced by others. It is imposed on us without our consent, often against our wills, and at times, places, and volumes over which we have no control. There is growing evidence that noise pollution is not merely an annoyance; like other forms of pollution, it has wide-ranging adverse health, social, and economic effects.

Many people are not aware of it or even think about it, but noise affects us without our being consciously aware of it. We can shut our eyes to exclude unwanted or potentially harmful visual images, but try shutting your ears voluntarily to exclude unwanted noise. Our hearing mechanisms are always on even when we are asleep.

Mankind has been plagued by both natural and manmade affliction. In the 21st Century, we have little choice when it comes to noise and experiencing the man-made infestation of environmental noise from which there is virtually no escape, no matter where we are – in our homes and yards, on our streets, in our cars, at theaters, restaurants, parks, arenas, and in other public places. Despite attempts to regulate it, noise pollution has become an unfortunate fact of life worldwide and it just seems to be getting worse.

The noise problems of the past pale in significance when compared with those experienced by modern city dwellers; noise pollution continues to grow in extent, frequency, and severity as a result of population growth, urbanization, and technological developments.

Whether you make the noise or not, the reality is second-hand noise is everywhere these days. It’s virtually inescapable. Our modern roadways (including road, rail, and air) and the products of modern power machinery and technology produce increasing levels of unwanted noise of varying types and intensities throughout the day and night that disturb sleep, detract from our ability to concentration, make us tired, increase anxiety and stress, and can raise blood pressure and cause headaches.

World Record for Loudest Outdoor Stadium Noise Registers on Seismometer

Thomas Wiseman — Tue, 03 Dec 2013 23:33:00 GMT

Video about cuttent record. Video about previous records.

European futbol fans be on alert. While your stadiums are known for loud fans and crowd antics, American football fans are out to top your noise records. During the NFL Monday Night Football game on December 2, 2013, Seattle Seahawks fans at CenturyLink Field not only broke the Guinness World Record for loudest outdoor stadium noise at 137.6 decibels during their game with the New Orleans Saints, they also set off seismometers five different times during the game. The Seattle Seahawks' fans have again set a noise record, taking back a mark they achieved earlier this season.

University of Washington Earth and Space Sciences Professor John Vidale says that the school's seismometer, located not far from the stadium, detected seismic activity five separate times during the Seahawks latest win over New Orleans. The University of Washington seismology lab first recorded what is now called the "Beastquake" almost three years ago, when Marshawn Lynch completed a 67-yard touchdown run against the Saints.

The sound pain threshold for humans is 120-130 decibels. Any sound above 85 dB can cause hearing loss (the loss is related both to the power of the sound as well as the length of exposure). A 10 decibel increase in sound is perceived as half the amount of sound to the human ear. A 10 decibel decrease in sound is perceived as half the amount of reduced sound to the human ear.

To put this 137.6 decibels of sound in perspective, the following are some incredibly

Rock Concert Speakers - A 400,000 Watt rock concert or a similar set of speakers mounted in a vehicle can reach ear-splitting decibel levels of 135-145 decibel sound waves.

NHRA Dragsters - Sitting next to a dragster as it fires up its engines and screams down the raceway can be more than just loud; it can be damaging to your entire body. At the 155-160 Decibel range not only will it severely to permanently damage your hearing, but it also vibrates your vision and makes it temporarily difficult to swallow. That’s why no one stands next to them.

One Ton TNT Bomg - Standing as close as 250 feet away from the impact, the resulting explosion from a 1 ton bomb creates a decibel count of 210. Without sufficient hearing protection, not to mention a complete sound-resistant bunker surrounding you, you could quite literally die from the intense vibrations that would literally shake you apart. Unless, of course, you were under the bomb.

Fireworks - Though not typically heard up close by most people, fireworks are still explosions and are very loud, even though they are not typically loud from far away. The sound heard from the sky is pretty loud, though not damaging, but at the bursting point the decibel levels reach a staggering 145-150. Even tests are performed under strict sound proofing to avoid any ear injury.

Call of the Blue Whale - While most people won't hear this sound in real time, blue whales mostly emit very loud, highly structured, repetitive low-frequency rumbling sounds that can travel for many miles underwater. These songs may be used for communicating with other blue whales, especially in order to attract and find mates. The call of the blue whale reaches levels up to 188 decibels. This extraordinarily loud whistle can be heard for hundreds of miles underwater. The whale is the loudest, and, the largest animal on earth.

Gunfire - Gunfire for anyone unfortunate enough to be standing near it can be quite damaging to the ears registering at approximately 145-155 decibels. Wearing hearing protection on the firing range is highly advisable.

Space Shuttle Launch - When the rockets fire, it is not only wise, but in fact, it is fully enforced that you stand at least a half-mile away. If you don't, you will get inundated by 165-170 decibels of painful sound. Unlike many other loud noises, the shuttle rocket sound is constant as it creates the thrust necessary to lift it from the ground.

'Treble' in Paradise: Piano Teacher’s Permit Revoked After Neighbor Complains About Noise

Thomas Wiseman — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 00:34:00 GMT

By: Annmarie Cornejo for The Tribune

Deborah Marcus gently sways with the music as she sits at the grand piano in her San Luis Obispo living room and plays. A skilled pianist, she makes music flow through the house and beyond.

Next door, Jay Chester cringes from the sound. For him, it’s a constant barrage of noise — an intrusion on what he considers an otherwise peaceful refuge.

Both residents work from home: Marcus as a piano instructor and Chester as an Internet developer. They also have another thing in common: a shared dining room wall that connects their condominiums.

Coincidentally they both moved into their homes within months of each other in 2008.

The feud between neighbors has been escalating for years. It’s gone from friendly exchanges over the backyard fence to hostile encounters in the street and terse letters written to city officials.

Ultimately the fight led to the city’s revocation of the permit Marcus needs to teach piano lessons from her home.

But she’s not ready to give up. She appealed the decision to the City Council, which will decide later this month who will win the battle.

There is only one other permit issued for residential piano lessons in the city, and it has been held since 1999, said Brian Leveille, associate planner.

This is the first home occupation permit issued for home businesses to be revoked in the past five years, said Leveille, who called the situation “quite unusual.”

Both Marcus and Chester pleaded their cases before the city’s Planning Commission in December, which led to a 5-1 vote in support of revoking Marcus’ permit to give piano lessons from her home.

Chester argues that the “continuous cacophony of noise being produced by the grand piano on the other side of the common wall Mrs. Marcus and I share has been a constant nuisance.”

He’s made multiple short video clips — which he titled “piano pollution” — from his home to prove his point.

He also alleges that the continual coming and going of cars as students arrive and are picked up has proved to be a problem in their shared driveway and the nearby, narrow street.

Marcus says she has done everything she can to accommodate those concerns — including asking her clients to park in a specific location directly in front of her garage.

She claims that the cost of soundproofing her home, such as building an acoustical wall, is not feasible.

“On my side of the wall, there is a very large tapestry hanging,” Chester said. “I didn’t put it on my wall because I like tapestries. I went online to look for soundproofing options, and it said they help.”

But it still hasn’t muted the sound Chester is trying to be rid of.

Marcus is now offering to discontinue her use of the grand piano and use an upright piano on which to teach her students.

“It is a personal sacrifice for me as a musician to give up the use of this lovely instrument that I have owned for 45 years, but it is worth it to me in order to resolve the issue,” Marcus wrote in her appeal to the City Council.

Chester said that offer is not enough.

“This is just not the right environment for the business she is trying to run here,” Chester said. “The noise is constant and chronic. This is my home, my refuge, my sanctuary, and I should be able to enjoy it without piano music in the background.”

About The Tribune

Founded in 1869 by District Attorney Walter Murray in what is now Mission Plaza, The Tribune is the oldest continuously operating business in the city of San Luis Obispo and one of the oldest enterprises in San Luis Obispo County.

Bridge Joint Noise Draws Public Complaints as Environmental Nuisance

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:37:00 GMT

There are no specific noise standards, criteria or assessment methodologies which cover this type of noise complaint. The impulsive nature of the noise becomes more noticeable during the night when the overall noise environment is quieter. The intermittent and constant nature of movements makes this type of noise very intrusive. What is it?

Bridge Joints and Expansion Joints

An expansion is an assembly designed to safely absorb the heat-induced expansion and contraction of construction materials, to absorb vibration, to hold parts together, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or earthquakes. They are commonly found between sections of buildings, bridges, sidewalks, railway tracks, piping systems, ships, and other structures.

Expansion and contraction caused by temperature changes, shortening and creep caused by pre-stressing, deflections caused by live loads (moving, variable weight added to the dead load or intrinsic weight of a structure or vehicle), and longitudinal forces caused by vehicular traffic all combine to produce nearly continuous motion in highway bridges. Bridge expansion joints are designed to permit the longitudinal movement and small rotations presented on bridge decks. While there are many types of bridge joint systems in use today, they can be classified as either open or closed joint systems.

Yes, Bridge Joints are Noisy!

Bridge joints make noise and a loud noise at that. When in your vehicle, you may hear a muffled noise, but those within earshot hear a much louder noise. When travelling over bridge joints in a motorized vehicle, it creates a short noise impulse that can range from 70-105 decibels on a sound meter. How loud is that? As loud as a garbage disposal, dishwasher, lawnmower, and even sometimes if the bridge joint is broken or damaged, it can get as loud as a bulldozer.

Causes of Bridge Joint Noise

Noise events due to vehicles passing over bridge expansion joints occur when vehicle tires strike the rectangular face of the expansion joint units and traverse the discontinuous surface profile. It can also be induced by the unevenness of the surface of the expansion joint itself and of the road surface before and after the joint.

In addition, bridge joints wear out and come loose creating an uneven surface (see photo to the right). This often jostles empty tractor trailers and creates an additional booming sound that can exceed 80 decibels. Residents who live near bridges often hear the continuous noise all day and night long.

Noise not only occurs on top of the bridge deck, but also under the bridge near the abutments. An environmental noise nuisance results from the interaction of vibration of the bridge expansion joint with acoustic resonances produced inside the abutment void space below the joint (see photo below). Often times, bicycle and walking trails pass directly under bridges and they are often less than 10 feet from the noise source. The loud impulse noise that can reach 105 decibels, thus becomes a problem with pedestrians, often resulting in complaints to the county or bridge owner.

Bridge Joint Noise Draws Complaints to Bridge Owner

Loud and constant bridge joint noise or secondary noises like the jostling of trailers on tractors, is an annoyance for people living near the bridge. It's another loud noise they have to contend with in their environment, an environment already filled with loud noises from jet airplanes, trains, construction equipment, traffic, and small engine powered tools such as lawnmowers and leaf blowers.

Acoustiblok and RJ Watson Develop New System to Mitigate Bridge Deck Joint Noise

Working jointly, Acoustiblok Inc. and R.J. Watson Inc. have developed a new system to meitigate bridge deck joint noise. They recently completed a test of the new Bridge Joint Isolation Material (B-JIM) system at a bridge in Hillsborough County, Florida that was having bridge joint noise problems. Results showed that Acoustiblok sound mitigating material is effective at reducing bridge joint noise problems when they occur at bridge deck joints. Without Acoustiblok, bridge joint noise reached as high as 105 dBA during a vehicular impact with the bridge joint. With Acoustiblok, that noise was reduced to 83 dBA, which is a 99% reduction in pressure and a 73% perceived reduction in sound.

R.J. Watson of Alden, NY, is the exclusive seller of this new system. The company is a world wide designer, manufacturer and supplier of bridge bearings, seismic isolation disk bearings, multirotational disk bearings, uplift bearings, bridge expansion joints and spray applied membrane for the bridge and highway industry.

FUTHER READING

News article about a typical bridge joint noise issue.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/governmental_and_political_topics/transportation/article_b608167d-8b59-5686-975e-a037e1fcada9.html

R J Watson....

WARNING: Secondhand Noise In the Area

Thomas Wiseman — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 23:05:00 GMT

It creates stress and stimulates aggression and other social behaviors. It causes headaches, makes you irritable, and can keep you from getting a good night’s sleep. It can raise your blood pressure and cause heart disease and hearing loss over time. Surely, this sounds like something that has to be dealt with. What is it? Noise.

Where are the ad campaigns informing people of the dangers of excessive noise? Where are the public service announcements aimed at educating youth and adults about the health effects of constant loud noise? They are rarely seen. The closest thing we see or hear are warnings and announcements aimed at youths who listen to loud music in headphones. It's time to start spreading the word.

Noise that is experienced by people who did not produce it is called second hand-noise. Like secondhand smoke, secondhand noise can have negative impacts on people without their consent. Exposure to secondhand noise occurs in many places such as homes, the workplace, restaurants and bars, on a city street, at a park, and many other places we frequent.

Some examples of secondhand noise include:

- An airplane flying over your house or place of residence

- Trains traveling near your home or workplace all day long

- Cars, trucks, tractor trailers, buses and motorcycles driving up and down the roads

- Construction workers using jack hammers or operating heavy equipment like bulldozers

- A constant humming noise of a neighbor’s loud HVAC unit running constantly

- A neighbor with a dog that barks constantly

- Noise coming from excessively loud car stereos

- Loud noise from small engine powered landscaping machines.

We experience noise in a number of ways. On some occasions, we can be both the cause and the victim of noise, such as when we are operating noisy appliances or equipment. There are also instances when we experience noise generated by others just as people experience second-hand smoke. While in both instances, noises are equally damaging, second-hand noise is more troubling because it has negative impacts on us but is put into the environment by others, without our consent. And it’s nearly impossible to avoid these days. While noise regulations worldwide have helped regulate the amount of noise that a person or machine can create at a given time of the day, most police departments seem to be unwilling or unable to respond to noise-related problems in a way that provides any measure of genuine or timely control. The amount of man-made noise in the environment is still a serious problem.

Let’s face it, eliminating secondhand noise is virtually impossible in the 21^st century as things stand today. Even staying in your house or place of residence can’t keep secondhand noise out. It’s getting harder and harder to find quiet environments. While separating smokers from nonsmokers, cleaning the air, opening windows, and ventilating buildings can eliminate secondhand smoke exposure, it’s much more difficult with sound and noise. Unlike light waves, sound waves travel through walls of the places we live, work, and frequent. While it’s impossible to eliminate all noise in an environment, there are ways that you can mitigate the amount of entering walls of buildings.

More widespread use of sound mitigating materials in the structure of buildings at the construction phase would help give people a quieter place to escape too void of outside noises. Modern soundproofing materials such as Acoustiblok and Quietfiber for example, can reduce noise inside to a more comfortable level.

Silence the Ultimate Frontier. Or is it? - Part 2: Anechoic Chambers

Thomas Wiseman — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:49:00 GMT

Anechoic Chambers

An anechoic chamber (an-echoic meaning non-echoing or echo-free) is a room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are insulated from exterior sources of noise. The combination of both aspects means they simulate a quiet open-space of infinite dimension, which is useful when exterior influences would otherwise give false results.

While it sounds like a dream come true for anyone seeking a quiet and peaceful place, it can be a little unnerving. It's not a place you would want to hang out in because all of a sudden you're in an environment where there is no reflection of sound, and your usual perception is gone. It can be creepy, unnerving and cause hallucinations.

Anechoic chambers are used by a multitude of manufacturers to test how loud their products are. Anechoic chambers are also used to test microphones and other audio equipment, but the lack of reverb creates a peculiar effect on the ears. They feel stuffy and plugged because, in jarring contrast to the noise encountered throughout the day, the ears aren't getting any feedback from the environment. After sitting in a confined space devoid of echoes for long enough, some people report hearing their own heartbeats, respiration and other bodily functions, a phenomenon termed "auto-emissive noise."

Anechoic chambers range from small compartments the size of household microwave ovens to ones as large as aircraft hangars. The size of the chamber depends on the size of the objects to be tested and the frequency range of the signals used, although scale models can sometimes be used by testing at shorter wavelengths. Apple and Microsoft have one, so does the U.S. military and many universities just a few. E&C Anechoic Chambers is a world leader in development and manufacturing of microwave absorbing materials and anechoic chambers. They use the chamber to test everything from cars, busses, jet airplanes, computers, satellites and other things.

Anechoic chambers, a term coined by American acoustics expert Leo Beranek, were originally used in the context of acoustics (sound waves) to minimize the reflections of a room. More recently, rooms designed to reduce reflection and external noise in radio frequencies have been used to test antennae, radars, or electromagnetic interference.

Companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Orfield Laboratores, and even the U.S. government has one and so do many universities. The anechoic chamber at Orfield Laboraties in South Minneapolis is 99.99 per cent sound absorbent and holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s quietest place. It achieves its ultra-quietness by virtue of 3.3-foot-thick fiberglass acoustic wedges, double walls of insulated steel and foot-thick concrete. But stay there too long and you may start hallucinating. The company’s founder and president, Steven Orfield said in a published article, “We challenge people to sit in the chamber in the dark. When it’s quiet, ears will adapt. The quieter the room, the more things you hear. You'll hear your heart beating; sometimes you can hear your lungs, hear your stomach gurgling loudly. In the anechoic chamber, you become the sound. This is a very disorientating experience.”

We walk around in environments that are naturally noisy. We live in more and more mechanized societies and that has created even more noise. Remove all of that noise and it gives you a different sensation. But your ears didn't change. While the idea of hearing your own blood rushing through your arteries is odd, it’s only odd because you haven't listened to it before. But it's always been there.

How we orient yourself on earth is through sounds you hear when you walk. In the anechoic chamber, you don't have any cues. You take away the perceptual cues that allow you to balance and maneuver.

Silence the Ultimate Frontier. Or is it? - Part 1

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 01 Nov 2013 20:39:00 GMT

Outer Space the Ultimate Quiet

In the motion picture Gravity (2013), NASA astronaut Matt Kowalski and Dr. Ryan Stone are performing an outer space walk while performing repairs on the Hubble Telescope. Kowalski asks Dr. Stone, “What do you like best about this place?” Dr. Stone responds, “Silence.”

Outer space is the ultimate silent place. If you shouted in outer space, even the person right next to you would not be able to hear what you said. Why is this? Sound propagates (spreads) as pressure waves through a medium, such as air (gas), water (liquid) or solids such as metals, wood or glass. What we call "sound" is actually vibrations in the air.

Because space is almost vacuum (space that is empty of matter), there is no air and thus there is also no sound. So don’t bother trying to tell your astro-buddy that his space fly is down unless you’re communicating through a space suite communication device: He isn’t going to hear you. In the movie, Dr. Stone talks about how peaceful it is in space and she feels at peace with herself when she realizes that she might die in space after a debris field rendered their space shuttle useless for flight.

Why does Dr. Ryan feel so peaceful in space by the lack of noise? It seems obvious to us, but I’m not sure most of us can truly appreciate what going from a world full of noise from cars, trucks, airplanes trains, construction equipment, generators, chillers constant human talking to a place void of sound.

The decibel (abbreviated dB) is the unit used to measure the intensity of a sound. There is no such thing as zero when it comes to sound. While zero decibels is technically demarcated as the threshold for the human ability to hear sound, some people can decipher sounds in the negative decibel range. Normal speaking voices are around 65 dB. A rock concert can be about 120 dB.

On earth, there are few places where you can achieve a truly sound and noise-free environment. The typical quiet room — such as your bedroom late at night — has an ambient noise level of about 30 decibels, caused by the rustling of sheets, the hum of the air conditioner or heater, and similar sources of white noise. Imagine being in an environment where you can hear the fluids moving in your own body.

What if you want to measure how loud a consumer product is, for example a cell phone’s ring or the hum of an Xbox game system or computer, or a dishwasher. You are better off doing so in an environment with little to no ambient noise. Much of this type of testing is done in rooms called an anechoic chambers(left).

Read more about anechoic chambers in Part 2 of this blog post coming very soon.

How We Hear Sound

Thomas Wiseman — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 14:54:00 GMT

Pitch and Frequency

A sound wave (waves that carry sound), like any other wave, is introduced into a medium (like air or water) by a vibrating object. Sound can’t travel through a vacuum (an area empty of matter). The vibrating object is the source of the disturbance that moves through the medium. The vibrating object that creates the disturbance could be a residential or
commercial generator or HVAC unit, a stereo speaker, a person talking, or other things. Regardless of what object is, the particles of the medium through which the sound moves is vibrating in a back and forth motion at a given frequency.

Three characteristics are used to describe a sound wave.These are wavelength, frequency and amplitudel

- Wavelength: This is the distance from the crest of the one wave to the crest of the next.

- Frequency: This is the number of waves that pass appoint in each sound.

- Amplitude: This is the measure of the amount of energy in a sound wave.

The frequency of a wave refers to how oftenthe particles of the medium vibrate when a wave passes through the medium. It is measured as the number of complete back-and-forth

vibrations of a particle of the medium per unit of time. If a particle of air undergoes 1000 longitudinal vibrations in 2 seconds, then the frequency of the wave would be 500 vibrations per second. A commonly used unit for frequency is the Hertz (abbreviated Hz).

Humans can hear sounds at frequencies from about 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, though we hear sounds best from 1,000 Hz to 5,000 Hz, where human speech is centered. Hearing loss may reduce the range of frequencies a person can hear. It is common for people to lose their ability to hear higher frequencies as they get older.

Sounds at some frequencies are perceived as louder to the human ear than sounds at certain other frequencies, even though they may actually have the same dB level.

How we hear sound

This demonstrates two interesting facts about how we hear:

1. The lower the frequency, the less sensitive the human ear is to it, especially sounds below 100 Hz.

2. The human ear is most sensitive to sounds around 4000 Hz.

How we measure sound levels

A sound level meter is used to measure sound pressure levels. Since the human ear is not equally sensitive to all sound levels, most sound level meters have internal frequency weighting systems to give readings equivalent to how we hear sound levels. These weighting systems are designated as A, B, and C weightings. Today only the A and C weightings are used. The A weighting is used most frequently because it yields sound measurements that most closely reﬂect how we actually hear.

Background Noise Adds to Creativity, But Not If it's Too Loud

Thomas Wiseman — Thu, 24 Oct 2013 19:35:00 GMT

How much background sound is acceptable?

Background Noise is the noise level at a given location and time, measured in the absence of any alleged noise nuisance or sound sources being studied. It is also referred to as the ambient or residual noise. Background noise is a form of noise pollution or interference. Examples of background noises are environmental noises such as waves, traffic noise, alarms, people talking, bioacoustic noise from animals or birds and mechanical noise from devices such as refrigerators or air conditioning, power supplies or motors.

Noise is defined as unwanted sound. Whether we are in our homes, workplaces, or outdoors, we will almost certainly be exposed to a certain level of background or ambient sound. Before we can begin to solve a noise control problem, we must determine how much background sound is acceptable. We can never create, nor do we really want, a completely sound-free environment. We do not wish to live in a world without sound.

The question becomes: at what level does background sound become too loud for a particular situation? A moderate level of background sound can be helpful when it prevents private conversation in the home or workplace from being overheard by nearby listeners, yet doesn’t make it difficult for those conversing to be heard by each other.

Very low level background sound can even contribute to sleep or rest when not interrupted by intermittent or sudden loud noises. In some public places, a somewhat higher level of background sound may be acceptable. Other places, such as auditoriums and concert halls where very low background sound levels are required, present particular problems in sound control.

Background Noise Contributes to More Creativity

Researchers asked 65 students at the University of British Columbia to perform various creative tasks while noises recorded at a roadside restaurant were played in the background. In one experiment, for example, scientists asked participants to brainstorm ideas for a new type of mattress. Test subjects had the most success when the noise in the background was noticeable, but not jarring.

The researchers found that test subjects were at their most creative when background noise was measured at 70 decibels, a level one might find in a fairly busy coffee shop. A nearly silent environment (50 decibels) was too quiet. Cranking up the volume to 85 decibels (for example, adding a jackhammering laborer outside your building) is counterproductive; the noise becomes a distraction.

Office Noise Negatively Impacts Concentration and the Bottom Line: Part 4

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 18 Oct 2013 19:40:00 GMT

Acoustical Design and Treatments

Most office environments have poor acoustical design and often lack modern day sound mitigating systems which reduce office noise and make the environment more pleasant for office workers. In the open plan office, the acoustical performance of panels, ceilings, floors and walls must be controlled if speech privacy is to be maintained. The overall noise level should be compatible with the intended use of the space. If your office is noisy, some possible treatments include:

• Add sound barrier materials to block noise or acoustical insulation to absorb noise inside wall joists.

• Use acoustical sound panels near cubicles as barriers or use acoustical “cloud” panels overhead to absorb sound.

• Add a thin layer of acoustical wall cover material on top of drywall.

• Hang acoustical sound absorbing décor on the walls.

These types of acoustical materials reduce the amount and intensity of noise in an office building and can decrease stress and increase productivity.

Benefits of Installing Office Soundproofing

The extensive use of open-plan design for offices has highlighted the problems related to the acoustical conditions in these environments. Installing soundproofing materials in the office:

• Decreases employee distraction, which ultimately increases concentration and the quality of their work.

• Reduces stress along with mental and physical fatigue.

• Makes conversations clearer, resulting in better communication between employees.

• Provides a more pleasant working environment.

• Keeps work areas more private. A lack of employee communication privacy is a common complaint in most offices.

• Help keep sensitive company information more private.

• Help employees stay focused for longer periods of time.

Office Noise Negatively Impacts Concentration and the Bottom Line: Part 3

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 16 Oct 2013 21:30:00 GMT

Interfering Physical Noises

People differentiate unconsciously between good and bad sounds. People call many different kinds of sounds "noise." What is called a noise is highly subjective, depending on its loudness and sound characteristics, the same sound can be called a "pleasant noise" by some people while exactly the same sound can be called an "unpleasant noise" by other people.

