Posted on 05/03/2005 7:04:42 AM PDT by WoofDog123
Microphones in lamp posts to catch noisy neighbours By Mark Prigg, Science Correspondent, Evening Standard 3 May 2005
Noisy neighbours have become a scourge of modern life, resulting in stress, sleepless nights and even violence.
Now Westminster Council hopes a new wireless microphone could help tackle the problem.
It plans to attach the device to lamp posts outside houses, allowing inspectors to monitor sound levels. If neighbours make too much noise, council officials will
“This could make a really big difference to cutting down on noise,” said Steve Harrison of Westminster Council.
“At the moment the problem is that by the time a noise protection officer arrives on the scene, the noise may have stopped.
“Using the new system, we can leave a monitor in an area for several days. The idea is that we can pre-empt people having to call us — if the monitor hears a disturbance it lets us know.” Mr Harrison added that the microphones were also going to be placed outside bars and clubs to monitor noise levels and any disturbances.
The microphones, which communicate via an internet connection, will be attached to lamp posts across Soho to test the system for the next few months.
“Eventually this wireless network will cover the whole of Westminster and be used by workers wherever they are,” said Mr Harrison.
“Noise monitoring and CCTV are just two of the initial applications, and the great advantage is that we can move these sensors to wherever they are needed.”
Westminster operates a 24-hour noise helpline with a team of inspectors who can issue onthespot fines to offenders. But inspectors had to be in the right placeat the right time for this method to work, said Mr Harrison.
Anti-noise groups today welcomed the initiative. “This is potentially a big step forward and really could help,” said Mary Stevens of the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection (NSCA). “In a city like London noise is a real problem, and is making people’s lives miserable.
“Wooden floors, dogs and music all contribute, and over time it can really affect people. It starts out with a lack of sleep, but can lead to retaliation attacks and serious health problems.”
Nearly a third of people in Britain are annoyed by noisy neighbours, and for 14 per cent it has an impact on quality of life, recent research found.
Ms Stevens advised people to approach the offenders first. “It’s obviously a delicate situation, but the majority of problems can be solved by simplytalking to the offender,” she says. “If that fails, call the local authorities.”
According to the NSCA, the top five noise complaints are loud music, alarms, dogs barking, fireworks and hard flooring.
" When a conversation is so loud that the sound of it extends into the street, you can hardly expect it to be private."
Note that the article has NOT stated what the threshold will be at which sound can be intelligibly monitored (which may be quite different from that at which a noise offense will be considered to be committed).
Personally, I would not underestimate the inclination of the British government to monitor its subjects, and to take all possible steps towards enhancement of said capacity.
WOW.. Where I can I get one?
Seems like every motorist thinks that everybody else want's to hear the music they listen to..
Oh, and the idiot across the street who got a new stereo at Christmas, and decided to play it full blast for an hour (Must have been a 150w per channel system...)
And then there are the motorcyclists who blast through the neighborhood at decibles which actually bring pain to my ears...
What goes on in your house or car is your business, but the minute you disturb the peace (which is illegal) with unnecesary noise at unncessary volumes, you are breaking the law in most towns..
Maybe those of you who live in surburban area's don't understand it, but try living in an urban setting and you'll understand...
Yeah, that's for sure. Pretty soon you won't hear anything.
"And then there are the motorcyclists who blast through the neighborhood at decibles which actually bring pain to my ears.."
They drive me crazy as well, but note that this program is not targetting vehicles.
At times some of the subject surveillance in the UK so closely resembles 1984 that I wonder if the parties pushing this stuff are taking their ideas straight from the text. "Oh this worked great, how can we get it for ourselves?"
No. If you chooose to live in proximity to your fellow creatures, you must fact the fact that there will be rules to help prevent conflict.
If you want to make a lot of noise, move away from people to a place in the country where no one will be around to care.
Then you can punish them. That's the really neat part, isn't it?
And if we have no rules, you can live in your anarchist paradise, can't you?
Listen, it has nothing to with punishment. I keep my noise in check and would like to be shown the same courtesy. If my neighbors are polite, they'll do that.
Most of the noise I put up with comes from people that simply don't care how loud or irritating they are to those around them.
And finally, who the hell are you to decide how a community goes about governing itself? If a community wants cameras and noise detectors, that's their business. Not yours.
It seems to me that your objections to the techniques used by these communities is itself a form a nannyism. You think you know better than they do, don't you? That's the spirit of nannyism.
I must reiterate, I am glad you are not my neighbour. Your short fuse is probably a pretty good indication of just how little it takes to "violate" your property rights. I guess I could say I rest my case, so I wish you well in your orderly and well monitored paradise. Good luck with that. LOL
Got to agree with you mc6809e.
I have a feeling that those who think you're advocating some fascist utopia are probably noise pests themselves, and don't know it.
I live in an urban setting, and I understand that if I choose to live in the city instead of out in the country, I need to adapt to noise.
Yes, there is some noise that breaks the law, but this measure will not catch the drive-by noise polluters...and there is already a way to deal with neighbors who regularly make too much noise: report them. Monitoring everyone (including law abiding citizens) in order to make it easier to catch habitual offenders is unacceptable. It seems to be the favorite approach of law enforcement these days, though.
Are you arguing that the airwaves are private property? Or are they community property? If they are community property, then I and all other citizens have a right to listen in on the sounds those microphones collect, correct?
Add cameras to the mix...
>>I live in an urban setting, and I understand that if I choose to live in the city instead of out in the country, I need to adapt to noise.
Adaptation is one thing, ludicrous noise levels are another....
>>Yes, there is some noise that breaks the law, but this measure will not catch the drive-by noise polluters...
Add some camera's...
>>and there is already a way to deal with neighbors who regularly make too much noise: report them.
Police get tired of babysitting neighbors. In some neighborhoods, if you call the cops, you are ostracized.
Plus, with illegals who have impunity for the law, they don't care.. They'll turn it down so the cop goes away, and then resume. Since INS ins't coming to get them, they have nothing to lose... They skip court dates, etc..
>>Monitoring everyone (including law abiding citizens) in order to make it easier to catch habitual offenders is unacceptable.
To whom? If you have nothing to hide, no big deal. Everybody is monitored -- beat cops do it. Electronics just make it more efficient.
>>It seems to be the favorite approach of law enforcement these days, though.
Sounds good to me. If you don't have anything to hide, what is your worry? Like I said, the gov't already surveys and watches people. Think cops don't look out for stuff??
There are apparently two schools of thought on this topic - those who feel they have nothing to hide and thus don't mind however much surveillance they are kept under, and those who think it is no one's business how they conduct their (law-abiding) lives and certainly not the business of a faceless bureaucrat.
I do wonder what it will take for the first group to feel it is too much. Some folks don't even mind the idea of random warrantless searches, since they have nothing to hide. By the time the government-has-a-right-to-all crowd gets worried it will be FAR too late.
Street light cameras, lamp post microphones. I fear for the republic.
"6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. ..."
In Torrance California there are Max Noise Limit
signs posted on several streets. They look just
like Speed Limit signs. The posted limit is 82db.
You could probably break the law with your voice.
120db is considered the threshold of pain for humans.
Sounds like good old fashioned community standards at work -- what's the problem?
Microphones can easily record what's going on inside your house. Do you want everything that is said or done in your house to become part of public record, potentially available for anyone to hear? Can you think of any perfectly legal activities you engage in inside your house that you would not like to be available for public review?
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