Unusual case studies—Investigating outdoor and indoor sources of community noise

Abstract

There has been much research on problems related to noise in the community. Most of this has concentrated on sources related to transportation, military systems, and ventilation systems. That is because these sources are widespread, and there have been readily available mechanisms to fund the research. Most of this research has concentrated on establishing acceptable quantities of sound and reducing sound to those levels for these common sources. Noise ordinances, if not obsolete or carelessly written, may still fail to recognize some of the unusual noise sources as a problem which could cause nuisance in the nearby community. These sources may be at a great distance, not directly visible or even indoors which requires the use of creative or advanced investigation methods to properly identify and mitigate. The authors present some of the unusual projects encountered by their consulting firm in the recent past and how they approached them.