Interfering noises (or interfering sounds) are sounds with a negative sound quality, that is, the sound event leads to a hearing event, which is perceived as unpleasant, disturbing and interfering. This sound event usually releases negative associations. A noise can be characterized as interfering, if it fulfills at least one of the following conditions:

• A sound is unpleasant and interferes with what they are doing.

• The sound quality is worse than expected. The extent to which the person feels disturbed (little or high) is not relevant.

• A sound occurs without the user expecting the sound event.

While most office workers have become accustomed to telephones ringing at 65 plus decibels and copy machines running at 70-plus decibels, an interfering noise doesn't necessarily have to be loud. A mosquito can produce considerable disturbing sound, although it is comparatively quiet with a volume of only approximately 30 decibels. A large housefly from 9 feet (3.0 m) makes a noise of 40 decibels. These may be perceived as unpleasant sounds to many when heard or experienced. By contrast, an orchestra might produce very pleasant sounds, even if its volume amounts to nearly 90 decibels of sound.

Office Noise Negatively Impacts Concentration and the Bottom Line: Part 2

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:45:00 GMT

Source of Office Noise

Most people have seen the NBC mockumentary sitcom "The Office," which brilliantly told stories about the current contemporary work culture. The show depicted the tribulations that arise when a group of people occupy the same open office space out of necessity rather than choice. While NBC's version of The Office skewered the monotony that is working in an office in an over the top fashion, it does show how noise and distractions impact those around them.

Internal office noise can include ringing telephones and fax machines, loudspeaker paging systems, copy machines, HVAC systems, rustling paper, and other things. There are also occasional external noises that can make their way into an office building which occur during the course of a day. If you work near an outside wall of a building or near a window or door leading to the outside, you may hear noises from automobiles and trucks, airplanes, or noise from motorized landscaping machines such as lawnmowers, trimmers, or blowers.

Noise doesn't have to come from machines or equipment to be distracting or cause interference to our concentration abilities. In fact, speech, especially chit chat, ranks highest on the list of annoying office noise, according to a paper for the National Research Council of Canada.

Conversations that occur around you all day long are a major source of indoor office noise. While dialogue and interaction is a big part of a business on a day-to-day basis, many of these occur in places where the noise is not contained. It’s often difficult to hear over them and think as clearly as you normally do when they are audible. Studies with a specific focus on speech sounds have shown that the more intelligible the background speech is, the lower the performance says study author Helena Jahncke, Ph.D., a professor of environmental psychology at the University of Gälve in Sweden. It’s not clear exactly why this is, but one theory is that your brain automatically wants to devote mental resources to understanding speech, so that means less brain power devoted to your own thoughts, Jahncke explains.

At any given time, a cubicle worker may be overhearing one or more phone conversations, water cooler chats, impromptu meetings, bull sessions, and even co-workers muttering at their computers. These activities can occur at decibel levels that range from 65 – 75 decibels or louder. These distractions often drown out our own thoughts, turning us into involuntary eavesdroppers.

Watch for Part 3 of this 4 part blog post series on office noise!

Office Noise Negatively Impacts Concentration and Company's Bottom Line

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 20:41:00 GMT

Office Noise Can Increase Tension and Stress

Improving acoustics with office soundproofing pays for itself by the increase in your company's productivity. Although some people think that they function efficiently in a noisy and hectic environment, research shows that decibel levels over 60 can reduce a person's attention span. This can become a problem in an office environment where productivity is the order of the day and has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line.

Noise in the workplace can increase tension and stress and lower productivity for workers who are exposed to low to moderate levels throughout the day, according to a 2001 Cornell University study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

A normal conversation takes place at about 60 decibels and usual office background noise ranges from approximately 45-55 decibels. When workers are placed close together in open rooms or in rooms with many people talking at the same time, decibel levels can rise to 70 decibels and higher. A decibel is a term used to measure sound. For every increase of 10 decibels, sound is perceived to be twice as loud to the human ear. Exposure to sounds of 85 decibels or higher over a prolonged period can cause hearing damage. For this reason, workplace noise is regulated by most countries.

Office work is a mental activity that requires concentration and focus. Complex tasks such as programming, engineering, writing, analysis, and design work often involve the psychological state of flow. This is a fragile state of concentration that can take fifteen minutes or more to engage and is easily broken by distractions such as irrelevant speech or someone interrupting unexpectedly.

I'm Thinking. Please. Be Quiet

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 17:25:00 GMT

__________________________________________________________________________________

The following is an excerpt from Author George Prochnik that ran in the New York Times Opinion Pages on Sunday, on August 24, 2013. George Prochnik is the author of the forthcoming book “The Impossible Exile.” ___________________________________________________________________________________

Slamming doors, banging walls, bellowing strangers and whistling neighbors were the bane of the (19th Century German) philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s (shown above) existence. But it was only in later middle age, after he had moved with his beloved poodle to the commercial hub of Frankfurt, that his sense of being tortured by loud, often superfluous blasts of sound ripened into a philosophical diatribe. Then, around 1850, Schopenhauer pronounced noise to be the supreme archenemy of any serious thinker.

His argument against noise was simple: A great mind can have great thoughts only if all its powers of concentration are brought to bear on one subject, in the same way that a concave mirror focuses light on one point.

Just as a mighty army becomes useless if its soldiers are scattered helter-skelter, a great mind becomes ordinary the moment its energies are dispersed.

And nothing disrupts thought the way noise does, Schopenhauer declared, adding that even people who are not philosophers lose whatever ideas their brains can carry in consequence of brutish jolts of sound.

From the vantage point of our own auditory world, with its jets, jackhammers, HVAC systems, truck traffic, cellphones, horns, decibel-bloated restaurants and gyms on acoustical steroids, Schopenhauer’s mid-19th century complaints sound almost quaint. His biggest gripe of all was the “infernal cracking” of coachmen’s whips. (If you think a snapping line of
rawhide’s a problem, buddy, try the Rumbler Siren.) But if noise did shatter thought in the past, has more noise in more places further diffused our cognitive activity?

Environmental noise calls attention to itself — splits our own attention, regardless of willpower. We jerk to the tug of noise like sonic marionettes. There’s good reason for this. Among mammals, hearing developed as an early warning system; the human ear derived from the listening apparatus of very small creatures. Their predators were very big, and there were many of them.

The evolved ear is an extraordinary amplifier. By the time the brain registers a sound, our auditory mechanism has jacked the volume several hundredfold from the level at which the sound wave first started washing around the loopy whirls of our ears. This is why, in a reasonably quiet room, we actually can hear a pin drop. Think what a tiny quantity of sound energy is released by a needle striking a floor! Our ancestors needed such hypersensitivity, because every standout noise signified a potential threat.

There has been a transformation in our relationship to the environment over the millions of years since the prototype for human hearing evolved, but part of our brain hasn’t registered the makeover.

Every time a siren shrieks on the street, our conscious minds might ignore it, but other brain regions behave as if that siren were a predator barreling straight for us. Given how many sirens city dwellers are subject to over the course of an average day, and the attention-fracturing tension induced by loud sounds of every sort, it’s easy to see how sensitivity to noise, once an early warning system for approaching threats, has become a threat in itself.

Indeed, our capacity to tune out noises — a relatively recent adaptation — may itself pose a danger, since it allows us to neglect the physical damage that noise invariably wreaks. A Hyena (Hypertension and Exposure to Noise Near Airports) study published in 2009 examined the effects of aircraft noise on sleeping subjects. The idea was to see what effect noise had, not only on those awakened by virtual fingernails raking the blackboard of the night sky, but on the hardy souls who actually slept through the thunder of overhead jets.

The findings were clear: even when people stayed asleep, the noise of planes taking off and landing caused blood pressure spikes, increased pulse rates and set off vasoconstriction and the release of stress hormones. Worse, these harmful cardiovascular responses continued to affect individuals for many hours after they had awakened and gone on with their days.

As Dr. Wolfgang Babisch, a lead researcher in the field, observed, there is no physiological habituation to noise. The stress of audible assault affects us psychologically even when we don’t consciously register noise.

In American culture, we tend to regard sensitivity to noise as a sign of weakness or killjoy prudery. To those who complain about sound levels on the streets, inside their homes and across a swath of public spaces like stadiums, beaches and parks, we say: “Suck it up. Relax and have a good time.” But the scientific evidence shows that loud sound is physically debilitating. A recent World Health Organization report on the burden of disease from environmental noise conservatively estimates that Western Europeans lose more than one million healthy life years annually as a consequence of noise-related disability and disease. Among environmental hazards, only air pollution causes more damage.

A while back, I was interviewed on a call-in radio station serving remote parts of Newfoundland. One caller lived in a village with just a few houses and almost no vehicular traffic. Her family had been sitting in the living room one evening when the power suddenly cut off. They simultaneously exhaled a sigh of relief. All at once, the many electronic devices around them (including the refrigerator, computers, generator, lamps and home entertainment systems and the unnatural ambient hum they generated and to which the family had become oblivious) went silent. The family members didn’t realize until the sound went off how loud it had become. Without knowing it, each family member’s mental energy was constantly diverted by and responsive to the threat posed by that sound.

Where does this leave those of us facing less restrained barrages? Could a critical mass of sound one day be reached that would make sustained thinking impossible?

Is quiet a precondition of democracy? The Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter suggested it might just be. “The men whose labors brought forth the Constitution of the United States had the street outside Independence Hall covered with earth so that their deliberations might not be disturbed by passing traffic,” he once wrote. “Our democracy presupposes the deliberative process as a condition of thought and of responsible choice by the electorate.”

The quiet in Independence Hall was not the silence of a monastic retreat, but one that encouraged listening to others and collaborative statesmanship; it was a silence that made them more receptive to the sound of the world around them.

Most people who are seeking more serenity from the acoustical environment aren’t asking for the silence of the tomb. We just believe we should be able to hear ourselves think.

_______________________________

Read George Prochnik’s full article

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/opinion/sunday/im-thinking-please-be-quiet.html?pagewanted=all

Learn more about Arthur Schopenhauer

Among 19th century philosophers, Arthur Schopenhauer was among the first to contend that at its core, the universe is not a rational place. (source: Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Schopenhauer

KEEP READING: MORE NOISE RELATED BLOGS FOLLOW

Is There a Noise Problem in My Industrial Plant?

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:32:00 GMT

Above: Acoustiblok's Quiet-Cloud industrial noise panels absorb noise in this Yuengling bottling facility.

Industrial noise is usually considered mainly from the point of view of environmental health and safety, rather than nuisance, as sustained exposure can cause permanent hearing damage. Equipment used in a factory can be extremely loud. Everything from rotors, gears, fans, chillers, internal combustion engines, pumps, heavy machinery, etc., can be seen in industrial settings. All of this equipment can produce noise at decibel levels high enough to create environmental health and safety concerns.

Measures for controlling industrial noise are necessary to protect workers. Louder noise can also become a nuisance and may be considered noise pollution, in which case a community may require a company to take action and address it. When dealing with industrial noise mitigation, if possible, the goal is to always control the noise at the source by modifying the equipment itself or replacing it with a quieter model. However, for many companies, this is not always possible. Also, sometimes noise in a factory or industrial setting is the result of many machines running simultaneously.

Previous research has found that workplace noise led to severe health problems and resulted in significant increases in healthcare costs in many companies.

Noise Control

When an industrial operation is seeking compliance with OSHA noise regulations, the sound level regulation is a function of both sound level and daily exposure time. If the measurements reveal an excessive combination of sound levels and exposure times, a noise problem exists.

Depending on your budget and in-house capabilities, to find out whether you have a noise problem:

• It’s is always best to have an Industrial Hygienist identify the source of the noise and perform a noise measurement using proper instrumentation. Once you have their report, it can be given to a noise abatement company such as Acoustiblok who can help you find a solution using their soundproofing materials. If this is not an option:

• You can purchase a sound level meter, research how sound is measured and what the decibel levels mean, perform your own tests, and compare the results with OSHA noise workplace standards. If outdoor, also compare with your local city noise ordinance noise levels. If this is not possible:

• Another method is to try to talk comfortably with someone about 3.28 feet away (1 meter) from the noise source. If you can, there is probably not enough plant noise at that position to damage hearing. But if you, or others, must raise your voice above normal conversation levels (about 70 decibels) or shout to be heard or understood at close distances (between .6 foot to 1.3 feet (20 to 40 cm), plant noise at that position probably can cause hearing loss and you should have the sound levels there measured with suitable instruments.

• If you are certain you have a noise problem, some soundproofing material companies, like Acoustiblok, have in-house acoustical professionals who will assist you in determining your noise problem and with finding a soundproofing solution.

It’s also important to check noise traveling out of the noisy plant area as well. If personnel in other parts of the plant complain, you should investigate and measure the levels of the sound they hear. If plant neighbors complain, or if local authorities say the sound exceeds applicable noise ordinances, a problem may exist and measurements are called for.

Once A Noise Problem is Identified

Remember that the sound is a form of energy. Your goal therefore is to reduce the amount of sound energy released by the noise source, or divert the flow of (sound) energy away from the receiver, or protect the receiver from the (sound) energy reaching the person. In other words, all noise controls work at the noise source, along the noise path, or at the receiver.

Once you have identified and measured the source of noise, you are ready to consider what can be done to control the noise. When you can’t modify the equipment itself to mitigate the noise, the next best options are to block and absorb the sound using modern soundproofing systems.

The presence of reflecting surfaces (walls, floors, ceilings, and equipment) in an industrial workplace results in the build-up of sound levels in the reverberant field. By controlling the reflected sound (i.e. by preventing the reflections), reverberant field sound levels can be reduced. Generally, the reflections are prevented by use of these acoustically absorbent materials applied directly to wall or ceiling surfaces or suspended from the ceiling.

The key to noise control is finding the control that is both effective and fits your budget. You should know not only what controls can work, but also know how costly the controls are to design and install.

Some acoustical soundproofing companies, like Acoustiblok, use leading noise prediction software, such as DataKustik’s Cadna-A and Cadna-R, to develop acoustical models of the soundproofing solution being proposed before it is purchased and installed for some complex noise problems.

U.S. CDC Study Links Highway Noise Pollution to Widespread Sleep Disturbances, Risk of Heart Attack and High Blood Pressure

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 16:44:00 GMT

A study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) found that 2.3 percent of people in Fulton County, Ga., (where Atlanta is), are exposed to significant levels of highway noise that can disrupt sleep. Extrapolated to other urban areas, this research suggests that rates of such sleep disturbances could be very high in the United States – and annoyance and sleep disruption from road traffic noise have been connected to health problems such as heart attacks and hypertension.

The study also concluded that the results indicate that it may be important for the public's health to update existing noise-related policies or develop new ones to control and abate noise concerns in urban communities.

The study appeared in the October 2012 issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine under the title “Road Traffic Noise: Annoyance, Sleep Disturbance, and Public Health Implications,” by Minho Kim and colleagues. Researchers studied traffic noise levels in Fulton County from 2009 to 2011 and predicted that "109,967 people would be at risk of being highly annoyed, with 19,621 people at risk for high sleep disturbance” in the county. Data analysis was performed in 2010–2011.

The study used a sound-propagation model for noise-level prediction and derived noise-impact indicators for annoyance and sleep disturbance from exposure-response models. Then, annoyed and sleep-disturbed populations were predicted with the use of each noise-impact indicator.

This study demonstrated that urban communities in the U.S. might be at risk of high exposures to road traffic noise. However, more studies will be required to gain insights into the severity of road traffic noise in U.S. urban communities that is related to populations with high levels of annoyance and sleep disturbance.

The World Health Organization has recognized environmental noise as harmful pollution that causes adverse psychosocial and physiologic effects (i.e., annoyance and sleep disturbance) on human health. In Europe, noise-related health studies have been actively conducted, but the U.S. has lagged behind in this research field.

Previous Traffic Noise Research in the U.S.

The U.S. vigorously conducted noise-related research during the 1970s, following the Noise Control Act of 1972. The Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) coordinated all noise abatement and control programs in the nation. The ONAC's research activities were codified in the Quiet Communities Act of 1978, which established noise sources that are subject to regulation and noise emission standards. Because federal funding for ONAC was discontinued in 1981, noise abatement programs have been shifted to state and local governments. Since then, there have been few recent studies assessing the impact of road traffic noise on health in the U.S.

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the U.S. Census Bureau conducted an American Housing Survey (AHS) for 38 metropolitan areas, including metropolitan Atlanta. The survey included noise-related questions. In approximately 29% of target household units, respondents indicated that they felt the impact of street or traffic noise.

How Severe Are the Potential Impacts of Ground Vehicular Traffic Noise in Other Large U.S. Cities?

These results give rise to the following question: how severe are the potential impacts of ground vehicular traffic noise in other large U.S. urban communities? The summary of the American Housing Survey (AHS) from the U.S. Census Bureau provides a partial answer to this question. It summarizes data from the AHS questions of vehicular traffic noise on the street for 38 metropolitan areas, focusing on the percentage of noise presence, the percentage of those who deemed it bothersome, and the percentage of those who want to move because of being bothered by noise.

Taking into account the summary, the current research results, and the fact that the Atlanta metropolitan area had the lowest percentage of households (14%) reporting the presence of road traffic noise among all surveyed households, it may be assumed that even more people would be annoyed in other densely populated U.S. metropolitan areas.

Read the entire Foulton County, Ga., traffic noise study in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine at:

LEARN HOW TO CREATE A QUIETER SLEEPING ENVIRONMENT IN YOUR BEDROOM WITH MODERN ACOUSTIBLOK SOUNDPROOFING MATERIAL

Noise is a Severe Problem in India

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 20:14:00 GMT

Over the past decade, India has tried to get quieter, but is it working? Noise pollution is still a severe problem in India and may have harmful consequences on human health over time. Noise regulations were introduced in India about a decade ago, setting noise limits in industrial, commercial and residential areas, with stiff fines for offenders. Despite this, there is still little awareness or care about the dangers of noise pollution by many who live there. Because of a lack of manpower to enforce the laws or vested interests of politicians or the so called powerful lobby, noise legislation is not enforced effectively some experts claim.

India is the seventh largest country by area and the second most populous country with more than 1.2 billion people. Since 1991, continuing economic liberation has moved the country towards a market-based economy. By 2008, India had established itself as one of the world's fastest growing economies.

Some of the general noise problems in India include:

- Industrial and construction activities

- Traffic noise

- Automotive traffic and honking of horns

- Fire crackers

- Generator sets

- Loud speakers

- Music systems.

Air and road traffic in India and many developing countries have increased at amazingly rapid rates. While they may be symbols of growth and prosperity their engines have raised the noise levels in and above many cities. Aviation noise are among the biggest contributors to noise pollution. Then there is the cumulative impact of powerful music systems (personal and conventional) and noise within the home (loud music and television for instance) that are increasingly becoming the source of many noise related ailments.

For some countries, including India, celebrations and festivities mean escalation of noise. Fire crackers and loudspeakers add to traffic noises which reverberate through crowded housing colonies, causing one of the world’s least recognised public health hazards – noise pollution. Infants, elderly and those who are ill are most vulnerable to noise pollution.

India’s Noise Control Regulatory Measures

India’s Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act of 1981 considers noise pollution an air pollutant. In 2000, the Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules set ambient air quality standards in respect of noise (in decibels, dB) for industrial, commercial and residential areas and silence zones. They also direct state governments to undertake measures for “abatement of noise” resulting from vehicular movements and horns, fire crackers and loud speakers or public address systems, and to ensure that noise levels do not exceed the permissible limits.

The Supreme Court of India gave a significant verdict on noise pollution in 2005. Unnecessary honking of vehicles makes for a high decibel level of noise in cities. The use of loudspeakers for political purposes and for sermons by temples and mosques makes noise pollution in residential areas worse.

Watch this Video News Broadcast About India's Noise Laws

In January 2010, Government of India published norms of permissible noise levels in urban and rural areas:

Source: Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India

Civil organizations have combated noise pollution by taking up the matter to local development authorities or by taking legal recourse. Indian judiciary has sought to provide respite to tormented petitioners through a number of judgments. For example, the Supreme Court has banned the use of loudspeakers and “bursting sound-emitting” fire crackers between 10 pm and 6 am. Nevertheless, the issue of noise pollution is unrelentingly grave. This is primarily because of poor law enforcement, owing to the absence of accountability for police and civic administration almost across the country, and the lack of civic sense among people.

The Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests launched the Real Time Ambient Noise Monitoring Network in 2011 to address the lack of real-time data. Under its first phase, automatic monitoring stations were set up in seven cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Lucknow. The data received from these stations showed that the noise levels were far above permissible limits. For example, commercial areas reported 93 dB in breach of the 65 dB limit, whereas the entire city of Chennai reported noise levels at over 100 dB, prompting an article in the Times of India (April 27, 2011) to equate living in Chennai with “living in a factory!”

India’s Loudest Cities

Indian cities are known to be pretty noisy. According to one estimate, Mumbai is one of the noisiest cities on earth battered day and night by cars, taxis, auto rickshaws horn, factory noise, construction work, etc. Outside noise levels there are at a constant 80-85 decibels which is considered twice the safe levels determined by the World Health Organization (W.H.O). Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million. Along with the neighboring urban areas, including the cities of Navi Mumbai and Thane, it is one of the most populous urban regions in the world. Mumbai was the site of terrorist attacks in 2008. In Mumbai and Calcutta, local court orders on the use of loudspeakers, firecrackers and horns have been implemented fairly successfully.

Get a feel for traffic noise in Mumbai by watching this video someone made of them walking up Station Road, Santa Cruz in Mumbai

In Delhi, as reported by India Today (November 4, 2012), the noise level is 16 times higher than the prescribed limit, mostly because of the “unregulated and overloaded” trucks, sparing not even the patients in AIIMS and Safdarjang Hospital. In the Capital and other parts of the country, operation of factories in residential areas is another source of day-to-day distress, especially affecting the students and ailing residents.

Harmful Effects of Excessive Noise Exposure

Auditory damage from excessive noise was known hundred years of ago but only few people were exposed to excessive noise. The position changed rapidly with the advent of power-driven machinery. Today, noise has become omnipresent. The W.H.O. estimates that 120 million people world wide have hearing difficulties. The W.H.O. underlines that loud noise can create high blood pressure problems and mental health issues. Health experts argue noise pollution in India is a major cause of heart attacks and other stress related illnesses.

The following are some general health problems produced by constant loud noise:

- High blood pressure: Studies have found that people who live near a noisy airport, work in a noisy environment, or hear over 55 decibels of city traffic noise at night are at higher risk of high blood pressure.

- Trouble sleeping: Noise can make it tough to sleep.

- Emotional effects: The stress caused by noise can make mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, distress, and irritability.

- Decrease in the ability to concentrate.

- Hearing loss

- Poor school performance: Children in school do not perform as well in a noisy environment.

- Mental fatigue

- Headaches: Noise can trigger headaches in some people.

- Discomfort to patients in hospitals.

- May reduce efficiency and output of employees in the workplace.

Soundproofing Material Can Help Bring Tranquility Back to Your Home

There are many soundproofing materials that can be used to mitigate the noise coming in from the outside of your residence. One of the most effective materials on the market is Acoustiblok soundproofing material.

Adding a 3mm (1/8 inch) layer of the UL-approved Acoustiblok material increases a standard stud wall’s soundproofing factor by more than 98-percent and can result in more sound reduction than 12-inches of poured concrete. While other materials attempt to “stop” or “absorb” sound, Acoustiblok does neither. As the heavy, limp Acoustiblok material vibrates from the sound, it actually “transforms” the acoustical energy into “inaudible friction energy” in a process referred to as “isothermal adiabatic.” Lead, previously considered the best soundproofing, works on precisely the same basis and has exactly the same Sound Transmission Classification (STC) sound reduction rating. This material has been featured on some Do-It-Yourself Television Network shows in the United States. This materials has been in use for more than a decade across the world and has proven to be effective at reducing noise inside residential and commercial buildings. Acoustiblok material was named was a "Best Products" award winner in Builder News Magazine.

Click on the following video to see how easily Acoustiblok can be installed inside your walls.

In an existing structure, other soundproofing materials are available that can create a quieter environment inside your home or residence. One of these materials is called Acoustiblok-Wallcover. This material can provide tranquility in the study or nursery when the television or home theater is at full volume in the adjacent room. Any room in the house can become a sanctuary with Acoustiblok Wallcover, so piano practice in the music room won’t interfere with reading or quiet conversation in the bedroom. For business and professional associations that must provide private conference and meeting rooms, Acoustiblok Wallcover is a perfect solution for preventing conversations from being heard in adjacent rooms. Attorneys, physicians, and law enforcement agencies must be able to provide private, soundproof rooms to assure client confidentiality and to protect sensitive information discussed during corporate meetings.

Acoustiblok Wallcover’s flexible material measures approximately ¼ of an inch thick, and is available in 4-foot by 8-foot sections. Weighing about one pound per square foot, Acoustiblok Wallcover is fairly heavy, which is why it takes two or three people to install. A simple box cutter is all that is needed to create cutouts for electric sockets and light switch panels. The material can be painted to match the decor of any room.

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References:

Mr.R.R.Nair, Noise Pollution - Critical Overview; Industrial Safety Review, India's Leading Monthly Magazine on Fire Safety & Electronic Security Industry.Sept, 2012

Romi Jain, author - Global Views

DIY Television Network, USA

WHAT'S YOUR OPINION? COULD NOISE LEVELS AND HIGH STRESS LEVELS WOMEN IN INDIA BE RELATED?

http:/http://newsfeed.time.com/2011/07/13/study-for-women-india-is-the-most-stressful-country-on-earth/

USA Today Says Noise is Most Common Neighbor Dispute

Thomas Wiseman — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 16:35:00 GMT

According to a USA Today newspaper article of July 12, 2013 that cites a Findlaw.com source, noise is the most common neighbor dispute. The following are some excerpts from another FindLaw.com article:

There are several reactive actions you can take including:

• Research the noise and nuisance laws that prohibit excessive and unhealthy noise. Check on your county or city website, or simply Google: “Noise ordinance, (your county name). You should get many web listings for information.

• Talk to your neighbor about the noise issue. If nothing results from that, you can call the police and even take legal action against them, although you’re probably not going to remain friends once you go that far

A “Proactive” Option: Soundproof Your Home

There is one sure way that you can ensure that neighbor noise doesn’t affect you while you are in your home. It puts the solution in your hands and is proactive. Soundproofing your walls will help create a quieter environment in your own home and will help block irritating outside noise from invading your space.

Acoustiblok soundproofing material has been featured on DIY Network Shows. It is a flexible, dense membrane that can actually absorb noise. As Acoustiblok vibrates from sound, it actually transforms the acoustical energy into inaudible friction energy. Lead, previously considered the best soundproofing, works on this same principle. Annoying train sounds, construction equipment sound, music, etc. is abated by Acoustiblok. It goes on the studs of the wall before the drywall goes up. You can put it under your subfloor and put it in your walls to make your house quieter.

Click On the Links Below and See Acoustiblok Soundproofing Material For Yourself

http:/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIxwNvhCoy4 (blocking sound)

http:/http:/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOWwY4QMsM8 (home theater installation)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDFuwVJlgEQ (installation how to video)

A More Technical Explanation of Acoustiblok

• Acoustiblok can reduce sound transmission by as much as 30 db depending on the frequencies.

• Acoustiblok soundproofing material is a unique barium free flexible 1/8" thick 1.1 lb. psf U.L. Classified, high STC reinforced dense noise isolating material which is utilized as a structural treatment for reducing sound transmission.

• Acoustiblok material contains no lead, barium or asbestos materials.

• Acoustiblok material is specifically formulated to meet rigid requirements such that it is approved by U.L. for walls, ceilings and floors (see U.L. classification), also U.K. tested "B.S. 476: part 7".

• Acoustiblok material is typically applied as part of layered wall, ceiling or floor construction. It is usually stapled to wood studs or screwed to metal studs prior to drywall.

• Acoustiblok material has the same sound deadening effectiveness as lead without lead's problems. A typical 2 x 4 gypsum stud wall is usually 33 to 35 STC. Just one layer of Acoustiblok installed in the 2 x 4 wall is lab certified at an amazing "STC of 52" (STC 53 if with MTL studs), better than 12" of poured concrete (STC 51).

Why Can’t I Just Use Additional Drywall?

Independent certified laboratory test results demonstrate using additional layers of drywall is not a substitute for an Acoustiblok installation: Beyond the fact that the STC of Acoustiblok is better, it is very important to understand and remember that the objective is to reduce what a person hears, and is annoyed by, from the other side of a wall.

Loud, Noisy Restaurants Make Food Taste Bland to Diners Study Says

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 21:28:00 GMT

It was a Thursday night and I was on my way home from a business networking function. I was hungry and the NBA finals game was on TV so I thought, “is there something good in my neighborhood?”

So I pulled into Applebee's and walked toward the door. A couple exited while I was walking up toward the door and the sound of Darius Rucker’s song Wagon Wheel roared out the open door. I thought to myself, did that just come from Applebee’s or someone’s car stereo. So I entered the door and low and behold, Applebee's had become part restaurant and part night club complete with a live DJ and loud amplified speakers. What was with all this restaurant noise, I thought.

I grabbed a wooden bar table which was located a few feet from the large wooden center bar. The server approaches and oddly leans in within about 2 inches of my face and asks what she can get me tonight. So I order an old favorite.

After listening to the songs Radioactive by the Imagine Dragons, All My Ex’s Live in Texas by George Straight, and Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke Feat at night club level, my chicken quesadilla arrived jumping and bumping. With my foot tapping, my head bobbing, and eyes focused on the basketball game, I set out to enjoy this normally reliable late night appetizer. But after a two pieces, it just wasn’t as tasty as it normally is. Something seemed different to my senses even though it looked the same. I even opened up a few pieces to check the ingredients inside the shell. What was going on? Should I complain to the manager about the taste? What if it’s not the food, but it’s me?

So I did what anyone who works for a sound proofing company would do: pull up the sound meter app on my Galaxy S3 smartphone and take a few readings. They read 87, 89 and 89 decibels. Those levels seemed more like night club noise levels than comfortable restaurant noise levels. Regular conversational speech occurs at approximately 60 decibels so patrons had to talk at louder levels which increased the total sound levels for the room. A vacuum cleaner runs at about 70 decibels and a garbage disposal at 80. Traffic on a busy roadway reaches sound levels between 80-90 decibels. A jackhammer can reach 100 decibels. A 10-12 decibel difference in sound level is perceived as half the sound to the human ear.

Then it hit me. Was this abnormally loud music interfering with my ability to experience the same taste as I normally do when the DJ is not playing loud music?

My Food Was Drowning in Loud Noise

An article I read earlier that day for a project popped into my head. The article was on The Scientific American website and was titled, “Restaurant Noise Can Alter Food Taste.” It said a noisy restaurant may drown out the taste of your food, making it bland. That’s exactly how my normally tasty quesadilla was tasting: bland. The Article referenced a study in the Food Quality and Preference Journal titled, "Effect of background noise on food perception [A.T. Woods et al]."

In the study, researchers recruited 48 college students, and fitted them with headphones playing either loud white noise, soft white noise, or nothing at all. Then the participants closed their eyes and chomped on snack foods like Pringles potato chips and cookies. The researchers discovered that the students listening to blaring static rated the chips as less salty and the cookies as less sweet—even though they were tasting the same foods as the other groups.

Other studies have shown that sound can interfere with how the brain processes smell; the researchers say the same could be true for taste. Does loud noise divert attention from the food's flavor?

Establishments are putting thought into what they want their customers to hear. But why? Is it all about atmosphere? Not according to science. First, when you eat in places with high noise levels, you lose the ability to accurately guage how sweet or salty your food is. It has to do with the way your brain is wired -- continual loud noises whip the neurons of your ear up into such a rage that for no reason they stage an all-out assault on the weaker neurons of your taste buds.

A cynical person could say that restaurants with lower quality food crank up the noise so that you're less likely to notice it, but we have no way of knowing that (maybe they just think the music adds to the "fun" atmosphere).

Diners and restaurant critics seem to agree that the noise level in a restaurant can make or break the dining experience. It’s a fine balance. If there's too much noise, customers may feel crowded and overwhelmed. Excessive noise can also lead to anxiety. If there's too little noise, customers may feel like their conversations can be overheard by absolutely everyone in the place.

Restaurant raters have taken note. Yelp has begun listing noise levels atop its ratings. OpenTable, a reservations service, allows reviewers to rate restaurants as "quiet," "moderate" or "energetic." Several national restaurant reviewers now factor sonic quality into their reports. The Rundown LA, which sends email blasts on local activities, provides noise ratings when it reviews eateries.

According to the nationwide Zagat survey, noise has become the second-biggest complaint among diners, behind lousy service. In Los Angeles, 18 percent of diners ranked noise as their top peeve in 2011, up from 12 percent in 2010.

Sources of Restaurant Noise

Restaurant acoustics is influenced by several variables including spacial arrangement, shape of the walls and ceiling, materials used, construction methods used, etc. Poor restaurant acoustics begins with noise. The following are some problem noise areas:

- Human conversation: Diners hold conversations during dinner. Multiply this noise by the hundreds, plus add in noise from other sources that cause diners to have to talk at higher than normal sound levels, and it often creates a very noisy environment.

- Bar and waiting areas: Certain areas in a restaurant are more active like around the bar and waiting area where patrons tend to be louder than in other areas.

- Building systems: This equipment can cause unwanted noise. A loud HVAC system can cause a build-up of noise forcing diners to increase their noise level. Noise from plumbing pipes can also be an unwanted noise source.

- Music: Most restaurants play music in the dining area which can cover other annoying sounds, such as HVAC or plumbing noise. Some play live music. If a restaurant is very reverberant and has high ceilings and a lot of reflective surfaces, music can add to the high noise problem.

- Exterior, Traffic and Roadway Noise: Noises from outside the restaurant, like traffic, construction, or the nearby neighborhood can also impact the interior of the restaurant. This can be a serious problem for restaurants near major highways, roadways, railways or airports.

- Adjacent Occupancies - Restaurants in shared buildings can get noise from adjacent occupants through walls between the two spaces.

- Public Address Systems/Intercoms - Some restaurants use loud intercom systems, which project sound, in their waiting areas during busy times to let then know their table is ready.

- The Kitchen: Many restaurants now have open kitchen designs, however in all kitchens, noise sources include clanging of pots, pans and dishes and talking among kitchen employees and service staff.

Acoustics and Sound Waves

A room’s acoustics have to do with the way sound travels, echoes, reverberates and resonates inside it. Concert halls, for example, are specifically designed to have just the right amount of reverberation. In many restaurants, there is very little sound absorption in these large rooms. especially in newer restaurants, and as a result, restaurant noise levels are on the rise despite many people not even realizing it.

Some restaurateurs are getting the message however and are looking for a middle ground between aesthetics, atmosphere and acoustics. At Applebee’s that night, they were playing louder than normal music more in line with night club sound levels. This type of special night is part of Applebee's efforts to bring excitement back into the restaurant in the evenings when they have drink and food happy hour prices. However, hard surfaces in the restaurant, such as the large wooden center bar; wooden tables, stools, booth benches; wooden tables and wall paneling, and hard tile floor adds to the reflective nature of the noise.

The way sound vibrations and waves behave affects the sounds we hear. Like any wave, a sound wave doesn't just stop when it reaches the end of the medium or when it encounters an obstacle in its path. Rather, a sound wave will undergo certain behaviors when it encounters the end of the medium or an obstacle. Possible behaviors include reflection off the obstacle, diffraction around the obstacle, and transmission (accompanied by refraction) into the obstacle or new medium

When a sound wave hits a hard, smooth surface, it bounces off it and changes direction. The hard surface reflects the sound in the same way as a mirror reflects light. Rigid, hard surfaces, such as wood, stone, brick or tiling (all commonly used materials in restaurants), reflect the most sound. The reflected sound waves travel back past your cars, so you hear the same sound again. Any sound energy that is not reflected is either absorbed or diffused. If it is absorbed, the energy is soaked up by the material. If it is diffused, it bounces off the surface but the waves are scattered and the sound becomes muffled.

One Potential Solution

There are many acoustical products that can be used to quiet restaurant noise such as sound panels, baffles, wall covering, ceiling panels, and acoustic insulation.

Many restaurant owners mistakenly attribute loud noise to a positive user experience. They think if it’s a busy, bustling and noisy place, the customers will have a good experience. Noise can be a good thing, but only if it’s controlled and not seen as a nuisance. So restaurant owners, like most in the residential and commercial building industry, are still only mildly incorporating acoustics planning into new construction projects.

Using modern acoustical materials such as Acoustiblok’s Quietfiber and Indoor Sound Panels, can reduce restaurant noise. The unique thing about it is its high NRC which is 1.00 unlike normal sound panels. This material can be wrapped with any fabric and put underneath tables, bars, on top of other places where you cannot see it. But nonetheless, it’s a point of sound absorption in which the sound will decay and not reflect off of. The more material that you can put in a room, the easier it is for dialogue and articulation with conversations of multiple people.

RELATED READING

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/834646

During A Tornado Emergency, Will Your Residential Standby Generator Be A Noise Nuisance?

Thomas Wiseman — Sat, 08 Jun 2013 00:02:00 GMT

Residential standby generators may not keep you safe or be important during a tornado, but when electrical power stations and electrical lines are knocked out and hundreds of thousands of homes are left without power, standby generators do make this difficult time more tolerable for as the system is repaired. Standby generators do not run all the time, but when they do run, most are typically loud and emit sound levels ranging from 65 – 100 plus decibels, which often times annoy neighbors who don't have generators and exceed most community noise ordinances.

Being without electrical power after a storm causes increased anxiety to those affected. Living near neighbors that operate loud standby generators without soundproofing will cause increased anxiety and tension during an already difficult situation. A generator enclosure is the generator's first line of defense against the elements. It’s important to not only keep it in good condition, but also important to have proper soundproofing materials built into your enclosure to absorb the noise and keep it to a tolerable level. Keeping your neighbors up with loud generator noise during power outages may make a normally nice neighbor not so pleasant.

USA - Tornado Alley of the World

According to Live Science.com, in terms of absolute tornado counts, the United States leads the list globally, with an average of more than 1,000 tornadoes recorded each year. A distant second is Canada, with around 100 per year. Eighty percent of tornadoes are EF0 and EF1 (T0 through T3) tornadoes. The rate of occurrence drops off quickly with increasing strength—less than 1 percent are violent tornadoes (EF4, T8 or stronger).Outside Tornado Alley, and North America in general, violent tornadoes are extremely rare.

Mother Nature Network.com website says that in the United States, tornado season tends to move northward from late winter to mid-summer. In Southern states, tornado season is typically from March to May. In the Southern Plains, it lasts from May to early June. On the Gulf Coast, tornadoes occur most often during the spring. And in the Northern Plains, Northern states and upper Midwest, peak season is in June or July.

The two regions with a disproportionately higher incidence of tornadoes are Florida and an area in the Midwest known as Tornado Alley, a large strip of land going north to south that covers the northern region of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the eastern edge of Colorado, southwest tip of South Dakota and the southern edge of Minnesota.

Florida’s high tornado frequency is the direct result of their daily thunderstorms coming from the ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the many tropical storms and hurricanes that affect the Florida peninsula.

In the Gulf Coast region, Dixie Alley refers to West Tennessee, West Kentucky, North Mississippi and North Alabama. These states experience a significantly later tornado season that occurs in the late fall from October through December.

Worst Tornado Outbreak Ever Recorded

The April 25–28, 2011 tornado outbreak was the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake, especially across the state of Alabama. It produced destructive tornadoes in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia, and affected many other areas throughout the Southern and Eastern United States. In total, 358 tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service in 21 states from Texas to New York and in southern Canada. Widespread and destructive tornadoes occurred on each day of the outbreak, with April 27 being the most active day with a record of 205 tornadoes touching down that day. Four of the tornadoes were destructive enough to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which is the highest ranking possible; typically these tornadoes are only recorded about once each year or less. In total, 348 people were killed as a result of the outbreak.

Power Outages Are Common With Tornadoes

Many severe tornadoes bring destruction to property and to electrical systems in large cities and small communities. Despite the U.S. tornado warning program, which began in 1957, death tolls – even with a growing population – have steadily decreased. Even with today's technology, there's still no way to control where these violent and destructive tornadoes go and what they will hit.

Media reports estimated that during the Alabama tornado outbreak on April 27 an estunated 262,000 electric “customers” (individual homes and businesses) were without electrical power. The electric utility industry assumes 3-4 people per customer which translates to approximately 786,000 to 1.4 million people being temporarily without electricity temporarily for a prolonged period of time. It can take anywhere from a few days to as many as 10 days or longer sometimes, depending on the situation and the damage.

Standby Generators: Remember the Soundproofing

All we can do to combat severe storms is to be prepared before they strike. These storms can develop quickly. Electrical power outages in general are happening more and more frequently not only in the United States but across the world. Having a standby generator system in place can make power outages much less burdensome.

Today's modern digital economy runs on a clean, abundant, and reliable source of power. Issues related to quality and reliable supply of power is driving up demand for backup residential and commercial generators worldwide. Having a standby generator with an enclosure that is properly soundproofed provides a win-win situation for you and your neighbors.

Power outages trigger standby generator systems to automatically switch to generator power until local power is restored. Your backup power system, which typically runs on your home’s existing natural gas line or by diesel fuel, will start and switch power to your home within 10-20 seconds. In most cases, having a generator installed not only will pay for itself, but it will increase the value of your home by several thousand dollars. The excessive noise pollution caused by standby generators is usually an issue that is learned the hard way by generator owners.

So when you purchase your home standby generator, it's important not to forget about the controlling the noise it will make while running. Soundproofing your enclosure will give you the peace of mind that your neighbors won't be calling the authorities complaining about excessive noise coming from your generator at night. These complaints can lead to expensive fines and citations for violating noise ordinances.

Increasing Dependence on Electronics & Growing Demand for Electricity Drives the Residential Generators Market, According to Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 31 May 2013 21:25:00 GMT

Source: PR Web Press Release:

San Jose, CA (PRWEB) October 29, 2012 - Globally, the residential generators market is witnessing growth primarily due to an unprecedented increase in consumer demand for electricity in the residential sector. National grids in many countries worldwide are taking on increasing pressure due to growing electrification and urbanization. The result is the rise in the frequency and number of electricity grid failures leading to power outages. Such energy shortages are prevalent in more than 80 countries globally, indicative of the seriousness of the problem. The situation has been triggering demand for standby power and thereby for generators, both for commercial and residential usage. While power outages and changing lifestyles have their own place in the hierarchy of growth drivers, the growing affordability of generators is becoming a major factor pushing consumers towards purchasing generators. In the context, with continuous spell of falling prices, the affordability of standby generators has been a major factor driving overall sales in the segment through the past decade.

Technological developments with the promise of enhancing fuel efficiency and operation of gensets also go a long way in increasing sales. The residential Standby Generators market is expected to provide huge growth opportunities in future. Despite high growth in the recent past, the market is relatively unsaturated and is expected to witness rapid growth in future also. Environmental performance has of late become a major criterion for several consumers who are growing increasingly aware of the impact of their lifestyle on the environment. Present day generators are more environment-friendly due to the incorporation of technologies such as electronic governors, and automatic voltage regulation. Presently, few smart generators are even capable of being monitored through the Internet.

Energy generator systems such as electrical generators, including diesel generators, are poised to benefit from the escalation in demand for power, constant changes in the energy policies world over, and rapid technological developments in the power generation equipment sector. Developments in the environment for power generation and distribution are especially poised to spur demand for generators in general. Installation of new power generation plants and the routine replacement of energy generation equipment directly translates into additional demand for power generator sets. In developed markets like Europe, and North America, aging energy infrastructure will provide opportunities for equipment replacements, upgradations and modernization Also, given that the modern digital economy runs on a clean, abundant, and reliable source of power, issues related to quality and reliable supply of power will drive demand for backup generators. Unreliable and disruptive power slices away a whopping US$50 billion from the US economy alone each year and issues related to outages, brownouts, and blackouts will continue to create business opportunities for generators worldwide.

As stated by the new market research report on Residential Generators, Asia-Pacific represents the largest regional market worldwide, sustained by massive demand from evolving markets of China and India. The region is also poised to display the fastest compounded annual growth rate of 7.7% through 2018. The residential generators market in Asia evolved at a rapid pace over the last decade. Sustained and robust economic growth, rising household income, boom in real estate and huge infrastructure projects makes the region a promising manufacturing hub. The Indian power backup market is a fast growing and lucrative market primarily due to persistent power shortages in the country. In China, the demand for electricity in residential and commercial segments is rising in tandem with the growing economic activity. China presents tremendous opportunity for generation as well as consumption of electric power. The development of electric power industry in China is vital for the growth of the country’s economy, and is therefore expected to witness continued growth over the long-term.

Major players profiled in the report include Baldor Electric Company, Briggs & Stratton Power Products Group, Cummins, Inc., Eaton Corporation, Generac® Power Systems Inc., General Electric Company, Generators.ie, Honda Power Equipment, and Kohler Power System, among others.

The research report titled “Residential Generators: A Global Strategic Business Report” announced by Global Industry Analysts Inc., provides a comprehensive review of the residential generators markets, industry and product overview, key growth drivers, product introductions and innovations and profiles of major/niche global as well as regional market participants. The report provides annual sales estimates and projections for residential generators market for the years 2010 through 2018 in value terms (US$) for the following geographic markets – US, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of World. The report also analyzes the global residential generators market in terms of unit sales. The study presents a six-year (2004-2009) historic analysis for additional perspective.

For more details about this comprehensive market research report, please visit –
http://www.strategyr.com/Residential_Generators_Market_Report.asp

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a leading publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company currently employs over 800 people worldwide. Annually, GIA publishes more than 1300 full-scale research reports and analyzes 40,000+ market and technology trends while monitoring more than 126,000 Companies worldwide. Serving over 9500 clients in 27 countries, GIA is recognized today, as one of the world's largest and reputed market research firms.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
Telephone: 408-528-9966
Fax: 408-528-9977
Email: press(at)StrategyR(dot)com
Web Site: http://www.StrategyR.com/

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Doctor Torok Writes About HIPAA and Medical Facility Acoustical Soundproofing in Cosmetic Dermatology Journal

Thomas Wiseman — Mon, 06 May 2013 21:32:00 GMT

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The following are excerpts taken from an article titled: “Noise Reduction Within Your Practice: Meeting HIPAA Rules for Patient Privacy and Enhancing Healthcare Outcomes"

Written by Helen M. Torok, MD; Heather L. Funk, MBA; Aaron M. Funk, in the American Society of Cosmetic Dermatology & Aesthitic Surgury’s journal called, Cosmetic Dermatology, issue August 2011, Vol. 24 No. 8

The full article can be read, downloaded and saved in PDF form at: http://www.cosderm.com/Article.aspx?ArticleId=HckRo/HUFhE=

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Article Excerpts

Although much of HIPAA covers the safeguarding of electronic data and other patient records, one specific component addresses oral communication within the healthcare setting. Just after HIPAA privacy enforcement went into effect in 2003, Sykes and Miller(3) reported in Health Lawyers Weekly that a leading complaint from patients regarding direct care providers was concern about overheard conversations within the practice as a source of compromised privacy.

This finding came as a surprise to the reporters and others in the medical community, as the concern previously had not been recognized as a sore point. Since then, the medical profession has acknowledged the importance of this issue and has been working to develop ways to insure the privacy of conversations between patients and their health-care providers.

In many hospitals across the country, HUSH (Help Us Support Healing) campaigns have been initiated to improve patient care and overall satisfaction by implementing various noise-reduction measures.

Also contributing to excessive noise in today’s healthcare settings are the hard surfaces necessary to ensure cleanliness, as well as the advanced heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems that filter and deliver clean air to occupants. A recent Chicago Tribune article discussed studies that show the negative effects of noise on patient health in a medical setting, from stress and sleep deprivation to hypertension and tachycardia. The article also mentioned that current decibel levels in healthcare settings exceed the standards set by the World Health Organization.

Backup From Standards Organizations

The idea of a quieter work environment is not a new one, and there are a variety of technologies in place to deal with the problem as well as objective standards for proving that a medical practice or healthcare provider has done its best to comply with HIPAA.

Organizations such as the International Organization for Standardization, the American National Standards Institute, and ASTM International (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) have provided ideas for noise reduction, and their support has been instrumental in winning medical privacy cases. These standards are applicable to a variety of industries and professions, including the fields of defense, finance, medical research, and law, and also are observed by the US General Services Administration, which manages federal building operations. It is possible to measure the noise levels of oral communication in the workplace according to government standards; best practices have been set and new tech-nologies have been developed to meet these standards. As of 2003, final modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule mandate that reasonable safeguards must be implemented to ensure speech privacy, and the HHS has clear expectations about what these safeguards entail.

According to HIPAA, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange is named as the designated guide on technical matters for HHS and the Office for Civil Rights.(2) Today, healthcare centers and physician offices also are being designed with advice from entities such as the Healthcare Acoustics Research Team to assure compliance.

Products to Ensure Oral Privcy

A series of acoustical privacy products have undergone several levels of development and are installed in some 100 million square feet of new office space each year in healthcare, financial, and other office settings.(8) The utilization of panels and tiles are specific demonstrations, according to HIPAA, that indicate a healthcare facility or practice has made a bona fide effort to meet oral privacy needs.

Certain building materials can actually block sound waves from traveling through walls. To measure their effectiveness, these materials are assigned a Sound Transmission Class rating. Walls and windows, for instance, can be designed with this purpose in mind, but these noise-reduction products often are more expensive than traditional ones.

Another way to achieve sound diminution within your practice is to use surface materials that can absorb or deflect ambient sound waves, thus preventing reverberations from traveling around the room. This property is measured according to the Noise Reduction Coefficient, which rates how well a material absorbs sound.

Another measurement of noise-reduction technology is the Speech Intelligibility Index, which is calculated from acoustical measurements of speech and noise. Panels and other products can be designed to absorb certain frequencies of sound, meaning that although sound does get through, it is unintelligible and carries no meaning, which often has been called the “Charlie Brown effect” in reference to the popular Peanuts cartoons in which adult voices come across as unintelligible musical notes. Maintaining a low Speech Intelligibility Index is a proven way to achieve HIPAA compliance and can be easily achieved through various technologies in a medical practice.

Although active speech privacy systems such as white noise machines are popular, they do pose a few drawbacks; they mask meaningful conversation with perhaps even less-welcome noise rather than diminish sound levels altogether. Thus medical practitioners and patients may actually have to speak louder, increasing the likelihood that their conversations will be overheard, which is especially true in healthcare settings for older patients who already have compromised hearing and may rely on the use of hearing aids.

Adding noise to noise is adding pollution to pollution; in this sense, noise is the pollutant. It is similar to using a scented room refresher to mask noisome odors; it only adds to the overall smelliness of the room, and it can be harmful. A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, showed that exposure to continuous white noise sabotages the development of the auditory region of the brain, which may ultimately impair hearing and language acquisition, at least in young rats.(10) Unlike passive devices such as sound-dampening panels, white noise machines require electricity and are not guaranteed reliability all the time.

Other Requirements for Sound Mitigation Products in Healthcare

Aside from the acoustic technology and speech privacy capabilities, other factors must be considered when selecting a sound-dampening product in a medical setting, including the product’s flammability rating and its ability to withstand the growth of germs, mold, and mildew. Some traditional sound panels, for instance, are wood framed with cotton inside. Obviously these materials are highly flammable and it is always essential to check a product’s fire rating. It is better to look for a product that is not as combustible; one particular panel on the market has a steel slag and basalt rock interior and is covered with a cloth that does not promote the growth of mold or mildew, meeting both flammability and antibiotic/antifungal standards. Uneven surfaces inside the panel cause the sound to get lost through deflection.

Today’s healthcare settings should put patients at ease while adding eye appeal. Look for sound-dampening panels and other products that offer a variety of sizes, shapes, and colors to customize the look and style to fit your specific needs. Panels can even be made into “sound clouds” for use on the ceiling. Some products on the market actually can be covered with messages you might wish to impart to patients, including advice about healthful living or introductions to new staff members.

Summary

It is imperative to make sure your dermatology practice or medical facility is compliant with HIPAA sound pri¬vacy mandates. Your staff also will benefit from working in a setting in which communication is made easier and less stressful.

Authors

All from Trillium Creek Dermatology and Aesthetic Center, Medina, Ohio. Dr. Torok also is from Northwestern Ohio University College of Medicine, Rootstown. The authors report no conflicts of interest in relation to this article.

Article References (and Additional Resources)

1. Standards for privacy of individually identifiable health informa¬tion; final rule. Fed Regist. 2002;67(157):53181-53273. To be codified at 45 CFR §160 and 164. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/administrative/privacyrule/privruletxt.txt. Published August 14, 2002. Accessed June 23, 2011.
2. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, 42 USC §201 (2003).
3. Sykes DM, Miller SA. HIPAA privacy enforcement begins. Health Lawyers Weekly. October 2003.
4. H.U.S.H. campaign for a healing environment. Penobscot Valley Hospital Web site. http://www.pvhme.org/pvh.nsf/View/Hush. Published March 1, 2010. Accessed June 27, 2011.
5. Nightingale F. Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not. New York, NY: D. Appleton and Company; 1860.
6. Deardorff J. Hospitals drowning in noise. Chicago Tribune. April 24, 2011. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-04-24/health/ct-met-hospital-noise-20110424_1_hospitals-neonatal-intensive-care-unit-noise. Accessed June 15, 2011.
7. Strategic National Implementation Process. Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange Web site. http://www.wedi.org/snip.Accessed July 8, 2011.
8. Sykes DM, Miller SA. Oral Communications: Myths and Facts [white paper]. Reston, VA: Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange; January 2004.
9. Health information privacy. US Department of Health and Human Services Web site. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/faq/safeguards/197.html. Updated March 14, 2006. Accessed July 18, 2011.
10. White noise delays auditory organization in brain [news release]. ScienceDaily; April 18, 2003. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/04/030418081607.htm. Accessed July 15, 2011. n

READ MORE: Related Information

About Dr. Helen M. Torok, MD

http://www.trilliumcreekohio.com/doctors/doctors.asp#Helen

HIPAA Act

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/

Cosmetic Dermatology

http://www.cosderm.com/

Trillium Creek Dermatology and Aesthetic Center, Medina, Ohio

http://www.trilliumcreekohio.com/

Soundproofing products

http://www.acoustiblok.com

Soundproofing Medical Rooms Puts You in the "Spirit" of HIPAA

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:57:00 GMT

Oral privacy breeches are embarrassing for patients and could be costly for healthcare providers in severe situations. Unfortunately, soundproofing is one of the last things that medical practices think about when it comes to office design. Is it cost? Is it that acoustics, soundproofing and noise issues have not been a priority in the past? Typically, healthcare providers are more concerned about the protection of electronically stored information than about protecting information transmitted orally. Soundproofing can be the missing element in most facilities towards creating total privacy that patients expect and deserve.

HIPAA Legislation

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, commonly known as HIPAA, was enacted by the United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996. Title I of HIPAA protects health insurance coverage for workers and their families when they change or lose their jobs. Title II of HIPAA, known as the Administrative Simplification (AS) provisions, requires the establishment of national standards for electronic health care transactions and national identifiers for providers, health insurance plans, and employers. Per the requirements of Title II, the HHS promulgated five rules regarding Administrative Simplification: the Privacy Rule, the Transactions and Code Sets Rule, the Security Rule, the Unique Identifiers Rule, and the Enforcement Rule.

Privacy Rule

The Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (“Privacy Rule”) established, for the first time, a set of national standards for the protection of certain health information. The regulation increased consumer control over the use and disclosure of their medical information. It also established appropriate safeguards that must be followed to protect the privacy of patients' health information.

The Privacy Rule regulates the use and disclosure of Protected Health Information (PHI) held by "covered entities." These entities are generally health care clearinghouses, employer sponsored health plans, health insurers, and medical service providers that engage in certain transactions.

Everyone now has a right to oral privacy with concern to his or her PHI. The Office of Civil Rights accepts complaints for alleged violations of the HIPAA privacy rule by covered entities. A fact sheet is available at the OCR website at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacyhowtofile.htm. Violations are expensive. Penalties for non-compliance can cost providers up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison.

While oral privacy is only one part of the exhaustive HIPAA regulation, it is also one of the more subjective areas in terms of interpretation. The Privacy Rule requires physicians to use appropriate administrative, technical, and security safeguards to protect the privacy of protected health information — including oral communications. But what safeguarding measures are and aren’t enough?

While the Privacy Rule does “not” require structural changes be made to facilities, it does require that that they make reasonable efforts to prevent prohibited uses and disclosures not permitted by the Rule. The Department does not consider facility restructuring to be a requirement under this standard. The Privacy Rule does not require the following types of structural or systems changes:

• Private rooms
• Soundproofing of rooms
• Encryption of wireless or other emergency medical radio communications which can be intercepted by scanners
• Encryption of telephone systems.

In the absence of stringent guidelines for safeguarding PHI, the HHS Department has indicated that it will look at what other “prudent” professionals are doing to protect oral privacy when determining whether a covered entity has taken adequate measures to avoid having conversations overheard

In a democracy, the objective of laws is to serve the best interests of the people and reflect their highest aspirations. Contained within the “letter of the law” is the purpose or intent, which is termed the "spirit of the law." For any given law, the spirit of the law is the hope for change, or benefit, that the law will produce, as predicted by the designers of the law. In other words, laws are tools that are intended to be useful and beneficial.

Since the spirit of the law is the reason for its existence, many believe the letter of the law is subordinate to the problem-solving intent of the law and covered entities should go above and beyond to meet the spirit of the law. When it comes to HIPAA oral privacy, installing soundproofing to ensure patients get total privacy meets the spirit of the law, not the letter of the law. It enables covered entities to meet the intent of the law. It's just the right thing to do for patients and could also keep a practice our of legal complexities and help prevent fines.

Evaluating Your Medical Facility’s Oral Privacy Issues

Your own ear is the best testing and measurement instrument available. If you can overhear any conversations that are meant to be private in any area you will need to provide reasonable safeguards to protect against incidental disclosure.

You don't need to be a sound engineer to evaluate if you have a problem with oral privacy in your facility. A simple audit and walk-through of any facility will indicate whether there is a problem or not. If you’re unsure whether noise is a problem in your practice, it’s easy to evaluate – simply spend a few moments in your exam rooms, your waiting room/reception area and your staff break room and focus on what you’re hearing including where the noise is originating and the intensity/volume of the noise. You may also want to consultant an acoustic specialist – a professional who assesses environments for noise and provides guidance to soundproof your space.

In regard to industry-accepted measurements for oral privacy, industry standards for speech (oral) privacy, three recognized standards are used for the measurement of the intelligibility of sound (conversations):

• ISO (International Standards Organization)
• ASTM (American National Standards Institute)
• ASTM (American Society of Testing and Materials)

These standards and principles are used by sound engineers to measure and evaluate relative sound levels. The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) has existed for decades. ASTM has been providing quantifiable practices, tools, and measurements to assess speech privacy levels. For years, speech privacy professionals have used ASTM standards to establish acceptable and unacceptable levels of normal and confidential speech privacy for business and health care facilities alike.

ASTM measures speech privacy by using an articulation index (AI). AI represents how all elements in and properties of a space affect the ability to understand speech. AI is expressed as a decimal value between 0 (speech is unintelligible) and 1.00 (speech is completely intelligible). An AI of .20 or less will result in a space that provides normal to confidential speech privacy.

It is important to understand that a conversation is considered private if it is an unintelligible conversation (one that cannot be discernible) to a nonparticipant. This type of conversation will not jeopardize the oral privacy rights of an individual.

Sound

In many doctor’s offices across the country, conversations can be heard through the walls of patient rooms. Sound travels not only in a straight path from its source but also bounces off partitions, bends around barriers, and squeezes through small openings, all of which can allow noise to reach surprisingly far beyond its point of origin.

Sound radiates spherically. Even if the sound source is facing one direction, the sound it produces will travel in all directions. Sound will move from one room to another through direct and indirect paths. It is important to understand that while sound can travel through air pockets like ductwork, stud and ceiling joist cavities, it can also be conducted along studs, joists, pipes, concrete and glass. Sound vibration uses a rigid surface to travel.

When sound strikes any surface, some sound energy is reflected, some absorbed, and some transmitted into the adjacent space. The sound that we hear in typical rooms is made up of two parts: Direct sound, the sound that arrives at our ears directly from the sound source; reflected sound, the sound that has reflected from a room boundary surface.

Sound is measured in decibels in intervals of 10. A typical conversation occurs at approximately 60-70 decibels. Sound transmission through a wall or floor depends primarily on the mass of the construction. The following are some sound transmission losses of typical building elements:

Soundproofing

Soundproofing isn't a cure-all to saving healthcare facilities from penalties resulting from oral privacy breeches, but it may be one of the most beneficial places to start. Soundproofing will not control when and where patient information is discussed. It will however, significantly mitigate the sound through absorption, damping, or blocking. Given that many healthcare facilities are in older, uninsulated buildings, adding soundproofing will go a long way toward ensuring better patient privacy.

Soundproofing can be achieved in a variety of ways, and there are solutions for every budget. The challenge is when and how to soundproof. It’s always easier to soundproof an office when starting from a blank slate rather than retrofitting an existing space. So if you’re moving into a new space you’ll want to make sure you’re working with your design firm to come up with a layout that prevents sound from traveling and materials that mitigate noise. It’s also possible to install certain types of soundproofing materials in an existing building.

Depending on the purpose of a building or room, primary acoustical requirements could include sound control between spaces, sound control within a space, or listening efficiency in meeting rooms and auditoriums. Just as technical challenges can vary widely from space to space, so, too, do the choices of materials and design details that can meet them. Thoroughly exploring these options requires time and effort.

So what types of modern acoustical soundproofing materials are available to help keep conversations within a room or area in a medical facility? Here are just some:

• Acoustic ceiling panels or ceiling tiles.
• Sound absorbing wall cover - simple do-it-yourself noise deadening solution
• Acoustical sound barriers that deflect or absorb sound.
• Acoustic insulation (like QuietFiber) placed in between wall joints behind drywall
• Viscoelastic sound absorbing polymer materials (like Acoustiblok) behind drywall
• Acoustic cloud systems – sound panels that are placed overhead in an area.
• Sound masking - the addition of natural or artificial sound (such as white noise or pink noise) into an environment to cover up unwanted sound by using auditory masking.
• Acoustical sound sealants

In the Spirit of the Law

Think about how many patient-related conversations which occur every day in hospitals, doctor’s offices, clinics, pharmacies, or other health care providing organizations over the course of a day, week, month and over a full year. The number of possible oral privacy violations could be high. Unless healthcare providers implement a reasonable solution that creates a safeguard for these conversations, healthcare providers are at the mercy of every patient who chooses to complain.

Unless the HIPAA law is amended, using soundproofing materials isn’t required in the letter of the law, but it falls well within the spirit of the law. While it's great that confidential information is safely locked away in their computer system, if you can hear patients and staff talking about their medical conditions and concerns in the next room, how confidential can patient information really be?

Although HIPAA creates a right to privacy, it doesn't create the right for private persons to sue if they feel their privacy has been compromised, creating little incentive for healthcare providers to soundproof their buildings. However, patients do file complaints, which could lead to fines and a requirement that the provider correct their procedures to prevent future privacy issues. For some health care providers, this is starting to become incentive enough for healthcare providers to consider soundproof their buildings and rooms.

READ MORE: Related Information

http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/

http://www.hhs.gov/hipaafaq/administrative/197.html

Sound Barrier Fencing Keeps Highway Noise out of Adjacent Communities

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 20:42:00 GMT

There are no Federal regulations specifying what materials can be used to create sound barriers along any stretch of U.S. highway. State DOT officials choose the type of highway traffic barriers that go up along their district roadways, often basing their decision on multiple factors such as budget, aesthetics, durability, maintenance and public input.

The American public has a love-hate relationship with highway noise barriers. Those living closest to noisy highways and rail tracks are most appreciative of sound barriers, which offer them the benefits of increased privacy, better views, a quieter living environment and a healthier lifestyle.

A primary consideration when determining the appropriate design for a noise barrier is the visual impact it will have on the area. Placing a tall barrier adjacent to communities with one-story homes can impede the view and the whole aesthetic dynamic. When it comes to addressing the noise barrier size issue in these communities, one answer is to provide staggered elements, such as native vegetation and other appropriate landscape, to the foreground to reduce the barrier’s visual impact.

Planning the placement of sound barriers is extremely important when it comes to retaining a visually pleasing value within the neighborhood. One rule of thumb that is often adhered to is to locate the noise barrier approximately four times its height from adjacent homes and buildings, and to install landscaping close to the barrier.

Ideally, highway sound barriers should harmonize with their surroundings as much as possible. Some sound abatement materials used in highway barriers are more adaptable than others; in addition to visual considerations, planners look for sound barrier materials that are low maintenance, easily installed and durable.

Sound barriers can have a psychological effect on motorists, a factor that is considered in the design process. The design of noise barriers in dense urban settings will be different than the barriers installed in rural and suburban areas. On urban highways, sound barriers need to be designed to avoid monotony for the motorists, who tend to notice things like surface texture, overall form and color. DOT planners have found that by varying the materials, forms and surface treatments of the barriers, they can combat the “tunnel effect” that motorists experience driving long stretches alongside an unchanging sound barrier wall.

Graffiti is always a potential problem with noise barriers. Using a sound barrier material that can be easily washed or painted is an excellent preventative measure that planners can take, particularly in areas where graffiti is probably going to be an issue.

Vegetation, if it is dense and tall, can provide a very small measure of noise dampening, but not nearly enough to achieve any serious noise reductionalong a busy highway. The best idea is to use trees and vegetation to camouflage the barrier for a visually pleasing solution to highway noise.

Most people who live or work near a highway noise barrier are pleased with the reduced levels of traffic noise, and there is a general consensus that the benefits provided by highway noise barriers far outweigh their disadvantages. While noise barriers do not completely eliminate all highway traffic noise, they do reduce it substantially and improve the quality of life for those who live and work next to busy highways or train rails.

Avoid Costly Fines: Mitigate Home or Business Generator Noise with Soundproofing Materials

Thomas Wiseman — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 17:30:00 GMT

Using sound absorbing viscoelastic polymer material on the inside walls of generator enclosures and surrounding your noisy generator with an acoustical soundproofing barrier will significantly quiet noise to legally acceptable and comfortable levels. Most generators are noisy and operate above acceptable community noise levels without soundproofing. They can disturb neighbors and passers-by and can disrupt normal activities going on in nearby homes and inside your business if not controlled.

Most cities and communities now have noise/nuisance ordinances and are increasingly levying fines upwards of $500 per offense if your generator is louder than 65/55 (daytime/nightime) decibels when measured "at the property boundary." In many areas, second offenses can range from $500 - $1,000 "per day" as every day counts as a separate violation. If you have a noisy generator at your home or business, the risk of getting these unpredictable fines outweighs the cost and time of installing proper sound abatement systems.

Normal everyday conversation generally occurs at approximately 60 decibels on a sound meter which is significantly less than the sound decibel levels that many generators put out. This can make even every day conversation more difficult if you are around a noisy generator. High levels of noise are also known to negatively impact productivity, moods and anxiety levels.

Reciprocating engine-powered generators, used to make electricity on a temporary basis, produce a good deal of noise and vibration. During a temporary loss of electrical power, generators help keep essential home appliances running, keep businesses operational, and provide electricity in places like the outdoors and in recreational vehicles.

Whether these generators run continuously as part of a primary power source or occasionally in standby circumstances during emergencies or special needs situations, their noise levels usually need to be reduced to comply with local, state and federal noise or nuisance laws and ordinances in place to address noises described as "excessive, unreasonable, or repetitive in terms of volume so as to disturb the peace, quiet and comfort, and be offensive to the reasonable person of normal auditory sensitivity residing in or occupying a residential area."

Basic Types of Generators

Typical Residential and Non-Residential Sounds Levels in Many Communities

In many communities in North America, Europe and even other parts of the world, themaximum allowable sound levels, “measured at the nearest receiving property line,” within a similar range of the following:

Residential receiving properties (mixed-use zones are considered residential)

• 65 dBA during daytime hours for

• 55 dBA during nighttime hours

Nonresidential receiving property

• 67 dBA during daytime hours
• 62 dBA during nighttime hours

Click here to read specifics about a common noise ordinance:

http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/

dectmpl.asp?url=/Content/dep/community/noisemd.asp

Sources of generator set noise

An engine-generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an engine-generator set or a “gen-set.” In many contexts, the engine is taken for granted and the combined unit is simply called a generator.

Like any motor, a generator motor creates a lot of heat and needs a cooling system to prevent overheating. Standby generators can be either air-cooled or liquid-cooled. The major difference is that air-cooled systems are louder and not quite as effective. Liquid cooled systems are quieter and more dependable – and also more expensive to purchase and to maintain.

The decibel (often listed as dba) rating on a generator, is a number that is given that explains the noise level generated by the engine running. Some noisy generators can reach sound levels ranging from 80-100-plus decibels, which at 100 plus decibels translates to the noise of a jack hammer at 10 meters (32.8 feet); 110 decibels is the noise equivalent of a plane taking off at a 10 meters; 115 decibels translates to a jet’s screeching whistle at 10 meters, and is also the threshold of noise-induced pain. Sustained noise levels above this can cause hearing damage in short a short amount of time. Sustained noise at 100 dB can cause long term health problems. A higher quality and less noisy generator is going to be in the 70’s decibel rating while a really good generator will be in the 60’s decibels range.

According to a Cummings White Paper by Senior Acoustics Specialist Dennis Aaberg, generator set (residential and commercial generators) noise is produced by six major sources:

• Engine noise – This is mainly caused by mechanical and combustion forces and typically ranges from 100 dB(A) to 121 dB(A), measured at one meter, depending on the size of the engine.

• Cooling fan noise – This results from the sound of air being moved at high speed across the engine and through the radiator. Its level ranges from 100 dB(A) to 105 (A) dB at one meter.

• Alternator noise – This is caused by cooling air and brush friction and ranges from approximately 80 dB(A) to 90 dB(A) at one meter.

• Induction noise – This is caused by fluctuations in current in the alternator windings that give rise to mechanical noise that ranges from 80 dB(A) to 90 dB(A) at one meter.

• Engine exhaust – Without an exhaust silencer, this ranges from 120 dB(A) to 130 dB(A) or more and is usually reduced by a minimum of 15 dB(A) with a standard silencer.

• Structural/mechanical noise – This is caused by mechanical vibration of various structural parts and components that is radiated as sound.

Noise from “portable” generators comes primarily from two sources, the engine block and the exhaust system. With an air cooled engine there is little you can do about blocking noise. Some engines can have a larger muffler attached or make other changes to the exhaust system. Merely mounting exhaust pipe vertically will noticeably reduce noise.

Reducing Noise “Inside” the Generator Enclosure

With the growth of standby, prime and peaking power installations in densely populated areas, it’s become important to focus attention on understanding how generator noise is propagated and controlled.

Typically, there are two main methods for controlling the airborne noise in a power generator:

• Blocking airborne noise via a weighted barrier

• Absorbing airborne noise via acoustical absorbing insulation.

Aaberg’s white paper expands on this claim. It recommends that standby generator enclosures incorporate the following types of materials for best results and often with cost and performance improvements as compared to more traditional solutions:

• Flexible non-lead barriers (like Acoustiblok) in weights ranging from 1/4" lbs./ft2 to 2 lbs./ft2

• Faced acoustical foams in thicknesses ranging from 1/4" to 2" and with numerous facings, including reflective and reinforced facings

• Decoupled barrier composites and barrier/absorber composites in a range of barrier weights, decoupler thicknesses and absorption layer thicknesses faced with numerous films

• Damping composites comprising a damping layer to manage structureborne vibration

• Combined with acoustical foam layers to absorb airborne noise.

Significant noise control can be achieved by lining the generator’s sheet metal enclosure with a weighted barrier, or a decoupled weighted barrier (composite of barrier over decoupling foam) to help block noise. Ideally, at least 90 percent of the enclosure should be lined. For optimal effect the enclosure openings must be minimized.

Absorption reduces airborne noise due to mechanical sound energy by converting it into low grade heat energy. As air is pushed into the absorbing material by the sound pressure wave, viscous forces dissipate the mechanical sound energy as heat.

Most power generation equipment requires several openings in the metal enclosure – for air intake, exhaust and heat release. These openings are generally detrimental to the performance of barriers and decoupled barriers as they can allow noise to escape unhindered. By incorporating acoustical absorbers as a lining for louvers or by creating a path for airflow, noise can be absorbed before it escapes the enclosure.

In recent years, a wide range of elastomer innovations, like Acoustiblok, have been created that can be utilized in designing next generation gen-set enclosures. These materials must meet multiple design objectives including noise frequencies, operating temperature range and operating environment including thermal management, contaminant resistance and maintenance considerations.

Reducing Noise “Outside” the Generator

In a residential setting, the simplest type of noise control for generators or other gas or propane-powered engines is a noise barrier placed around it. Outdoor sound curtains or sound curtain noise barrier walls are an effective method of reducing noise generated by equipment, pumps, generators or other processes that are outside and are exposed to the elements.

It is important to take into account the source height of the generator, which can be fairly high, and to consider the height of the receiver if the impacted site has multiple floors.To be effective, a barrier wall must at least block the line-of-sight from the source to the receiver.

Sound barriers will make a substantial difference in the noise exposure levels from generators if the proper materials are used. They can reduce the sound by about 12-15 decibels, which is significant because a 10 decibel decrease in sound results in half the sound heard to the human ear. The more distance between the generator and your house or building, the better. Not all materials will work. It is important to do your research.

There are other soundproofing product solutions such as sound panels. Some soundproofing companies, like Acoustiblok, Inc. manufacture all-weather sound panels that are different from other conventional acoustical sound panels. In addition to being able to stand up to the most extreme environments, they not only absorb virtually all sound but they also contain a layer of noise absorbing viscoelastic material which provides exceptional noise blockage.

The sound absorbency of the panels brings down substantially the acoustical energy around the generator and by eliminating all sound reflections in the area, while the viscoelastic material in the panel allows it to also be an excellent sound barrier.

With increasing focus on noise in our communities, it's important to take a proactive approach to solving your generator noise issues by using lab tested and proven acoustical soundproofing materials.

READ MORE: Related Information

Acoustiblok quiets generators and noisy motors

http://info.acoustiblok.com/press-center-content/?Tag=generator+noise

United States Noise Pollution and Abatement Act (Noise Control Act)

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-noise-control-act.htm

Soundproofing products

Acoustiblok Products

German Studies Show Jet Noise is Health Risk - Soundproofing is a Preventative Measure

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 16:54:00 GMT

Jet noise can be a serious serious long-term health concern if you are exposed to continuous high levels of it. If you live close to an airport or live directly under the path of high decibel sound jets, it's important to take steps to reduce the noise entering your home, office, or church.

Airports work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the airlines and the local communities to monitor existing noise programs and develop new ways of reducing airport and aircraft noise. They generally focus on two areas: sound insulation programs and noise abatement programs. A homeowner must qualify for these programs in order to receive soundproofing support.

Many large airports have sound insulation programs are designed to reduce airport noise that people hear in their homes and in the classroom.

Soundproofing materials are available to help people living near airports who are exposed to certain levels of jet enginer noise. Lining your walls, ceilings and floors with sound absorbing material such as Acoustiblok, can lessen the jet engine noise entering your structure.

Germany's Federal Environment Agency Study Shows Airport Noise Increases Risk of Strokes

The following contains excerpts from an article written by Tristana Moore on Dec. 15, 2009 that was posted on a Time website pertaining to a Climate Change Conference.

According to the unpublished study, commissioned by Germany's Federal Environment Agency, living under a flight path can seriously damage your health. German researchers have discovered that people who are exposed to jet noise have a substantially increased risk of stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease. The findings are bound to provide further ammunition to anti-airport campaigners and make uncomfortable reading for world leaders at this week's climate summit in Copenhagen.

The study shows that men who are exposed to jet noise have a 69% higher risk of being hospitalized for cardiovascular disease. Women living under flight paths fare even worse, logging a 93% higher rate of hospitalization with cardiovascular problems, compared with their counterparts in quiet residential areas. The study found that women who are exposed to jet noise (of about 60 decibels) during the day are 172% more likely to suffer a stroke.

The report is based on the analysis of data from public health insurers that were drawn from more than 1 million Germans ages 40 and over who live near Cologne-Bonn Airport in western Germany. "These figures are worrying. It's quite clear that living near an airport is very dangerous for your health," says Eberhard Greiser, an emeritus professor of epidemiology at Bremen University. "Jet noise is more dangerous than any other kind of road-traffic noise or rail noise because it is especially acute and sharp and it induces stress hormones."

People living close to Cologne-Bonn Airport also tended to suffer from psychological illnesses. "There was a higher incidence of depression among women who live near the airport," says Jens Ortscheid of the Federal Environment Agency. "This report should come as a warning signal to all governments and authorities that are planning to expand airports — there are serious health effects which need to be considered." Ortscheid says the report is in line with previous studies on the health effects of jet noise.

In a separate study commissioned by the local Bonn authorities, Greiser discovered that women near Cologne-Bonn Airport had an increased risk of developing breast cancer and leukemia. His research found that women who are exposed to 60 decibels of jet noise at night are twice as likely to contract breast cancer. "It seems women are more sensitive to jet noise than men, but I would advise everyone to think twice about living near an airport because it's not just aircraft noise which can be deadly; aircraft emissions are also dangerous," says Greiser.

Greiser is convinced his report provides unequivocal evidence of the health risks associated with jet noise. "When it comes to expanding airports, governments and the courts all over the world will have to weigh the benefits of commercial interests against the danger to public health," he says. "How many additional diseases is society prepared to accept?"

Another Study of German Children Living Near Airports Shows Jet Aircraft Noise Impairs Long-Term Memory And Reading Ability

In a story on ScienceDaily.com, excessive noise, such as jet aircraft flying overhead, impairs children's reading ability and long-term memory, a Cornell University environmental psychologist and his European colleagues conclude in a study of schoolchildren living near airports. "This is the first long-term study of the same children before and after airports near them opened and closed. It nails down that it is almost certain that noise is causing the differences in children's ability to learn to read," says Gary Evans, an international expert on environmental stress, such as noise, crowding and air pollution. The good news, says Evans, is that some of the reading and memory problems caused by jet noise is reversible in a quieter environment.

The study was supported, in part, by the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Nordic Scientific Group for Noise Effects, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, the German Research Foundation and the National Swedish Institute for Building Research. Other authors are Staffan Hygge of the Royal Institute of Technology, Gävle, Sweden, and Monika Bullinger of the University of Hamburg, Germany.

The researchers analyzed data on 326 children (average age, 10) living near two sites in Munich: near the old airport, which was scheduled to close, and near the new airport site. The children were assessed three times: six months before the old airport closed and the new one opened, and one year and two years after the airport opening.

"Noise exposure is consistently linked to reading deficits and may interfere with speech perception and long-term memory in primary school children," says Evans. "But it wasn't until we had this unprecedented opportunity to study children near the simultaneous opening and closing of the new and former Munich airports that we could actually find stronger evidence for a causal relation."

Evans, who has been studying the effects of noise for several years, says the latest study is further evidence that exposure to chronic noise can have serious health, learning and motivational effects in children and adults.

The full article can be read at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/10/021008065059.htm

Add Soundproofing Material to Your Home Theater Construction Tool Box

Thomas Wiseman — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 20:25:00 GMT

Adding soundproofing materials to walls, ceilings and/or flooring of your home theater or entertainment room will give your family and neighbors a better quality of life void of stress and anxiety caused by loud noise from movies, video games and television shows. Sound from home theater audio system speakers can exceed 100 decibels and higher. Without adequate soundproofing materials to absorb and mitigate it, the noise will travel through your wall, ceiling and floor joints and into the rest of the home.

Commercial cinemas give you a great acoustical experience that makes you feel like you are part of the movie. Commercial cinema-like sound is a key ingredient to any home theater or home entertainment room. It helps create a more memorable and pleasurable entertainment experience while watching high-speed car chases, fiery high-decibel explosions, and sweat-soaked vixens with machine guns.

Soundproofing In Your Home Provides a Higher Quality of Life

Sound travels in low-frequency waves. These waves radiate from the source of the sound in all directions. If the waves are met with resistance, they will redirect and dissipate. Because sound travels through walls, ceilings, floors and other surfaces as well as air, you will hear sound in virtually any environment.

Soundproofing is a difficult process. The only way to stop sound is to either reduce it or absorb it. Noise reduction works by blocking the passage of sound waves through either the use of distance or the placing or intervening objects in the sound path. On the other hand, noise absorption operates by transforming the sound wave itself. The wave changes when it comes into contact with certain materials.

For your home theater, you need to be aware of the amount of sound leaking from the room. Even though your home theater is smaller than a commercial movie theater, it should provide a good acoustical experience. Outside noises coming into the theater room need to be minimized and noise generated by your sound system needs to be kept inside your home theater walls so it does not disturb others inside and outside your walls.

If you are considering building a new home theater or home entertainment room, you may want to make sure soundproofing materials, like Acoustiblok, are in your construction tool box. Here’s why.

Soundproofing materials:

• Not only add essential mass to walls, ceilings or floors, but they also enhance the flexibility and stiffness while changing the natural resonance of the structure
• Drastically reduce sound transmission through your walls, ceilings and floors
• Keep high decibel noise in the theater room
• Allow people in your home to enjoy the home theater room or entertainment room any time of the day or night without disturbing others.

Various other building materials are available to help keep noise from escaping your home theater room and provide better quality acoustics such as sound panels, sound drapes, acoustic insulation, foam, carpeting or acoustic sound-deadening drywall.

Theater Room Acoustics and Intelligibility

Go to any movie theater and you will notice acoustic treatment covering a large percentage of the walls. Chairs are soft and well padded. The whole room has been carefully crafted to work as a single system.

In commercial movie theaters, acoustics plays a critical role in making sure that everyone can clearly hear the movie dialogue, no matter where they are seated. By eliminating near-wall reflections, those seated at the perimeter of the theater are not fighting to detect the sound from the speakers versus the sound reflecting off the walls. The padded seats are carefully designed to not only be comfortable, but also help control bass when not in use.

When a theater is properly treated acoustically, it improves our ability to comprehend what is being said and what noises are being heard. This is known as ‘intelligibility.’ The speech intelligibility in a room depends on the reverberation time and the background noise. If a room has a long reverberation time, spoken words will not die out before the next words reach the listener. This results in poor speech intelligibility. It will be difficult for the listener to understand what is said. However, if the sound is absorbed by acoustical soundproofing materials, it results in a short reverberation time. This provides a good acoustic environment and a high level of speech intelligibility.

Standard drywall construction has what acousticians call a sound transmission class (STC) rating of 40 decibels; the higher the number, the better the material is at blocking sound. When you crank up your audio system to experience Johnny playing Guitar Hero at concert volumes, it’s easy to hit a very loud peak sound-pressure level of 110 decibels. A sound transmission class (STC) of 40 means a person on the other side of the wall will definitely hear Johnny jamming, and if you were to measure the volume with a sound meter, it would register about 70 decibels, which is loud enough to be bothersome.

Psychological Impacts of Noise on Our Family and Neighbors

One of the biggest culprits of home noise originates from home theaters that have poor acoustical features. According to Psychology Today website, noise is a stimulus, and when we have little control over the source, we often experience more stress and anxiety. Your anxiety may have several causes. First, you may have a “control” reaction, in which you are keenly aware of not being able to stop or alter a sound. Second, you may experience sound more sensitively than the average person. For those who notice sounds and get absorbed by it, the intrusion can become an interruption and a distraction from a productive task, including relaxation and sleep.

If you are a highly sensitive person in general, noise can be a powerful trigger to getting upset. Controlling our environment is a task humans are very good at, but in a modern world where noises are a part of the landscape, our control is limited. You can help control noise from your home theater or home entertainment room by using proper soundproofing materials.

Church Noise – Welcome to the Church of Noise

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:41:00 GMT

Church noise, like many other types of outdoor noise pollution, is increasingly becoming a public nuisance for people living close to churches and other religious places of worship. Cities and villages in urban areas especially are seeing a rise in church noise and nuisance law complaints that they say are in violation of the noise ordinances often referred to as nuisance laws.

These days, churches and places of worship are trying to do bigger and better things to attract and keep members. Many have scaled up the music experience for churchgoers by forming full fledged church bands and orchestras that practice regularly at the church. They
use loud musical instruments such as drums, organs, pianos, electronic keyboards, guitars, electric guitars, drums, or other accompaniments that are heightened with electric amplifiers and loud speakers.

Churches and places of worship are also getting larger and larger and some are packed with thousands of people during weekend services. After four years of holding services in its 2,100-seat interim worship center, Dallas, Texas' Watermark Community Church moved its congregation into a beautiful new 3,500-seat main sanctuary (shown above).

When Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, a.k.a the Bloody Beetroots, produced the song “Welcome to the Church of Noise” in 2011, he may not have meant for his lyrics to be taken so literally as many people living nearby churches are today. “She goes places I won't go. She knows things that I don't know. Welcome to the church of noise. Welcome to the church of noise,” the song says.

Church Noise Issues are Increasingly in the News

In Columbia, South Carolina, according to a Channel 7 WSPA.com article dated December 11, 2012 titled,” Midlands Church Fined After Noise Complaint,” Midlands Church had to pay hundreds of dollars in fines after being accused of being too loud. Neighbors of Columbia’s Rehoboth United Assemblies, Inc. say they can hear the music during the church’s services. They took the issue to court when the issue wasn’t resolved. A judge found the church in violation of the city’s noise ordinance, which comes with a $740 fine.

One neighbor said they wouldn’t be able to have a party and play loud music during the church’s service, so they don’t think the church should be able to be “loud and obnoxious” while the community is trying to sleep or have quiet time in their homes.

The article went on to say that church leaders are upset. “I feel as if I was disrespected,” explains Apostle Johnnie Clark. I also feel frustrated because what they’re calling loud noise is our form of worship.”

In Morton, Illinois, according to an article by Steve Stein of the Morton Journal Star on November 5, 2012, neighbors said police have been called 55 times in 16 months because of noise complaints. No tickets have been issued. They criticized church officials for their lack of cooperation and respect for neighbors. They said adults and children have been awakened in the morning by noise coming from the church and complained the music disturbed outdoor family gatherings. In Morton, noises that are "unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary" are banned in the revised ordinance. And the noises must unreasonably disturb, injure, or endanger the "comfort, repose, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensitivity."

There’s Even Noise Lawsuites

In Durham, North Carolina, in an article dated January 13, 2013 on ABC13.com, nine families living in The Hills at Southpoint subdivision filed a lawsuit against the NewHope Church who refused to run down the music after they talked to the church about it. The neighbors said the church performances and practice sessions at the church are “akin to rock concerts.”

Police cited the church under Durham’s noise ordinance for sound considered “unreasonable and disturbing.” The church claims it’s tried to work with its neighbors by soundproofing walls, lowering sound levels and changing worship times. These changes were apparently not enough for neighbors who live near the church. They claim the church leaders have been hostile to their complaints and continue to pump out music levels that invade their homes – affecting their ability to sleep and enjoy their neighborhood. They are seeking a restraining order against the church and punitive damages.

While performing a Google search on the words “church noise complaints,” it resulted in 8,330,000 related results. Case after case could be cited in this blog article about the spreading tide of church noise, but we think you get the picture of what is going on in many cities and neighborhoods.

Internet Complaints

Some people have taken to the world wide web to make complaints against particular churches.

Here's a church noise related post from an irritated neighbor on a website called, Ask Meta Filter.com:

"We live right across the street from a very loud church in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco. At first we thought it was kind of nice being near a place of worship, but now we're kind of fed up. There are very loud services with singing and all sorts of instruments that are probably amplified, as well as random drumming practices. It goes on for hours (they've been playing for at least 4 hours just today), and it's on weekdays and weekends. The services seem to be kind of irregular; it's not like we know it's going to be bad 6-8pm every Wednesday. I work from home, and it's nice to work in cafes, but I hate the feeling like I can't enjoy my own home. Plus, not being able to relax in our living room on Sunday evenings can be kind of a bummer.

What is the best way to approach this? We called in a noise complaint once - it was 10pm on a Sunday and they had been going at it for 3 hours (plus they had a van idling outside for 40 minutes). But, the cops weren't that helpful - they said they weren't going to disrupt the church service (but that's when it's noisy!) and they were trying to stay on good terms with the churches. It's also a gentrifying neighborhood, which may make things more complicated..."

Church Noise Decibel Levels

Typically, it is up to the church to decide what decibel level to play their music. Reach Communications Systems Engineer Marc C. Brown wrote a technical white paper report titled, “Measuring Acoustic Decibel Levels in Worship Services with Economical EPL Meters.” He recommends louder and more energetic worship service range from 95-100 decibels, a more sustained energetic worship service range from 90-95 decibels and formal music levels for a few minutes of about 80-90 decibels. In comparison, decibel levels at a rock concert can range from 120-140 decibels and sometimes higher. So church music noise can be substantial.

The term decibel is used for a wide variety of measurements in science and engineering, most prominently in acoustics and electronics. The decibel (sometimes shown as dB) is a logarithmic unit. You cannot add and subtract decibels like ordinary numbers. An increase of 3 decibels is a doubling of the "strength" of the sound. An increase of 10 decibels means the sound is 10 times as loud. For example, 70 decibels is 10 times as loud as 60 decibels. Sounds above 90 decibels of loudness or strength of sound vibration, may cause vibrations intense enough to damage the inner ear, especially if the sound continues for a long time.

The following are some typical decibel level comparisons of musical instruments sometimes used in modern day church music:

The Right Soundproofing Measures Will Work

More complex architectural designs commonly found in churches and places of worship normally require a systematic approach to soundproofing and acoustics. There are many acoustical soundproofing products available in the market today that can reduce church noise in the design stage and in existing buildings. In any sound reduction application, the entire interior surface area should be treated to be completely effective.

The voice of the church leader, the devotional music and instruments, and the collective fellowship and noise of hundreds of people contained within a place of worship all produce sound waves. Sound waves are like any form of energy. They will follow the course of least resistance to escape when they can. Noise and sound will infringe into the lives of your neighbors if it is not blocked, absorbed or deflected. Noise containment in churches and other places of worship requires attention to floors, walls and ceilings.

Ideally, soundproofing products should be specified into the design of a new church (see photograph above), however you can also add soundproofing materials to an existing church structure.

The benefits include:

· Reduction in overall levels of church noise
· Reduction in level of high decibel music noise that often escapes outside the church walls
· Improvement in the quality of sound for listeners in the church
· Reduction in background noise levels inside the church. The congregation can hear the messages clearer.
· A decrease in echoes provides higher quality sound when talking or having conversations
· Reduction in noise complaints by nearby neighbors.

Complaints, unhappy neighbors, law suites and legal fees, citations for nuisance issues, and a lack of peace of mind...these are not things that are typically associated with churches. Perhaps you may hear some new terminology thrown into your church leader's standard vernacular: “Stand up and sing your praises mildly between 60-70 decibels. Or perhaps, dear God, give us strength and possibly even a sound level meter to help in our efforts of keeping the peace with thy neighbors and avoid violating and receiving citations for local nuisance ordinance 32.786.654.”

Pickleball "Racket" Needs a Soundproofing Solution to Calm Neighbors

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 22:02:00 GMT

Picklers can now be found in most states across America. Picklers have even made their way across the border to Canada, Singapore, and India. Pickler fever, like Bieber fever, has gone viral and mainstream. So don’t be offended if someone asks you to “get your pickle on” sometime because if you haven’t heard about the sport of pickleball by now, you probably will soon. The sport has officially arrived in the United States and may be coming to a neighborhood near you.

Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sporting craves in America and has even begun to spread overseas. While pickleball is an inter-generational sport for players ranging in age from 6 to 70-plus, it’s the 55-plus year-old demographic that is driving the recent fast-rising popularity of the sport.

Some describe pickleball as a dwarf version of tennis. Others describe it as an over-grown version of ping pong (table tennis). It's played like tennis and scored like badminton. Regardless of what you think it is, the pickleball phenomenon has taken hold.

For decades, the game was little known outside the Pacific Northwest United States. Since its inception in 1965 as a backyard pastime, Pickleball has seen significant growth in the United States over the past decade. It is now an organized sport represented by national and international governing bodies. According to the USA Pickleball Association, the sport boasts an estimated 100,000 adult players in the United States now, more than triple the number in 2003, and there are about 2,500 public courts, versus just 150 that year.

Pickleball has seen an explosion of sort in Florida, especially in Central Florida, which is considered by many to be the pickleball capital of the world now. The Villages, a popular retirement community located near Orlando Florida, hosts more than 108 courts alone.

More and more pickleball courts are being built in new 55-plus communities and are being added to existing communities all over the United States and in other countries too. Del Webb, the United States’ largest builder of active-adult communities, had pickleball courts in fewer than one in five of its developments in 2006. Now, says Jacque Petroulakis, spokeswoman for parent company PulteGroup Inc., the figure is above 50 percent, and Del Webb incorporates pickleball into almost everything it builds. "It's the hottest craze sweeping our communities," she says.

Pickleball has spread across the United States and into Canada. It is now beginning to spread around the world. The United States Pickleball Association estimates there are more than 100,000 active picklers. In Canada, where the game is still relatively new, there are already more than 5,000 players in just four provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, and Ontario. Meanwhile new organizations like the Singapore Pickleball Association and the All India Pickleball Association are bringing the game to Asia and beyond.

For pickleball players, the sport is a way to exercise, burn calories, be social, and get outdoors. The sport is easy to learn, even for those without much athletic experience. For all of these reasons, players find pickleball addictive, with demand for court time often exceeding available space. And in case you were wondering exactly what the term “pickler” means. According to the World Pickleball Federation (yes there is one), a pickler is a certified pickleball player who may or may not become addicted in the next 10 minutes or less. The sport with a whimsical name also has some whimsical terms and definitions. While many picklers play the game for fun, many play it competitively in regional, national and international singles and doubles tournaments.

According to the website of the USA Pickleball Association, which officially took over the sport in 2005, pickleball is played on a badminton-size court with the net lowered to 34 inches at the center. It is played with a perforated plastic baseball (similar to a Wiffle Ball) and solid wooden, composite, graphite or aluminum paddles that resemble large table tennis paddles. The game was invented by a man in Washington state in 1965, and is named after his dog Pickles who used to chase balls all over a court.

The Pickleball "Racket" - Ping, Pop, Thwack

As picklers get excited about their smashes, rallies, put aways, serves, and volleys on the court, some residents off the court living within earshot are crying foul. Even as momentum for the sport builds, the game has left a trail of detractors and spawned studies to determine if the sport meets noise regulations. When the pickleball paddle hits the hard plastic ball it makes a unique “pop” or "ping" sound that is louder and sharper to the ear and registers 3-5 decibels higher on a sound meter than the “thwack” heard when a tennis racquet hits the softer tennis ball. Regulation games are played to 11 points (a team must win by two points). Some local games are played to 15 points so the ball may strike the paddles hundreds of times in a game.This constant hard sharp sound can be bothersome to some residents living near the courts if the sound is not blocked by natural barriers of some type or by acoustical material hung on the fence that surrounds the court.

You can hear the sound for yourself by watching the YouTube video of a tournament match.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdVMcIDQJlA

While the sport of pickleball is growing with new fans every day, it’s also faulting with some neighbors and communities who don’t want pickleball courts in their area because of the unwanted sounds and continuous racket/noise. In some communities, the divisions have prompted heated meetings among property owners, calls for noise studies and even claims that pickleball is destroying property values.

Increasing Number of Courts Could Lead to More Noise Issues

According to the USA Pickleball Association (USAPA), the number of places to play pickleball nationwide has grown in the past 12 years from just 37 to nearly 1400. In Mission Royale, a 55-plus community in Casa Grande, Ariz., the local pickleball club is trying to secure courts of its own. Partly in response to noise complaints, the community's developer, Meritage Homes Corp., recently said it would be willing to spend "significant dollars" to relocate pickleball from a converted tennis court, says Jeff Grobstein, desert region president for Meritage.

Ron Heymann, 65, whose home is about 100 feet from the existing courts, says he won't be sorry to see pickleball go. The noise from games—that of a "hard plastic ball thunk-thunking repetitively on a hard wooden paddle"—is "akin to a toothache that won't go away."

Pickleball players in Mission Royale dispute such claims—for the most part. "There is a constant 'ping, ping,'" concedes John Grasso, 61, president of the local pickleball club. In March, Mr. Grasso says the club purchased a decibel meter from RadioShack. The findings: Tennis reached about 58 decibels while pickleball hit about 60. "There really was no difference. It's just a different sound."

The difference was enough to evict the sport from its home in SaddleBrooke near Tampa, FL. In 2008, residents there first asked pickleball players to switch to a rubber ball to cut back on noise. Pickleball players passed. Many feel like the sound is an integral part of the game and the experience.

"Ask golfers to use a different kind of ball, and see what they say," says John Benter, 69, local pickleball president.

A $4,500 noise study found that sounds from pickleball play were spiking above the county's 60-decibel limit, which applies to ongoing noise. As a result, the homeowners' association banned use of standard pickleball paddles and balls on the courts, effectively shutting down play.

Pickleball-related lawsuites

Pickleball has also sparked lawsuits throughout the United States from people concerned and irritated about game noise that has intruded into their homes and personal outdoor spaces.
A November 15, 2012 Rockford Register Star article states that a lawsuit filed to stop pickleball from being played in Sinnissippi Park could be settled with additional noise control efforts from the Rockford Park District. In Winnebago County, Illinois, two people filed a complaint to the Winnebago County court asking for an injunction to stop play at the six courts at the Sinnissippi Pickleball Center. The complaint said the “pop” the ball makes as it flies off the paddle sounds “like a hammer blow on a blacksmith’s anvil” and “the noise filters into every part of their property and household.”

An article found on AzCentral.com website said Otis and Jean Vaughn thought the active lifestyle and peaceful setting of Venture Out RV Resort were the perfect ticket for retirement when they bought a home in the east Mesa community. For much of the past two decades, they played tennis, exercised at the community pool and traveled. But the Vaughns said that tranquility ended when the "pinging and popping" sounds of pickleball erupted on badminton-size courts that were built last year about 30 feet from their driveway.

"It's absolutely deafening," he said of the hard-surface paddles striking perforated plastic balls. The Vaughns' protest is among a chorus of objections to noise generated by the game in at least four Arizona retirement communities and several other states.

Noise Mitigation Solutions

Some of the noise problems for pickleball are not just because of the racquets and ball used. There are other issues. Some pickleball courts were built too close to homes. Also, most courts have chain link fencing around them which doesn’t block any noise. Some courts have tried using screen meshing on the chain link fence but it is porous and does not block noise well. Other developments have used trees and landscaping as a way to block noise during matches. These natural barriers are seldom effective.

There are other more modern acoustical solutions to the pickleball noise that can be used and are currently being used by pickleball associations and builders. Acoustifence is a modern day acoustical soundproofing product that just happens to be developed and sold by the owner of this blog - Tampa, Fla.-based Acoustiblok, Inc.

Acoustifence is an advanced material sound barrier that is placed between a noise source and the noise receiver. The Acoustifence material easily attaches to chain link fences and comes in large sheets and in custom made sizes, making it ideal. In a sound meter test conducted by USA Pickleball Association president Bill Booth on April 17, 2012 at the Country Roads RV Village pickleball courts in Yuma, Arizona, Acoustifence soundproofing material placed around a pickleball court reduced noise by 10-12 decibels This represents a 50 percent reduction in sound as perceived by the human ear the report concludes.

Let’s Google That Pickle Word

Today, if you Google the word pickleball, it receives about 212,000 results. Google the word ping pong and you get 90 million results. Google Google badminton and you get 27.5 million with volleyball yielding 171 million results. America’s current most popular sport, NFL football yielded 335 million results. So pickleball, while gaining popularity, is still finding its way into the cyberworld compared to other popular recreational activities. Google the word "pickleball noise" and you'll get 22,000 results, probably much more than the sports governing bodies feels good about.

Despite a few small bumps in the road, pickleball is finding its way into the hearts of many.

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Pickleball Links

United States of America Pickleball Association
http://www.usapa.org/

International Federation of Pickleball
http://ipickleball.org/

Overview of Pickleball Rules

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0157/4690/files/243978_Pickle_Ball_Rules.pdf?3421

Pickleball Basics

• Pickleball is a fun game played on a badminton court with the net lowered at 34 inches on center. It is played with a perforated plastic baseball, similar to a whiffle ball, and wood or composite paddles. It is easy for beginners to learn, but can develop into a quick, fast-paced competitive game for experienced players.

• There are usually four players - two each side on a team - playing over a net slightly lower than in tennis. Singles can play a match also.

• In tournaments, a match will usually consist of the best 2 out of 3 games to 11.

• Players swing rackets that look like a beefed-up version of a beach paddleball paddle and hit a whiffle ball that's slightly harder than the play-in-the-streets variety.

• The serve is underhanded and goes diagonally like in tennis, but the ball must bounce once on each side before players are allowed to hit a volley (out of the air). A player serves until he/she side outs then a person on the other team serves.

• Inside ''The Kitchen,'' a 7-foot zone on both sides of the net, volleying is not allowed; players have to let the ball bounce once if they're in that area.

• Teams only score when they're serving, and each player gets a turn before the other side gets a shot.

• There are a few more rules, but the main thing is that pickleball is a blast.

Soundproofing Products for Pickleball Courts

www.acoustiblok.com

Noise Levels in Hospitals Rising Since 1960

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:25:00 GMT

Despite significant advances in medical technology over the past century and a half, noise remains a big and largely unsolved problem in healthcare environments. Although hospitals are thought to be a place where quiet is essential for patient healing, it’s ironic that hospitals are actually one of the least likely places where quiet can be found.

Modern research suggests that Florence Nightingale wasn’t exaggerating when she referred to hospital noise as “abuse.” In her 1859 book titled “Notes on Nursing: Understanding the basics of sound transmission and measurement is essential to a realistic assessment of a facility’s sound environment, she wrote, “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel abuse of care which can be inflicted on either the sick or the well.”

Studies Show an Ongoing Problem

Some studies show that high levels of sound have negative physical and psychological effects on patients, disrupting sleep, increasing stress, and decreasing patients’ confidence in the competence of their clinical caregivers. A study by acoustical engineers at Johns Hopkins University found that hospital noise levels have increased steadily over the past 50 years. Since 1960, average daytime hospital sound levels rose from 57 decibels to 72 decibels, while average nighttime levels jumped from 42 to 60 decibels. This far exceeds the World Health Organization’s recommendation of 35 decibels as a top measure of sound levels in patient rooms.

The Johns Hopkins University researchers reported that medical and communications technologies were major culprits behind increasing noise levels. Communications devices like overhead pagers and cell phones fill the air with distracting of sounds (human speech) and patients and healthcare workers find themselves raising their voices ever louder in an effort to be heard. In patient rooms, monitoring and life-sustaining equipment continually beeps and whooshes around patients’ beds, occasionally erupting into alarming warning signals.

Daytime and Nighttime Noise levels Increase Each Year

A 2005 study conducted by Busch-Vishniac et al. found that sound pressure levels in hospital environments have risen significantly and consistently since 1960. On average, daytime levels have risen 0.38 decibels and nighttime levels have risen 0.42 decibels—each year. Many sounds present in hospital environments can be severely irritating and at times harmful to patients, requiring acoustic solutions that are part of a careful, strategic design. Specific acoustical considerations in healthcare settings include supporting patient well-being and privacy, supporting communication among staff and meeting standards and regulations (e.g., HIPAA).

Noise Affects on Sleep in Hospitals

Fox News published an online story on June 12, 2012 titled, “Typical Hospital Noises May Disrupt Sleep.” Orfeu Buxton, a neuroscientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, led a study to measure how loud particular noises have to be to wake people up. According to study results, certain hospital sounds, such as electronic alarms, telephones and conversations, can wake people up even at relatively low levels. Buxton and his colleagues monitored the sleep of 12 healthy people as the researchers pumped sounds into the room where they slept. The results point to ways hospitals can focus on mitigating the most disruptive noises.

Most of the noises were recorded from an actual hospital. They included IV pump alarms, people talking, a plane flying overhead and a laundry cart rolling down the hall. Throughout the night, the researchers would play the noises one at a time. Each sound was first played at the level of a whisper. If the person's brain waves didn't show a response to the sound, the researchers stepped up the level until the "patient" woke up or the volume reached 70 dB, about the level of people shouting. The findings showed when it comes to disturbing sleep, alarms and voices were clearly the worst offenders.

Susan Frampton is the president of Planetree, a group that promotes patient-centered healthcare. She said in the article that sound reduction is important because patients' psychological and physical health can suffer from having their sleep disturbed. Previous research has found hospital noise levels can spike up to 80 decibels, about as loud as a chainsaw.

Why Acoustics and Soundproofing Materials in Hospitals Matter

For patients, sudden noises can set off “startle reflexes” and can lead to grimacing, increased blood pressure, and higher respiratory rates for patients. Prolonged loud noises can lead to memory problems, irritation, impaired pain tolerance, perceptions of isolation, sleep disruption, and decreased oxygen saturation. A considerable body of research has documented the effects of noise on patient outcomes. For example, exposure to sudden, unexpected noise raises patient heart rates and has been proven to have a negative influence on patient recovery times. Chronically high levels of sound, on the other hand, tend to increase blood pressure levels; a new study by University of Michigan researchers found a direct correlation between overall decibel levels and blood pressure levels. Higher blood pressure leads to a higher risk of cardiac problems.

In a study of 4,115 patients in 32 Berlin hospitals, a team of European researchers in a study of 4,115 patients in 32 Berlin hospitals found that chronic noise increased the risk of heart attacks by 50 percent for men and 75 percent for women. In a hospital environment, where people are already ill and psychologically stressed, unnecessary noise can be harmful.

For Healthcare Professionals, while patient care teams (PCTs) may be able to perform tasks in an environment with a high level of noise, these health care specialists may have to exert more effort to do so, in turn causing more fatigue. When inadequate acoustic conditions exist, poor psychosocial conditions can occur even for highly-trained and educated PCTs that are prepared to handle stressful conditions. In addition, speech intelligibility is very important to PCTs in healthcare environments. PCTs need to be able to understand and quickly respond to the many types of auditory signals (e.g., conversations, medical equipment, alarms) in hospital settings.

Keeping it Quiet

Acoustics experts caution that noise in health care facilities is not a problem that can be fixed or totally eliminated once and for all, but it an ongoing issue that requires continual attention in healthcare facilities. Regular sound assessments and acoustical maintenance of equipment are essential to sustaining an auditory environment that promotes the effectiveness of caregivers and patient rest and healing.

Some hospitals are proactively working on the noise problems by looking at equipment, making acoustical modifications to their facilities and incorporating modern day acoustic soundproofing materials into their facilities.

At Northside Hospital in Atlanta Georgia, a committee of employees from throughout the hospital studied ways to reduce noise. In two years, the committee was able to drop the decibel level by as much as 40 percent in some hospital areas. At other hospitals that took steps to reduce noise levels, patients were more satisfied with their care, slept better, had lower blood pressure and were less likely to be re hospitalized. Also, the staff felt better about their jobs and they also reported improved sleep quality.

LEARN MORE ABOUT SLEEP AND SLEEP DISRUPTION IN HOSPITALS

Multi-family Residential Noise is a Growing Issue

Thomas Wiseman — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:52:00 GMT

When one thinks of living in a multi-family residential development, the classic image of someone waking up in the middle of the night and banging on the ceiling with a broomstick or pounding on the wall with their fist trying to send a less than subtle message to the neighbors to quiet down.

More people are living and working in highly concentrated environments. Unwanted noise from neighbors has become a high-priority lifestyle issue for people living in apartment and condominium housing complexes. In a national survey of 1,500 multi-family housing residents conducted by Richmond, Va.,-based Alan Newman Research, noisy neighbors are the number one cause of irritation when it comes to multifamily living. More than 60-percent of those polled rated noisy neighbors who can be heard through the walls as the top noise compliant, with loud music following a distant second.

In an age when noise pollution is surpassing mold as the top health offender in multi-unit construction, more and more architects and builders are incorporating noise abatement products into residential properties, as well as commercial and industrial buildings to meet a growing demand to address not only noise, but the threat of noise complaint litigation. As soundproofing technology and products become more sophisticated, a growing movement to rid our home, work and leisure spaces of high decibel intrusion is taking shape, and sound abatement product manufacturers are developing new products like never before to help quiet our living spaces. What has caused this demand for higher density, multi-unit developments and noise reduction building and construction products over the past two decades?

Some factors include:

• economic factors such as recessions and weaker global economies
• decreasing family incomes and more families with one income
• more and more people are renting rather than purchasing single-family homes
• urban and suburban build-out is occurring
• the price of land is increasing at a fast pace
• the lack of developable land in some cities
• people looking for smaller, less expensive living quarters.

Unwanted noise from neighbors has become a high-priority lifestyle issue for people living in apartment and condominium housing complexes. So just what is noise? To put it simply, it is unwelcome sound. Noise is a non toxic pollutant, people do not ingest it, and in fact unless the noise overpowers all other noises or has an overpowering timber, pitch, or is suddenly loud, people may not even notice noise in their conscious mind. Studies have shown that loud noise has a direct negative affect on people’s behavior.

In a national survey of 1,500 multi-family housing residents conducted by Richmond, Va.,-based Alan Newman Research, noisy neighbors are the number one cause of irritation when it comes to multifamily living. More than 60-percent of those polled rated noisy neighbors who can be heard through the walls as the top noise compliant, with loud music following a distant second.

In the hospitality industry, including hotels, resorts, and bed and breakfast accommodations, surveyed guests have repeatedly rated noise from common areas and other rooms the number one annoyance that would keep them from returning. Competition for a dwindling customer base has hoteliers looking for materials and techniques to combat noise issues in an effort to keep their rooms quiet and their guests happy.

New Innovative Soundproofing Building Materials

Growing attention to noise abatement and privacy demands are driving the development of new building materials that significantly reduce sound transmission. In the United States alone, there are now approximately 700-plus companies that manufacture or sell soundproofing products. Acoustiblok is one of them. Acoustiblok’s heavy, yet very flexible viscoelastic polymer material provides sound reduction through a unique adiabatic process. Rather than attempting to block or absorb sound, Acoustiblok transforms sound energy into inaudible friction energy as the material flexes from sound waves. Older methods of blocking sound with concrete or other barrier materials have proven ineffective at best, as sound often reverberates off of these materials. In certain settings, sound can be worsened due to an echo effect that some barriers create within certain acoustical settings.

Pent-up Demand for Multi-family Housing

According to an article by Ron Kuykendall dated March 1, 2012, titled, “New Multifamily Housing Construction at 20-Year Low,” on the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) website REIT.com, the mortgage crisis that has been occurring in the United States over the past decade has channeled millions of households from single family homeownership to rental housing.

Despite this, NAREIT’s analysis shows that construction of multifamily units plunged to a nearly 20-year low during the recession, creating a supply shortfall. According to the analysis, between 2008 and 2010, construction of multifamily units fell as much as 70 percent from its trend growth rate over the past decade. Although multifamily construction starts have increased since the beginning of 2010, the number of units under construction remains at nearly 60 percent below its long-term average.

Calvin Schnure is NAREIT’s vice president of research and industry information. “Squeezing off the construction pipeline for four years, on its own, has produced a shortfall of more than 500,000 apartment units relative to the number that would be needed just to satisfy the demand produced by normal population growth over that period,” he said.

“As the job market improves and confidence rises, over the next two or three years, that demand for new households will be released into the market. Given the continued dislocation in the single family housing market, most of the demand will be directed to the rental market,” he said.

Soundproofing in the New Era of Residential Building and Construction

When it comes to sound reduction in construction, government and industry standards are translated in sound transmission class, a system that measures the ability of a wall partition to prevent noise from penetrating a wall between adjoining rooms. The higher the rating, the greater the noise reduction.

For apartment dwellers or hotel guests, an STC-55 rated wall is enough to prevent the penetration of normal sounds. To prevent the intrusion of sound from loud music or any other unusually high volume source, an STC-60 rating may be called for.

In an effort to increase STC rating, contractors use one or a combination of noise abatement techniques including:

• Increasing the wall’s ability to disperse vibrational energy that is produced by sound waves within a partition, also known as damping.

• Adding to the wall’s mass, literally adding layers of drywall or other material to create a barrier that sound waves must penetrate to pass from one room to the next.

• Creating flexibility in the wall assembly to enhance sound absorption. Too much stiffness reduces a wall’s ability to absorb sound. Metal studs have more flexibility than wood studs, and should be used in walls where noise abatement is important.

• Less framing, which will improve acoustical performance, with 24-inch framing spacing proven to be a better option for sound abatement than 16-inch framing.

• Increasing wall cavity depth and packing the empty space with insulation or another sound-absorbing material.

Architects and contractors are finally beginning to take noise abatement seriously, and the liability of ignoring this important aesthetic in the design process is getting costly. Increased litigation over noise problems are becoming more the norm than the exception. With new studies being released routinely on the health implications caused by noise pollution today, more consumers are beginning to not only demand, but to expect a home with less noise pollution coming in from the noisy outside world.

With the looming increase in multi-family construction products on the way and the increase in noise pollution going on around us, noise abatement products may be playing a bigger role in our quest to have a quiet and peaceful place to live.

Do-it-Yourself and Home Improvement Markets Growing

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:18:00 GMT

Alas, a weekend where Bill can don his dusty work boots, stained jeans, faded T-shirt, and red bandanna as he prepares to convert his finished basement office space into a home multi-purpose audio/video entertainment room. Bill heads to the home improvement warehouse to buy tools and building materials and awaits delivery of his wall soundproofing material. As Bill sweats away all weekend on the construction of his new multi-purpose entertainment room, he may not be aware that he is contributing to a multibillion-dollar industry called Do it yourself, or simply DIY. The industry has been experiencing steady growth over the last few years thanks to the millions of people like him who take on DIY related projects every day.

An American Phenomenon

According to the National Building Museum, this 20th century American phenomenon came of age with the middle-class baby-boomer families of the 1950s and 1960s, as returning GIs and their counterparts at home encountered a host of new products and step-by-step instructions for how to use them. Members of this "can-do" generation-primed by their fathers' basement workbenches and by Uncle Sam's Depression-era push to modernize the nation's housing stock-eagerly embraced the developing "how-to" marketplace. Hobby enthusiasts and amateurs alike transformed themselves into handymen and handywomen as do-it-yourself grew from an acceptable, perhaps even desirable activity into an expected domestic leisure-time pursuit. The next generation pushed the DIY ethos further by focusing on older houses in need of care and repair. Interest in traditional building arts surged and so did a general desire to incorporate the past - or a modern facsimile of it.

DIY Market Still Growing Today

Worldwide, the DIY and home improvement markets are projected to reach US$716.2 billion by 2015, according to a report issued by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. The markets are on the rise still and are expected to maintain steady growth over the next few years.

Here’s why:

• a steady rise of the DIY culture
• widespread availability of easy-to-install/use products
• an increase in recession induced cautious spending habits of financially strained customers
• the rapidly increasing number of products and services including books, websites, television programs, tools and accessories that are being designed and served especially for DIY tasks.
• widespread availability of easy-to-use products for home repair, crafts and decorations and gardening activities.

According to Global Industry Analysts, Inc., the home improvement segment of DIY continues to be one of the major end-use markets for DIY solutions, contributing a significant share in the market’s revenues. Media, especially television, has been playing a major role in developing DIY consumer base by telecasting shows on home remodeling and repairs. Market for DIY solutions in the home improvement segment got a major boost during the recent economic recession as cost-wary individuals preferred spending their leisure time at home doing household chores to spare overhead spending, thus increasing their use of DIY tools. Consumers’ focus on renovating their home for enhancing the aesthetic value of the property and sustain its commercial value for a longer period of time will continue to benefit DIY market in this segment. Besides home improvement, the automotive and landscaping markets also generate considerable demand for DIY solutions according to the Global Industry Analysts, Inc. report.

DIY home improvement affords homeowners a way to individualize and reinvent their homes and living spaces. Skills first acquired using tools in hobby projects or for minor repairs empower men and women to tackle increasingly complex projects that can add real value to their investment.

Widespread Availability of Easy-to-Install/Use Products

By the late 1960s in the United States, the burgeoning DIY market was beginning to change the face of the construction industry. The rising cost of buying a home or having one remodeled by a professional led more homeowners to take on construction projects themselves. The popular interest in DIY and the enthusiasm for home remodeling revolutionized not only the sale of power tools but also the design and retailing of building materials and finishing supplies. All were modified for the convenience of do-it-yourselfers. Plywood was cut to more manageable panel sizes, drywall was lightened, concrete mix came in 60-pound bags, insulation was formed into square blocks, aluminum was manufactured in standardized units, hardwood panels came varnished and pre-finished, wallpaper came pre-trimmed and pre-pasted, linoleum and vinyl flooring were cut into small squares, and synthetics were molded into brick and other decorative textures. Today specialty products like soundproofing material, are available pre-cut and ready to hang or can be custom cut to a desired size.

In the DIY family conceived by many editors and advertisers, the handyman husband built things, usually with the aid of power tools, and the intuitive wife took care of surfaces and interior decorating. Previously reserved for hired help, the term "handyman" now referred to suburban husbands. The shift symbolized a larger transformation: DIY was no longer a dabbler's hobby, but an expected domestic pursuit.

Cable Television is Influencing a Generation of DIYers

Cable television is mostly available in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia, and less so in South America and the Middle East. Each year, more and more people are being influenced and inspired by popular DIY and home improvement reality shows throughout the world and are helping to keep this market strong. In the United States, the 1984 Cable Television Regulation Act established a more favorable regulatory framework for the cable TV industry. This gave rise to new popular cable television “specialty” networks like TLC Network, HGTV, Discovery Channel, and A&E which attract millions of viewers each day.

A TLC Network reality show called Trading Spaces was very popular from 2000 – 2008. It was an hour-long American television reality program where two sets of neighbors redecorated one room in each other's home on a $1,000 budget. The show helped launch the career of the widely popular DIY Trading Spaces carpenter Ty Pennington who went on to be the host of his own reality show called Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, which aired on ABC.

Over the past decade, there’s been a boom of reality show programming and people are still being influenced by DIY and home improvement related cable television shows such as Design on a Dime (HGTV), Renovation Realities (DIY), Sweat Equity (DIY), Desperate Landscapes (DIY), Gardening By the Yard (HGTV), Flip this House (A&E), Toolbelt Diva ( Discovery) Designing Spaces (TLC), and Fix this Kitchen (A&E).

One of the newest specialty television networks is called the DIY Network. It was the second network to be launched by Scripps, following the success of HGTV. The network is owned by Scripps Networks Interactive. Whether remodeling your kitchen, dreaming of a master bathroom addition or simply repairing a leaky faucet, DIY Network’s experts give viewers a step-by-step instruction on common DIY home projects. Television stations air local versions with local hosts with segments produced by the network. Branded DIY Network programming is also broadcast in Japan and the Philippines. The cable network reaches 50 million households in the US.

Acoustiblok sound proofing products were featured on the DIY Network show called Cool Tools starring Kayleen McCabe (see show clip).

Availability of Products, Tools and Supply Depots

Today, tool manufacturers make DIY increasingly doable by designing tools equipped with the facility and accuracy of a professional, as well as advanced safety features. The establishment and expansion of huge warehouse sized one-stop home improvement specialty retailers like Lowe’s (founded in 1929) and Home Depot (founded in 1985) in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, China, United Kingdom, South America and other countries serve the DIY, consumer durables, and building contractor businesses. Hundreds of millions of consumers purchase home improvement materials from their stores.

Prior to the early 1980’s, getting access to home improvement materials and specialty tools was cumbersome. A person had to wade through original equipment manufacturer’s paper based manufacturing product catalogs which were not easy to come by and was time consuming. In 1982, the concept of an electronic world-wide of networks called the Internet was introduced to the world and grew in popularity quickly. In addition, home computers were just becoming common during this period as well.

A Promising Future

Today, most products and tools produced by companies all over the world for todays DIY and home improvement products can be found online, purchased on a credit card, ordered within minutes and shipped quickly. The struggling economies of the United States and other large countries are still inducing cautious spending habits of financially strained customers. Thus, the DIY and home improvement markets looks promising for years ahead.

Noise U: College Athletic Complexes are Noise Issue to residents

Thomas Wiseman — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 16:12:00 GMT

Today’s collegiate, high school, and recreational multi-sport complexes are getting larger, more complex and costly, and ultimately, noisier for residents who live near them. The collegiate sports facility market alone continues to grow and evolve. As student enrollment increases, outdated facilities age, programs shift and competition on the athletic recruiting front grows more intense.

With the increased expansion of outdoor collegiate sports complexes near residential areas, more and more people are experiencing noise disturbances near their homes. This noise pollution can diminish privacy, affect peace of mind, and increase tension levels for many people. Increasingly, municipalities are looking closer at potential noise issues before new complexes are built. They are seeking proactive approaches and new ways of controlling noise before they are built, rather than rely on reactive solutions later that may or may not be effective.

Let’s look at some recent happenings that made the news at a few colleges and universities. As student populations grow, so must the campuses and physical elements of these schools. As they grow and expand closer and closer to residential areas, so too does the intrusion of noises these complexes onto nearby residential areas.

Northern Kentucky University (NKU), located in Highland Heights, KY, (about 12 miles southeast of downtown Cincinnati) built a new $6.5 million soccer stadium to support its successful men’s and women’s soccer teams. The beautiful, new open-air soccer stadium was built into a hillside on university property near the school’s $69 million state-of-the-art basketball arena.

The soccer field borders a residential area located near the backside of the field. Music and voices from the game announcer is broadcast over a public address system before, during and after games. Over the past year, nearby residents have voiced concerns to the university and to the Highland Heights City Council about the noise levels at the complex. Recently, the university announced it is turning to a commonly used solution; planting evergreen trees along the backside area to partially block the noise to nearby residents during games and activities at the soccer complex. These tree barriers are generally not an effective and acceptable noise reduction solution.

Similarly, West Virginia University (WVU), located in Morgantown, WV was facing a noise issue at their collegiate soccer complex (shown directly above and at the top of the article). However, rather than using only a natural product like trees to partially block the line of site noise, WVU is taking a more modern and proven approach to solving their noise concerns. They decided to use Acoustiblok’s Acoustifence product, a 1/8-inch thick unique sound deadening material that easily attaches to fences to form a noise barrier. It’s a simple and economical first step noise abatement solution that provides a noise blocker. The material itself provides a meaningful reduction in sound and can represent more than an 80 percent reduction in sound to the human ear depending on the surrounding environment. It is virtually indestructible, very resilient and is proven to reduce noise.

In Kalamazoo, MI, Kalamazoo College (shown below) recently built a new $16-million sports complex that is near a residential community. Even though the new complex is aesthetically pleasing to the residents, some residents of Seven Oaks, Rob Roy on the Lake, and other neighborhoods in the River Hills area formed an organization to oppose the sports complex and retained an attorney to represent their interests. In addition to the traffic issues, they cite problems with wastewater, light pollution and noise. Some residents are concerned that the complex will affect their property values.

So the next time the referee blows the whistle to signal the start of a collegiate sports match, it may not be the hundreds or thousands of spectators in the stands that make the most noise. It may be nearby residents who make the loudest noise after the games through noise complaints City Council about their noisy neighbors.

FAA-Sponsored Soundproofing Could be Pulled as Airport Gets Quieter

Thomas Wiseman — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:00:00 GMT

For years the FAA has been working with residents living within so-called noise impact areas of U.S. airports by providing grants to pay for soundproofing materials to be installed in homes within these designated areas.

With aircraft noise pollution named as one of the most maddening and volatile environmental problems among homeowners today, it makes sense that the FAA is stepping in with noise abatement measures for residents who not only fear the health risks of the high decibel noise, but want to protect their real estate values as well. Noise pollution is associated with serious health problems, sleep deprivation, lowered productivity and other issues.

Although governmental agencies are stepping up to the plate to address the rising problem of noise pollution, the tables can turn unexpectedly for citizens who live in areas in which airport-related noise pollution levels are actually being lowered.

Residents living around the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California are eligible for federal funding to soundproof their homes, but they’re being told to act fast because the area impacted by air traffic noise pollution around the airport is actually growing smaller.

The shrinking noise-impact zone is changing the status of some residents because fewer flights are coming in and out of the airfield, and aircrafts are being built or modified to operate more quietly, which means the noise-impact zone is expected to condense.

Homeowners who already qualify for the grant-funded soundproofing need to act quickly and take advantage of the FAA-sponsored soundproofing improvements to their homes now, according to the airport’s Executive Director Dan Feger.

“People who have the opportunity right now should take advantage of it because in all likelihood funding for that will go away,” Feger said at a recent meeting of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority.

The first draft of a noise-impact forecast on noise around the airport will now go to the FAA, which has six months to review it.

Since the launch of the soundproofing program, 2,356 single- and multi-family residences have had soundproofing materials installed, and another 357 residential owners have expressed an interest in having these measures taken in their homes as well.

But the owners of 1,926 eligible homes have yet to take advantage of the noise barrier measures offered to them by the FAA.

The decreasing noise-impact boundary surrounding the airport is a welcome sign for anti-noise pollution advocates, who say this is not the norm for airports nationwide. But with the decrease in noise pollution comes the very real fear that falling passenger figures are going to have a negative economic impact on the airport, which handles about 123,000 operations every year including commercial and private planes, helicopters and cargo aircraft.

When the last noise-impact study was completed in 1998, the airport handled 184,500 aircraft operations annually, so the drop-off is significant, However, projections show a rebound in flight numbers between now and 2017, which means this shrinking impact boundary may be short lived.

But homeowners who are eligible for the soundproofing now will lose that eligibility once the smaller noise impact boundary is confirmed and funding is halted. Even if the noise-impact boundary grows again in the future, there are no guarantees that the FAA will provide future home soundproofing for anyone.

Just three months ago, the FAA committed an additional $1 million to soundproof residences within earshot of the Bob Hope airfield’s flight paths in the area’s ongoing effort to reduce the impact of aircraft noise.

The average cost to install soundproofing materials is estimated at $32,094 per home, according to a project report.

In addition, a voluntary curfew was put in place from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. for commercial passenger airlines, but not for UPS or FedEx, which have to be able to fly their cargo into the airport to ensure their morning deliveries.

Funding for the soundproofing program comes from an existing Federal Aviation Administration grant, passenger charges, and the airport authority’s general fund.

Cities throughout the U.S. have similar FAA-sponsored soundproofing programs to alleviate the impact of aircraft noise on citizens who are adversely affected.

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Airport Traffic Noise Pits Communities Against Eachother

Thomas Wiseman — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 11:30:00 GMT

Residents of Minneapolis and nearby Edina raised their collective voices and lobbied successfully to keep aircraft noise out of their backyards last week, effectively delaying a new FAA flight pattern that would have rerouted some aircraft through their neighborhoods to alleviate plane noise plaguing the community of Richfield.

The lesson here is simple and timeless – the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and residents of both Minneapolis and Edina proved it last week. Their gain is now Richfield’s loss.

Similar episodes are playing out across the U.S., illuminating an increasingly common fight that pits community against community over local airport noise. Ultimately, the best organized and often most combative reign victorious, while neighboring communities are left to deal with renewed levels of airport noise pollution. The outcome of these battles can affect everything from residents’ health and well-being to real estate values.

First a little geography. Edina is about nine miles southwest of Minneapolis, and Richfield is just under five miles east of Edina. All three deal with aircraft noise from the Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport Lindbergh Terminal. The community of Richfield bears the brunt of incoming and outgoing aircraft noise due to its close proximity to the airport. But Richfield has been lobbying hard to have some flights rerouted, which would have lightened Richfield’s noise impact while increasing aircraft noise pollution in Minneapolis and Edina.

Just as word got out that the FAA was poised to approve the new flight plan, Minneapolis and Edina slammed the agency with emails, petitions, and phone calls to defeat the plan that would route more aircraft over their own back yards. All the commotion worked, and the FAA’s ruling to delay the flight pattern change left Ritchfield residents back where they started.

As the aircraft noise pollution problem increases from one year to the next, this turn of events illustrates how communities can expect to be pitted against each other to protect their peace and quiet, and how the best organized communities ultimately win the battle.

Ironically, the uproar over aircraft noise pollution has gone from spewing choice words of displeasure at the airlines to battling neighboring communities to determine which one least deserves the bulk of the airwave invasion.

Edina homeowners were the first to organize, and they did so quite effectively. Local activists took up the cause, using language that was alarming and filled with imagery meant to scare others into agreement.

Emails warning of "Toxic Super Highway for Planes planned for Edina," in the subject line threatened other homeowners with proclamations that “This (new flight pattern) will dramatically reduce your quality of life AND significantly reduce your property values," read another.

Homeowners filled a meeting of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) to review the new flight plan, which uses a system that utilizes satellite technology to reroute planes more precisely over less populated areas. The FAA uses the same system for airports nationwide.

Richfield residents were happy with the new flight pattern system because it would steer air traffic over the city’s Crosstown Expressway, where many of the homes already had government-subsidized sound proofing, and away from neighborhoods in which homes were more vulnerable to noise.

But Edina and Minneapolis activists opposed the new plan because they said that while it would benefit certain homeowners, others would be harmed by it. Now, the rerouting plan is on hold while more studies are conducted, and Richfield residents are back to square one.

Minneapolis homeowners are well known for their anti-airport noise activism, which in 2007 resulted in a settlement that forced the FAA to provide soundproofing material in 5,800 homes that were affected by aircraft noise.

Last summer, we witnessed a similar dilemma when residents of the Hamptons demanded changes be made to alleviate the horrendous levels of noise pollution incurred by neighbors who were utilizing private helicopters to commute to back and forth between homes in the Hamptons and offices in Manhattan.

The helicopter noise was unbearable according to Hamptons residents and visitors alike, who claimed it made windows rattle, woke people from their sleep and heightened anxiety and blood pressure in many of those exposed to the helicopter noise. Residents on Long Island and Manhattan were also subjected to the helicopters’ relentless pounding day and night, seven days a week. However, when FAA officials ordered new flight paths and hours to protect Hamptons residents from the clamor, the proposed changed impacted Long Island and Manhattan residents negatively.

Ten years ago, people were still telling themselves that noise pollution was something we need to live with, something that was unavoidable. Today, the opposite is happening as awareness over the dangers of noise pollution to health and well-being has increased, and people are growing more protective over the quality of their environments.

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Are Owl Feathers the Cure for Aircraft Noise Pollution?

Thomas Wiseman — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:31:00 GMT

Researchers have figured out something about owls that airports would like to get their hands on to reduce noise pollution.

Owl feathers.

Owls are known to have the unique ability to fly without making a sound. Turns out their feathers are designed for a quiet flight so they can hunt prey in acoustic stealth.

Aircraft designers are trying to figure out a way to use what they know about owl feathers to mitigate aircraft noise. They just have to figure out how that would work.

Researchers at England’s Cambridge University have been studying the owl’s wing structure to get a better understanding of exactly how it flies quiet so they can apply nature’s engineering to aircraft design. Aircrafts are among the worst noise pollution contributors on earth, and no stone that might help solve the problem will be left unturned. No feather either.

The Cambridge researchers are scheduled to present their findings to the American Physical Society's (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics this week in San Diego.

Justin Jaworski, of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Cambridge says that many owl species have developed specialized plumage to effectively eliminate the aerodynamic noise from their wings, which allows them to hunt and capture their prey using their ears alone.

"No one knows exactly how owls achieve this acoustic stealth, and the reasons for this feat are largely speculative based on comparisons of owl feathers and physiology to other not-so-quiet birds such as pigeons,” Jaworski says.

All wings, whether they are created in nature or engineered by Boeing, create turbulent “eddies” as they cut through the air. An eddy is a current of air running contrary to the main current; it can also manifest as a circular current like a whirlpool.

When these eddies hit the trailing edge of the wing, they become audible and even amplified, and they scatter as sound. This is why conventional aircraft with their hard trailing edges are particularly noisy.

On the other hand, owls possess at least three distinct features that are believed to contribute to their ability to fly in silence, eddy or no eddy: First, the leading edge on the owls’ wings are serrated like a comb. Second, the trailing feathers on the back end of the wing are tattered like the fringe of a scarf. And third, the rest of the owls’ wings and legs are covered in velvety down feathers.

The serrated feathers on the leading edge of owl wings have more to do with keeping the raptors stable than quiet, but the fringe on owls’ trailing feathers allows for “a very large noise reduction at the speed owls fly.” The owls’ tattered fringe feathers help to break up the sound waves that are generated as air flows over the top of their wings and forms downstream wakes.

The noise reduction achieved from the tattered fringe makes owls the quietest flying birds.

One more thing: the velvety down feathers found elsewhere on owls’ wings and legs absorb the remaining sound frequencies above 2,000 hertz, making owls completely silent to their prey.

Ornithologists have been fascinated by the silent flight of owls since ornithologists first began watching them. No other birds fly with such stealth. But can the remarkable structure of owl wings and feathers be replicated for aircrafts? And if so, how hilarious would that look?

Some ideas being tossed around include a retractable, brush-like fringe to mimic an owl’s trailing feathers, and applying a velvety coating to aircraft landing gear.

Researchers are still trying to figure out if it is just one of these attributes or a combination of all three responsible for the noise reduction. But they have been working on figuring out owl stealth by developing a theory for the owl’s noise mitigation skills from the trailing edge of its wing – typically man-made wing’s dominant noise source.

Unfortunately, when it comes to aircraft design, noise reduction still takes a backseat to fuel efficiency. But researchers are optimistic that lessons learned from the study of owl feathers may have the potential to influence the frequency and locations of aircraft takeoffs and landings. And that could make a big difference in airline efficiency. Major airports such as London’s Heathrow and Chicago’s O’Hare place restrictions on the amount of noise any airline can make in a day. If the airlines manage to dampen sound generated by their aircrafts, they are permitted to enlist more flights without threatening to exceed their noise pollution cap.

That way, everyone’s happy.

Remember, the owl has been enjoying its silent flight for some 20 million years. Along comes the human in search of something that will effectively cure aircraft noise pollution, and we think there might be some hope in owl feathers. We’ve got a long way to go. I Give it another 20 years.

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Moose Lodge Thumbs Nose at Neighbors Bothered by Turkey Shoot Noise

Liz Ernst — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:32:00 GMT

Thanksgiving conjures so many great American traditions, it’s hard to choose a favorite. Some folks in one Raleigh, North Carolina community are particularly fond of their annual weekend Moose Lodge turkey shoots, a twice-weekly practice that is making their closest neighbors miserable from the noise pollution stemming from the gunshots.

The Raleigh Moose Lodge is situated a mere 50 yards from a group of neighborhood homes, and noise from the shotgun blasts during the twice-weekly nighttime turkey shoots is keeping children awake, making pets nervous, and angering residents.

One Raleigh Moose Lodge member and dedicated turkey shooter says lodge members don’t deny the fact that their turkey shoots, which take place from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays are noisy, but they claim the noise should be tolerated because the turkey shoots are part of the lodge’s fundraising campaign for children’s charity.

"It makes money for our purpose, and our purpose is to support the children," one lodge member says.

One disgruntled neighbor says he has contacted the local Sheriff's Office, the County Board of Commissioners and the regional office of Moose International, to no avail. The thing is, the Moose Lodge is on County property, while the residents affected by the shooting noise – although only 50 yards away – are actually on City property. The City has stricter noise ordinances that could shut the turkey shoots down, but the Moose Lodge is governed by the lighter weight County noise ordinances.

County noise ordinances override the objections of both fed-up neighbors and City noise ordinances, allowing the turkey shooters to make noise until 11 p.m.

The County planning director, however, says the Moose Lodge turkey shooters are blatantly ignoring the rest of the community, calling their unwillingness to call off the noisy fundraising activity a matter of safety, common decency, and respect for their neighbors. He intends to bring the issue in front of the County planning board and get County officials to enforce the City’s noise ordinance.

Some of the disgruntled have suggested the Moose Lodge turkey shooters should use air rifles or B.B. guns to cut down the noise, an idea immediately shelved my Moose Lodge members who say such weapons would not be effective in downing a moving turkey.

Local reaction to the residents complaining about the turkey shoot noise were unsympathetic, with most stating that folks who move to the country should understand that things are done differently in these parts. Not all of the critics are aware of the fact that the affected residents actually live within City limits.

Public comments in the local paper drew criticism from mostly rural residents, spiked with a dash of contempt for the complaining “city folk” next to the lodge:

“…it is unrealistic to expect 80 years (or however long) of turkey shoots to come to a halt, and kind of a (expletive) move to try to make them halt. This particular case is especially interesting because the houses are in the city limits but the turkey shoots right next door is (sic) not.”

“…The guy who bought the property should have done better research. I think the time that the turkey shoots have been there is relevant. They were doing (turkey shoots) first, and caveat emptor. People have a strange perception about the rural lifestyle, and that isn't the rural people's fault.”

“…The lodge and history was there first. They have rights also in my opinion. Landowners even here in the boonies put up with noise. Cows bellowing, hunters, roosters, etc. Living in a populated world you have to chill out and take some momentary discomfort.”

Basically, the almost universal belief of the rural County residents is that the Moose Lodge wins the noise war based on seniority, with plenty of advice on learning to live with noise in any surrounding. Nothing was mentioned about the associated health problems brought on by noise, such as potential for blood pressure and stress levels to become elevated, noise-related sleep deprivation and the problems that go with it, or the fact that noise like that of the turkey hunters’ shots can exasperate existing health problems, interfere with recuperation from illness, an injury, or surgery, and exacerbate depression.

On a brighter note, there will be plenty of turkey this Thanksgiving at the Raleigh Moose Lodge!

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Manmade Noise Pollution is Changing the Song of the Grasshopper

Liz Ernst — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:43:00 GMT

There’s more bad news for the earth’s urban fauna, subjected to man-made noise pollution levels that already have birds changing the tune of their chirp to be heard above the din of traffic, machinery, industry, music and everything else we subject them to.

It appears that male grasshoppers are responding to road traffic noise in their environment by changing the pitch of their songs just so their voices can be heard by the lady grasshoppers. In fact, a new study published in the journal Functional Ecology is the first to confirm what scientists have long suspected – the male bow-winged grasshopper has altered the actual pitch of his ballads by raising the pitch of its lower notes in order to rise to a mini-crescendo, according to study scientists from the University of Bielefeld in Germany.

That’s right, the bow-winged grasshopper was blessed by nature to create songs that include low and high frequency elements, and we have all heard that distinctive choral routine at some point in our lives. I remember the first time I was made aware of it; our family spent summers in a place called Eagle River Wisconsin – serious “Northwoods” wilderness so far north, its winters are subarctic. One summer evening at dusk, I think I was about six, my dad got me to listen to an unfamiliar sound I might not have noticed had he not shared the moment with me.

I remember how the sweeping notes that distinctly changed pitches made my jaw drop – it was a cloud of grasshoppers. It was the first time it occurred to me that bugs could make any sounds at all, much less relatively sophisticated harmonized sounds.

Grasshoppers sing!

Ulrike Lampe, a research scientist at the University of Bielefeld in Germany, led the new study on grasshoppers responding to noisy environments, said that the creatures have adapted to noise pollution encroaching on their habitats by increasing the volume of the lower-frequency part of their songs. Dr. Lampe explains that this made sense to her group of research scientists because it was already known to them that traffic noise can veil sounds in that spectrum of frequency.

Click HERE to listen to a grasshopper battling traffic noise

Studies on the effects of man-made noise pollution on wildlife and domestic animals have increased in recent decades, but this appears to be the first study to focus on the effects of noise on invertebrates such as insects.

“We know that birds shift the frequencies of their songs or use songs with higher mean frequencies under noisy conditions,” Dr. Lampe says. “Some frog species alter their calling rate in response to high background noise levels, and whales have also been found to change the pitch of their acoustic communications as high-volume noise from military submarines, ships, and underwater explosions.

This bow-winged grasshopper that the University of Bielefeld scientists studied is a common species; It grows to about 1.5cm in length, and comes in a variety of colors from green and brown to red and purple. They make their songs by rubbing a toothed file on their hind legs against the “bow” of a bulging vein in their front wings in a similar fashion to playing a cello. And it’s the males doing all the singing during the months of July and September in hopes of attracting the ladies. Ordinarily, the male grasshopper sings two-second-long “phrases” in each of the songs in his repertoire, which rise in volume as it nears the end. A slow “ticking” sound starts out each phrase, increasing in speed and volume and rising to a crescendo of buzzing near the end.

This is a remarkable feat of nature, as we all know, but it is almost bad news to anyone who is learning about the toll noise pollution is taking on the voice of the grasshopper, along with the scrub jay, the pinyon tree, the nightingale, and the remaining host of flora and fauna adversely affected by our noise. Dr. Lampe and her colleagues thought that the low-frequency of the grasshopper’s bass signals might be masked by traffic noise which is why they chose this species for the study.

Bow-winged grasshoppers make a good test subject for the effects of noise pollution on an insect as their process for sexual selection depends upon being able to hear each other. Female grasshoppers are able to respond to a male’s mating song with their own low frequency acoustic signal, according to Dr. Lampe.

“We thought about the possibility that this lower part of the frequency spectrum might be degraded or masked by (manmade noise), such as traffic noise,” she said.

The study’s scientists collected 188 male bow-winged grasshoppers, half from habitat close to a busy roadway, and the other half from open grassland with no manmade noise pollution entering their space. Then they compared the range and frequency of their songs – almost 1,000 songs were recorded in all!

Dr. Lampe said they found that the grasshoppers exposed to traffic noise were proven to have changed the pitch of their songs, which could have a serious effect on their ability to find mates.

“Increased noise levels could affect grasshopper courtship in several ways,” Dr. Lampe writes. “It could prevent females from hearing male courtship songs properly, prevent females from recognizing males of their own species, or impair females' ability to estimate how attractive a male is from his song.

“We don't know this, yet. We want to find out more about female preferences for spectral parameters of the songs and whether traffic noise affects these preferences in some way,” she added.

All I can think of is that day I realized that what I was hearing was the remarkable orchestra-like precision of that cloud of grasshoppers in Eagle River, Wisconsin, and how scary it seems that future generations of children may never have the opportunity because man made noise pollution changed the way grasshoppers court.

Noise Levels in Apple's New Palo Alto Store are Ear Splitting

Liz Ernst — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:48:00 GMT

When Apple opened its new Palo Alto store last month, everyone was impressed – for about a minute. The new store is an architectural vision, 5,000 square feet of glass walls, a curved glass roof, and Italian stone hand-selected by Steve Jobs himself before his death in 2011. The store is a spectacular sight, especially at night when it is flooded by strategically engineered lighting.

Unfortunately, this vision in glass and stone was designed and built with no noise absorption whatsoever in place. In fact, the noise from reverberant sound bouncing off all these hard surfaces is so hard on the ears, customers are visiting once and fleeing after a short time. Apple’s $15 million echo chamber is been described as “earsplitting,” “almost unbearably noisy,” and “one big noise machine.”

One visitor told her husband she would not return to the store after spending just a few minutes – she’s afraid of suffering hearing loss.

Are people exaggerating about the noise? Well, in his own blog “Minding the (Apple) Store,” Former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée wrote that a visit to the store shortly after its opening did not have the impact he was hoping for. Gassée said the new store is indeed big, bold, elegant, but almost unbearably noisy.

The quintessential testament to Apple’s success, painstakingly designed down to the most minute detail and meant to be a prototype for future stores, is an acoustical failure. Already people who have visited the store are refusing to return because of the high noise levels caused by sound reverberating off its entirely hard surfaces with no noise absorption whatsoever.

After his initial visit, Gassée returned a few days later with a decibel-measuring app he uploaded to his iPhone, and was stunned by findings. The sounds within the store measured above 75 decibels – five decibels higher than the 70dB threshold the EPA says can cause hearing damage from long term exposure.

Naturally the main question floating inside and outside the Apple organization at the moment is, “what were they thinking?”

Gassée even writes that the sound levels in the store are not just annoying - they're dangerously high. Employees subjected to this level of noise for eight hours per day are at an elevated risk of hearing damage and loss, and for every hour beyond eight that someone remains in the store, the risk increases exponentially.

It’s not the first time that Apple ended up looking as if it didn’t think things through thoroughly, although for the most part the company is known for its meticulous attention to detail; Apple generally enjoys a reputation of striving for excellence.

Nor is Apple the first company to blow a great architectural design by giving no forethought to acoustics either, especially in recent years when hard surfaces and minimalist design have become highly desirable.

But it has to be discouraging that the reverberant noise and deafening acoustics for which hard surface structures are notorious slipped past the architects and contractors, and came as a total surprise to everyone only after the store opened.

One company insider was quoted as saying, “It’s bad for customers, it’s bad for the staff, it’s bad for business, and it’s bad for the brand. Apple appears to be more concerned with style than with substance!”

Gassée likened the failure to the recent Apple Maps catastrophe.

“An obvious problem ignored,” he said.

When all was said and done, Gassée found that the inside of the store measured a full 10 decibels louder than the street traffic noise outside on high-trafficked University Avenue. When you’re talking decibels, sound pressure doubles for every three decibel increase in the environment. That said, a 10 decibel increase makes the noise inside the Apple Store about 10 times louder than the street noise outside.

It should be interesting to see who is held to the proverbial fire over this blunder, but to their credit, Apple is studying the noise problem and working on an answer. And although there’s no telling how long it might take, there’s little doubt the company will resolve the issue.

They’re Apple. They can do anything, right?

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Young Diners Have a Love-Hate Relationship with Restaurant Noise

Liz Ernst — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 18:41:00 GMT

Tiffany Hsu of the LA Times, who has been writing about noise levels in some of Los Angeles’s trendiest restaurants for some time now, made another discovery in her restaurant noise coverage: noise seems to attract a younger crowd.

Who knew, right?

But noise also attracts some unwelcome feedback when customers can’t hold a conversation during their meal.

According to Hsu, L.A.’s hippest restaurants go all out to dazzle – creative menus, polished and stylish staff, and décor that ignores the concept of acoustic balance. The solid surface interiors of many of LA's most popular restaurants are stripped of anything that might absorb noise, like carpeting, drapes - even certain types of seating that can help buffer noise.

Instead you have stainless steel, concrete, glass and wood, with dishes clattering, music blaring, voices raised in attempted conversation, cavernous ceilings and concrete or wood floors. Noise levels in some of these restaurants can exceed 110 decibels on a busy night, and that’s loud enough to cause hearing damage and health problems in employees and anyone else who spends more than couple of hours inside.

On a recent night at the extremely popular Bottega Louis in downtown Los Angeles, Hsu hung out and interviewed some diners, all young, hip, and you’d think impervious to noise. But they're not, as 21-year-old Cal State Northridge student Kristina Pivnyuk made clear on her way out. She’d arrived with friends hoping for a nice evening of quiet conversation, a good meal, maybe a couple of glasses of wine, but what she got was irritated, as the restaurant’s blaring noise levels prevented any hope of conversation or relaxing.

“It kind of ruined the experience for me,” she told Hsu.

Now, I have mentioned this before, but for good measure I will mention it again: Restaurant review sites have added noise levels to their ratings criteria, and people are checking them before they make a reservation.

Yelp began the trend of including noise levels in its ratings, and the rest have all followed suit.

Zagat, perhaps the most highly regarded restaurant ratings guide, added noise to its famous surveys on customer satisfaction and discoverd that noise is the second most complaint-generating problem in restaurants today (second only to lousy service). In 2010, 12 percent of Los Angeles restaurant goers ranked noise as the top problem they have with restaurants. By 2011, that percentage jumped to 18 percent.

Some restaurateurs are already beginning to install noise abatement and sound absorbing elements in their restaurants since the noise category became a standard in their rating. But old standards for noise control – carpeting, heavy fabrics, popcorn ceilings and bulky panels have been replaced by more effective, less visible noise deadening products engineered specifically for this purpose.

Architects are dealing with open kitchen concepts that are so popular in today’s restaurants by lowering the ceilings and adding noise absorbing materials in ceilings and walls in work areas. In the downtown LA restaurant Baco Mercat, noise abatement material installed throughout took once unbearable noise levels down so significantly, Chef Josef Centeno said it worked wonders.

And as the Yelp reviews for Bottega Louie began to add up, mostly from people who complained of losing their voices over the din (exacerbated by the restaurant’s high ceilings, marble floors and bare walls that create an echo chamber with no sound absorption anywhere), Bottega Louie management installed sound absorbing material under the chairs and banquettes, turned the once blaring music way down, and even re-trained their servers to avoid clanking plates in the course of delivering meals and clearing dishes.

You have to commend Bottega Louie for addressing their noise problem as promptly as they did, too. Their stark, marble, high-ceilinged restaurant was obviously designed for a visual aesthetic, but the design put no thought into the serious noise tunnel it was creating, a problem more and more architects are addressing during the design phase.

Hsu points out that, combined with the hard-surface designs of late 20^th and early 21^st century restaurants, prices have fallen considerably on audio equipment in recent years, allowing more restaurants to install upgraded sound systems, and then crank the music. Restaurants that survived the recession were more concerned with customer turnover than aesthetics, and began the horrifying practice of cramming tables together to seat more diners.

Some misguided restaurant managers even took it a step further after some studies came out that revealed customers drink more, chew faster, and finish their meals faster when music is cranked to unsavory decibels! For anyone who has ever eaten in one of these establishments, you’ve probably experienced your blood pressure rise, your heart race, and possibly left with your head pounding to the beat of whatever was blasting from the sound system as you chewed as fast as you could.

Other trends added to the cacophony – a foodie culture gone viral thanks to social networking, smartphones and Yelp, and the rising popularity of communal dining all combined to give younger diners the impression that noisy meant good, while older diners and professionals fled these eateries, however, and sought quiet alternatives to eat in peace and quiet.

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Noise Pollution is a Well-Travelled Pest in Austin

Thomas Wiseman — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 19:42:00 GMT

Austin Texas is known for its great music scene, but the combination of noise and unfortunate geography of the South Texas town is causing residents living miles away from Austin’s downtown bar scene to lose sleep. Sound waves traveling six miles or more from the raucous downtown area is rattling windows and making life miserable for residents of a North Austin neighborhood - six miles away!

An acoustics engineer, hired by the homeowner’s association to determine exactly where the noise was coming from made the surprising discovery that the sound source was so far away. Sound from the downtown area was traveling north due to an acoustical phenomenon in the area’s Waller Creek Basin that causes noise to bounce off the creek’s water, providing momentum to reach their neighborhood. The problem is compounded by Austin’s many rooftop bars and other outdoor music venues.

In 2012, North Austin residents have filed 52 noise complaints, compared with oinly nine filed in 2010, a rise that coincides directly with the downtown Austin bar and club scene increasing its outdoor music venues. Now the Austin Police Department is working with North Austin homeowners to create new noise ordinances that would force Austin’s music venues to take soundproofing measures.

Naturally, local musicians and bar owners object to adding any restrictions for economic reasons; Austin’s downtown music scene contributes more than $1 billion to the local economy, they claim. Moving performances indoors means entertaining smaller audiences and interfering with the community’s ability to have a good time, according to Austin disc jockey Jeremy von Stilb.

"It's about community, it's about creativity,” von Stilb says. That's why the Austin Music Commission says 95 percent of people move to Austin - for live music."

Northern Austin residents who are most affected by the noise pollution from the downtown music venues say they understand the musician’s gripe, but they need their sleep. Perhaps there’s a compromise they can reach?

At this point, the North Austin Homeowner’s Association is looking for noise management solutions at the source, and are investigating San Antonio’s noise ordinance model for inspiration. San Antonio puts restrictions on amplified noise between 10:30 p.m. and 7 a.m., which is a solution that is being implemented in communities across the U.S.

However, some Austin musicians believe that, since this is one of the country’s top music scenes, the responsibility for resolving noise issues should belong to the homeowners who should have known better than to move Austin if it is preventing them from sleeping.

Certainly there are effective noise abatement materials and products residents can install in their homes to lesson or resolve the problem, but living six miles or more from the noise source, it never occurred to them that they were close enough to be bothered by noise from downtown.

Geography is a common problem when it comes to noise pollution, as it is here in Austin. Sound travels, particularly in areas where water and hills provide the perfect catalyst. As more becomes known about the effects of noise pollution on human health and well-being, this is the perfect example of the importance of compromise instead of subscribing to endless litigation that only deepens the discord and adds a new layer of stress to an already bad situation.

Noise pollution is a global epidemic, and communities in Europe and India are enacting strict laws to combat the problem, as the health ramifications of noise pollution grow more apparent every year they go unchecked. The U.S. has a long way to go to catch up with implementing and upholding the kind of strict noise pollution limits that other countries are establishing, so the best we can do is find compromises when our noise is negatively affecting our neighbors.

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Retired Couple Tears House Apart Trying to Locate Noise

Liz Ernst — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:49:00 GMT

Paul Henry and his wife Jeanette tore their house apart trying to locate a bothersome noise.

One morning about a month ago, I woke up with a throbbing headache – it was throbbing in a rhythmic way, to the beat of some sound; it took me a minute to wake up enough to figure it out. It was throbbing to the beat of a relentless “beep…beep…beep-ing” noise, and I realized pretty quickly it had to be a dying battery in my smoke alarm, way up there on the ceiling. I knew this because it happened once in my last house which had 17 foot ceilings, and I had to wait hours for a handyman with a huge ladder to come and fix it. It was awful.

So that morning last month I took two aspirin and waited for some pain relief, which came, but the beeping noise was agitating. I have no ladder – I need to get a ladder – just a step stool, and I could just barely reach the thing. By now the noise had really gotten to me, so I just tore the unit out of the ceiling and ripped the failing battery out of it. It hung there like the carcass of a battered piñata.

You know what? It kept beeping.

I could not find another battery anywhere in the house, and I am a battery hoarder. I need to have a battery available to me at any hour of the day or night; you know how it is, when you need a battery. So I always make sure I have a stockpile. But I moved a few months ago, and there are still some boxes…anyway, I tore the house apart and could not find my battery stash.

About an hour had passed since I woke up with my head dancing to the beep beat. My noise-induced high blood pressure by now was through the roof. I had already grown to hate the beep. I despised it, I wanted it dead. I was having crazy person thoughts over this beep after just an hour of its relentless taunting. I threw on jeans and a t-shirt and got out of there. I had to get away from it. I went to Walgreens and bought a new battery, and then I slummed around town for a few hours. I needed to get home, I had a ton of work to do, but I just couldn’t go back there. Not yet. I was chastising myself for not knowing where my battery stash was, and in fact I would unpack those last 10 boxes that night. I swore to myself, never again.

Noise can make you nutty. It can make you tear your house apart looking for batteries.

OK, I’m going somewhere with this. Bear with me.

How many of us have, at least once in our lives, told someone we “tore the house apart” looking for something – missing car keys, reading glasses, or the single roll of Scotch tape that we keep for gift wrapping but we can never find when it comes time to wrap a gift? When we say we tore the house apart, we don’t mean it literally. Maybe we emptied a few drawers and dumped the contents of the kitchen garbage can onto the floor to find something, but we don’t literally tear the house apart.

OK, so did you ever say you tore the house apart looking for a noise? The source of a noise, that is? A mystery sound that is keeping you awake nights and driving you crazy during waking hours?

Paul and Jeanette Henry were in just such a predicament when a mystery sound - some low level beeping sound - drove the retired couple to, as they said themselves, the “edge of sanity.” Their words.

And low frequency noises have been found to drive people to that bad place. In fact, studies completed just this past summer have found that certain sounds that aren’t particularly loud fall within a range of megahertz – a unit of sound that measures wave frequencies, like in radio waves – that is incompatible with happiness and general well-being. There’s just something about these low level sound waves that wreak havoc on the brain via the human ear, and this was the kind of noise that Paul and Jeanette Henry were experiencing.

They tore their house apart trying to locate the source of the noise. Literally, they tore their house apart.

They called in electricians and builders and asked them to locate the source of the sound and put a lid on it, to no avail. Next, Paul and Jeanette took crowbars to their walls and tore out whole sections of drywall, tore up floorboards, ripped gaping holes in their ceilings because the noise was just driving them that nuts.

And yet the menacing beep continued to taunt them, probably something like the Raven in the Edgar Allen Poe masterpiece, which if you’ll recall ended badly.

For more than a year, Paul and Jeanette Henry were harassed by this low level beep that could not be found. They were becoming seriously sick with noise-induced stress, sapped of all energy from noise-induced sleeplessness, and from the look of Mr. Henry’s photo in the local newspaper, shedding some major tears in frustration. These two are in their late 60’s, retired, and living with a monster that wouldn’t leave them alone. It’s heart wrenching to think that this nice retired couple had to go through such misery, and that their house has holes in the walls, floors and ceilings all over the place – you can almost picture their manic frustration as they took crowbar and hammer to every solid surface, only to be left with a mess - and a relentless beep…beep…beep.

I had a lump in my throat just reading about their plight, the memory of my own beeping apocalypse still relatively fresh in my mind. Why couldn’t anyone help these poor people? It seems crazy that electricians and builders couldn’t locate the noise source!

Nothing and no one could help them.

They meticulously took apart every one of their grandchildren’s toys in the hopes of discovering a short circuit in a talking Muppet. No luck.

A year of this insanity drove them to the brink. Noise can do that. It makes the blood pressure rise, it exacerbates stress and depression, it can lead to heart attacks and strokes, and the resulting insomnia makes all these conditions even worse. It makes people knock huge holes in their walls, floors and ceilings – people who ordinarily would never do such a rash and destructive thing.

It makes people flee their homes, leaving their smoke alarm hanging from the ceiling like a beaten piñata.

Mr. Henry said that when they first noticed the noise, it wasn’t consistent; it just went off every now and then, so they lived with it.

Eventually, it was a 24/7 menace, beeping every 30 seconds for the better part of a full year.

The Henrys were at their wits end.

One night, Mr. Henry decided to turn off all the lights in the house and follow the sound in the dark, letting his ears guide him. The relentless beep…beep…beep led him through the house, in the dark, like a bloodhound only without needing to smell anything. The sound led Mr. Henry to an old chest of drawers; when he opened the drawer, the beep got louder.

Voila!

There it was – a 10-year-old smoke alarm unit with a dying battery that someone had shoved in the back of the drawer, probably about a year earlier.

You know the relief they felt – after 12 long months of tearing the house apart to get to the noise source, they had it. Now they were suddenly faced with the realization that it was actually something so simple, and they probably had some burning sense of horror over the condition of their post-beep home. Like waking up out of a nightmare and realizing you put the cat in the dryer and you can’t even believe you did that! And you can't take it back.

But mostly they were relieved. Mrs. Henry says they were amazed, and really relieved.

Noise is a powerful thing. The couple lived with that relentless beeping for so long, the memory of it still torments them. That beep is embedded in their brains.

“We still keep thinking we can hear it," says Mrs. Henry.

I am relieved to say, the sound of my smoke alarm’s beep does not linger in my mind. And although I did manage to shut it up by getting a new battery in it, I was unable to get the unit back in position in the ceiling. I can’t reach, so I have to wait until one of my sons comes to visit me, and both of them live far away, so it could be a while. So I am haunted by my battered piñata of a smoke alarm, still hanging from the ceiling. But at least it’s not beeping.

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Navaratri Festival Brings Noise Pollution Levels to Historic Highs

Liz Ernst — Wed, 24 Oct 2012 08:27:00 GMT

The Navatri Festival is beautiful, colorful, vibrant, and way too loud

In India, noise pollution is at historic highs and festivals are compounding the problem. India's culture is steeped in tradition, and festivals observing sacred occasions are an important part of part of Hundu tradition.

The problem is, festivals are loud - very loud. Noise at these events can rise to more than 60 decibels above the legal limit, and despite stricter laws and increased public awareness of the health problems associated with such high levels of noise pollution, little seems to be changing.

The video below was taken by a news crew during this week's Navratri Festival in Mumbai:

Navaratri is an important Hindu festival of worship and dance. In Sanskrit Navatri literally means "nine nights" and that's how long it lasts.

But as cities like Mumbai, Surat, Bhopal and many others become immerced in the cacophony of the festival's health-threatening decibel levels, no one in government is enforcing or even monitoring the noise levels. In fact, it seems they're encouraging noisemakers. The Mumbai police, for instance, announced their decision to relax a 10 p.m. loudspeaker deadline till midnight on the last two days of the festival, although they reminded people that noise levels should still remain within the prescribed norms as per the law. The result? Noise levels were monitored from 90 to 117 decibels in 45 and 50 decibel "silence zones."

That bears repeating: 90 to 117 decibels, continuously, for nine nights and 10 days. To put that in perspective, OSHA warns that workers in any business - say a restaurant or club - with noise levels above 80 decibels may not work in that environment for more than eight hours in a 24 hour period. Why? They'll suffer hearing damage, for starters, and they will be vulnerable to a variety of noise-related health problems.

While India's Supreme Court has ruled that noise levels should not exceed the maximum set by law — 55 decibels (dBs) during daytime and 45 dBs after 10 pm – even during festivals, politicians of all parties place pressure on police forces to relax the noise levels and avoid enforcing noise laws, even in residential and hospital zones during festivals.

"They don't care about patients and students," said one resident of Malviya Nagar, Bhopal who was interviewed in the midst of the celebrations. "We are not averse to celebrating any festivals but there should be some limit."

Even hospital zones, which have the strictest noise cap at 45 decibels, are registering decibel levels between 90 and 117, with no police or government control stepping in. Exposure to noise levels as high as those being recorded at Navaratri celebrations, even for just a few hours, can cause elevation in blood pressure, raise stress levels, and impair hearing. After nine days and nights of noise levels this high, the possibility of suffering from a noise-realted health event rises sharply.

And for hospital patients, children, and pets that have no ability to escape the noise, the aftermath can be particularly harsh. Hospital patients exposed to noise levels considerably lower than those being measured at festival locations cause patients to suffer from insomnia and other sleep disorders, elevated blood pressure, and stress, all of which impairs healing.

Children exposed to such high decibel levels show a marked inability to focus, and are less able to keep up with school work. The aftermath of noise-induced hearing damage is often irreversible, a serious issue for not only children, but for everyone.

This is not an easy problem to address, as religious festivals like Navaratri are sacred to India's enormous Hindu population and have been celebrated for centuries. But the noise from firecrackers, music, loudspeakers, crowds and traffic is harming Indian citizens.

This is serious.

Some Indian citizens are taking proactive measures to raise awareness and cut noise pollution, particularly during the many festivals. Many are uploading decibel measuring software to their smartphones, measuring noise levels at a multitude of locations, and filing a complaint with the police. Every year, tolerance for festival noise diminishes, and people are now taking the issue into their own hands.

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Study Examines "Boom" Noise and its Effect on Concentration

Liz Ernst — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 17:56:00 GMT

We've all experienced the frustration of trying to focus on a challenging or difficult task, only to be distracted by noise. By studying how annoying sounds that can interfere with our productivity, arrchitects are learning to design better building environments, and law makers can more effectively address noise regulations, right?

That's the goal, or at least part of it, of a new study on how short bursts of noise affect the mental state of people who are trying to focus on a difficult problem - in this study, it's math problems. That's right, researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln played short bursts of noise clips while test participants tried to solve math problems that required focus.

The researchers were able to document a general trend in lowered performance when louder noise was played, but more interestingly, they were able to identify the sound level ranges that caused study participants to make note of their annoyance.

The research was triggered by NASA's low-boom supersonic aircraft program. Sonic booms are generated when aircraft traveling faster than the speed of sound leave cones of compressed air in their wake - the resulting noise is extremely loud and can be unnerving to the unsuspecting who are within earshot.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) began flying supersonic jets over Oklahoma City routinely back in 1964 as part of a test called Operation Bongo, immediately causing citizens to complain and file damage claims. Today, NASA is developing aircraft that leave a softer boom, if you will, although it is not clear at what volume the regular booms caused by commercial supersonic aircraft flying over land would be acceptable.

For this study, Architectural Acoustician Lily Wang of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln worked with graduate student Christopher Ainley to design an experiment that tests how sudden bursts of noise affects a person's performance and perceptions. In the past, sudies have looked at noises that are very loud - 80 decibels or more - which, as expected, established a marked effect on the test subject's ability to concentrate and solve problems.

For this study, Wang and her team reduced the volume to determine if a threshold value exists at which noise does not significantly affect the study's participants. Twenty-seven participants were instructed to memorize 6-digit numbers. Next, they were shown a four-digit number and instructed to subtract the second number from the first number in their heads, then type the answer on a keyboard. Researchers would intermittently play a burst of noise for a quarter of a second while study participants were being shown the second number.

The noise bursts (or "booms") ranged between 50 and 80 decibels - comparable to sound levels on a suburban street corner at the low end, and to a loud vacuum-cleaner at the high end. The test subjects ended up solving a lower percentage of problems correctly when interrupted with a noise at the louder end of the spectrum, but the difference between the interference cause by the louder noise and the lower noise was not enough to be statistically significant. So it appears that volume isn't necessarily the only factor when it comes to noise causing a distraction and reducing a person's productivity.

There were significant variations in the levels of annoyance that participants reported when quizzed afterwards about their perceptions of the varying noise levels, however, and it appeared that most managed to somewhat adjust to the quieter booms while the louder ones remained jolting.

"This suggests that the acceptable noise from sonic booms should not be higher than 70 decibels once it gets inside the house," Wang says.

It's important to note that the researchers' lab did not have the necessary equipment to mimic the very low-frequency component of the noise produced by sonic booms, which is an important factor in noise perception, but Wang says the study helped to clarify the effects of the short-duration characteristics of the booms. Next up, researchers hope to study perceptions of the "rattling" component of noise that is often associated with supersonic jets passing overhead.

Researchers will report their findings at the 164th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), held Oct. 22-26 in Kansas City, Missouri.

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Do the Most Annoying Noises on Earth Have an Emotional Component?

Liz Ernst — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:00:00 GMT

The term is such a universal one, it’s long been the catchphrase for annoying sounds – nails on a chalkboard. In fact, when it comes to universally hated noises, you’d think that would be number one on the list, right? But nails on a chalkboard, as hated a sound as it is, does not render the top levels of annoyance according to a new study just released last week and published in the Journal of Neuroscience. But it does stir the same emotion receptors in the brain as the sound of a crying baby!

Since we already understand that noise is basically any unwanted sound, the difference between noise pollution and annoying noise can more readily be differentiated – or can it? When Newcastle University scientists rated 74 different sounds to determine which ones most upset the human brain, their intention was to measure the psychological and physiological responses associated with specific sounds and gain a better understanding of the brain’s reaction to noise. This type of science, known as psychoacoustics, can be useful in finding treatments for people who have a diminished tolerance to sounds, and for autistic people who often exhibit a heightened sensitivity to noise.

Some sounds cause us to recoil – not necessarily because they’re very loud, but because they trigger a level of distress or discomfort within in us.

As noise pollution fast becomes a global epidemic, scientists are devoting more and more time to sound and noise studies, and the more we understand the amazing capabilities of the human ear, the closer we come to protecting our hearing and our health in a world filled with all sorts of noise.

For this study, researchers placed 16 brave volunteers into a MRI machine, played 74 different sounds, and asked the participants to rate the most annoying. The top 10 most annoying sounds, (go ahead, click on the links to hear them if you can stand it) beginning with the worst offender, include:

1. Knife scraping on a bottle
2. Fork on a glass
3. Chalk on a chalkboard
4. Ruler on a bottle
5. Nails on a chalkboard
6. Female scream
7. Anglegrinder (power tool)
8. Brakes on a cycle squealing
9. Baby crying
10. Electric drill

What the scientists found most interesting is that the sounds ranked as the worst (a knife on a bottle? really?) were shown to have registered the most activity in those parts of the brain associated with both sound processing (auditory cortex) and emotion (amygdala). The MRI scans showed researchers that both portions of the brain lit up in direct proportion to the perceived unpleasantness of the sound, and that the amygdala interacted with signals coming from the auditory cortex when the noises were played – that is to say, emotion and sound responded in unison to certain sounds. This interaction increased the amount of unpleasantness experienced when hearing those most irritating sounds at the top of the list – all of which happen to occur in the frequency range between 2,000 and 5,000 Hz.

Why would the brain’s emotional center activate specifically for sounds within this range?

“It appears there is something very primitive kicking in,” says Sukhbinder Kumar, the study's lead researcher. “Although there’s still much debate as to why our ears are most sensitive (to sounds) in this range, it also includes the sound of screams, which we find intrinsically unpleasant.”

In the past, scientists speculated that certain high-pitched sounds that fall within this Hz range sound so irritating to humans because they are acoustically similar to warning alarm calls in our primate ancestors, and somewhere along the evolutionary roadway humans evolved the innate tendency to find certain sounds emotionally terrifying – part of the “fight or flight” response. Theoretically, this tendency might have been valid, despite the fact that fingernails scratching on a chalkboard have nothing to do with actual predators.

More recent research dilutes the validity of this theory, especially since recent studies on primates found that the animals’ reactions to both high-pitched scraping noises (like nails on a chalkboard) and plain white noise were similar, whereas humans clearly find the high-pitched scraping sounds much more unpleasant.

A simpler hypothesis seems to make more sense – which is that the actual shape of the human ear happens to amplify certain frequencies to a degree that they trigger physical pain. If that’s the case, the repeated sensation of pain associated with these noises may be causing our minds to automatically consider them to be unpleasant.

While researchers in the field of psychoacoustics continue to study sounds and the brain's interpretations of them, they may be able to get to the bottom of why certain noises are innately irritating to virtually everyone.

As studies have already proven that noise pollution can exacerbate certain health conditions, including mental health problems such as depression and stress, this newest study may offer insight into the effects of certain frequency sounds on not only people who suffer from emotional disorders, but also on physical disorders such as tinnitus and migraines, in which a heightened perception of unpleasant sounds seems to be at play.

The study's findings surprised even the researches, as the brain's emotion centers prove to be more interwoven with noise perception than had previously been known.

On that note, I leave you with a list of the least unpleasant sounds listed in the study, which offers at least one surprise:

1. Applause
2. Baby laughing
3. Thunder
4. Water flowing

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St. Maarten's Westin Must Pay $39,500 for Noise Pollution Violations

Liz Ernst — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 08:45:00 GMT

This idyllic picture of the Westin Hotel in Dawn Beach, St. Maarten gives no indication of the extreme levels of noise pollution emanating from its sewage treatment plant, or the nearly $40,000 in fines and penalties Westin owners were slapped with in court last week.

The Caribbean paradise that is St. Maarten has been the focus of some pretty surprising noise pollution litigation against a Westin Hotel, owned by the Babitbay Beach Development Corporation N.V. of Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. The company’s Westin Hotel in St. Maarten’s Dawn Beach was slapped with $39,500 in fines and penalties in a court ruling earlier this week after disregarding court orders to lower the decibel levels of its sewage treatment plant, which has been making life miserable for the Michael Roger family, whose home is just 260 feet away from the plant.

In a nutshell, Roger built his Dawn Beach home 20 years ago in 1992, long before the Westin Hotel happened upon the scene. In fact, the hotel wasn’t built until 2006, and its sewage treatment plant went in that same year – 260 feet away from the Roger family home. Michael Roger has been trying to get something done about the unbearable noise that reaches 90 decibels and higher resonating from the sewage treatment plant to his home ever since.

The court ruled this week, after years of contentious back and forth between Westin attorneys and Roger’s attorney, that the Westin had not lived up to an April 13 court ruling that ordered the hotel to take whatever measures were necessary to remedy the sewage treatment plant’s industrial noise pollution problem. After six years of battling to regain some semblance of peace and quiet in his home, Mr. Roger might finally be close to achieving that goal.

The noise from the Westin sewage treatment plant, according to court documents, is deafening; so deafening that the Roger family is forced to stay inside with doors, windows and hurricane shutters closed – and even then, the noise is overbearing, according to Roger. Over the past six years, as his noise complaint snaked through the legal channels, Mr. Roger moved his home’s terrace to the opposite side of the house, and moved one of his children to a bedroom at the other end of the home because the noise was preventing the child from sleeping.

It’s not like the April 13 ruling came as a surprise to Westin owners either. In June, 2011, the court ordered an expert report on the Westin’s sewage treatment plant’s noise pollution levels. By October of last year, the report was still not completed, so Rogers contracted a civil environmental and geotechnical engineer to perform the sound levels tests on his property and the vicinity around the plant. All measurements taken proved that sound levels from the Westin sewage treatment plant continued to significantly exceed the hotel’s permitted noise limit of 50 decibels, and a second study performed by the court-appointed engineering firm confirmed the first study’s findings.

Somewhere along the line, Westin owners had a structure installed around the sewage treatment plant, and they began turning the pumps off at night, which they felt should satisfy any noise complaints. However, even with the structure in place, noise from the sewage treatment plant was recorded at 80-90 decibels, far above the 50 decibel limit they had been court ordered to establish and maintain. The World Health Organization says that exposure to decibel levels about 70 for eight or more hours per day can lead to hearing loss, high blood pressure and other serious health problems.

The Rogers family has been exposed to these noise levels daily for six years – only within the last year did the Westin begin to shut down the plant at night.

So, after years of battling in court, and after two engineering studies proved Rogers’s complaint to be valid, a St. Maartens judge on April 13 of this year ordered Westin owners once and for all to get the decibel levels down to 50 or lower, or face fines and penalties of $500 per day.

Westin attorneys never showed up to that April hearing, nor did they attend another hearing held in June, a decision that was not overlooked by the judge.

“(The absence of Westin Hotel representatives in court) makes it sufficiently clear that the Westin, even after it received the (engineer’s) reports, does not really care about its noise pollution,” the judge said.

Last month, Westin owners finally became actively involved in the legal process only after discovering that Roger had put a lien on the hotel’s bank account, a move he made to secure the hotel’s mounting fines and penalties - which by now added up to $39,500. Westin attorneys filed a lawsuit against Rogers demanding that he stop the execution of the April 13 court ruling. In last week’s summary proceedings, Westin attorneys also demanded the penalty be reduced to zero, and that Roger be forced to lift the lien on the Westin’s bank account.

Westin attorneys appeared outraged that the hotel owner was being harassed by Roger and the court, as if woken from a deep sleep and previously unaware that there was a problem at all. They had, after all, built a structure around the sewage treatment plant and they began switching the thing off at night. They felt they had done enough, despite the engineering reports that recorded noise still 30-40 decibels over the court mandated limit.

The judge was unsympathetic, and referred to video footage submitted by Roger that proved the 80-90 decibel sound levels were still permeating the area surrounding the sewage treatment plant – most specifically, Roger's property and home. The court ruled that the Westin had not abided by the April 13 ruling and rejected the Westin attorneys’ demands to drop the fines and penalties they had been warned about in April. It also refused to lift Rogers’s lien against the Westin’s bank account.

Further requests to mitigate the penalty were also denied.

This is not the only court-related noise problem the Dawn Beach Westin is facing either.

Last week, the St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association (SHTA) President Emil Lee won a court case against the hotel after he was banned from its premises because of pending lawsuits filed against the hotel overnoise pollution caused by the Westin’s generator and its cooling towers. The court decided in Lee’s favor, ruling that the Westin cannot ban the community leader from its property.

After six years of ignoring the complaints of the Roger family and others over its noise pollution violations, Westin owners got a wake-up call straight to their proverbial wallet last week, and are finally realizing that they must comply with local noise ordinances or face serious consequences. It took extreme measures on the part of Roger, who worked through the legal channels and managed not to give up along the way.

And it took extreme measures on the part of the court as well; by refusing to lift the lien on the hotel’s bank account put in place by the neighbor it had ignored for six years, and the court’s refusal to lower the fines and penalties, the message sent to Westin owners is clear.

It will be interesting to see if the Westin drags its feet on its pending generator and cooling tower noise pollution litigation after this tough love measure by the courts.

Until very recently, most people have taken it for granted that noise ordinances are rarely (if ever) enforced, and that noise polluters could carry on without consequence, despite growing evidence of the health risks to those exposed to continuous high decibel noise. However in recent years, courts have begun ruling in favor of the rights of individuals to peace and quiet, especially in their own homes. Rogers fought for six years for this right, and won.

The craziest part is that Westin owners could have saved themselves so much money and so many headaches if it had simply installed an effective noise abatement barrier around the sewage treatment plant to begin with, instead of throwing up a structure that did nothing to lower the decibel levels. Perhaps they thought they were saving money and appeasing the court by simply appearing to comply. But with no real regard for actual soundproofing qualities in the barrier installed, and by continuously ignoring court dates and deadlines for compliance, the Westin owners dug themselves into a deep financial hole that they could have easily avoided.

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