Noise and Noise
Nuisance
The following information is on this page.
The documents below appear in Adobe® Acrobat® (PDF) format. In order to view them you will need to have Acrobat Reader installed. (Those with visual impairments may wish to investigate Access Adobe, which provides tools and information to help make PDF files more accessible.) The terms 'noise' and 'sound' are often interchangeable,
but the term 'sound' is generally used to describe useful
communication or a pleasant sound, such as music; where as the term
'noise' is generally used to describe an unwanted sound.
Sound is produced when pressure variations (amplitude or
loudness) with a specific characteristic (pitch or frequency) reach
the ear. The middle ear converts pressure variations into
electrochemical activity in the inner ear which is transmitted, by
the auditory nerve, to the brain for interpretation.
How Is Sound
Described?
- The term used to describe sound pressure loudness is the decibel (dB). The higher the decibel number, the greater the sound pressure on the ear drum, thus the louder the sound.
- Pitch - Hertz (Hz) - a unit of measure for sound frequency. One Hz = one cycle per second. The more cycles per second, the faster the eardrum vibrates, the higher the sound pitch.
A noise nuisance is when the effect of the noise (sound)
materially affects your comfort or quality for life. It is a source
of irritation and stress for many people and can even damage our
hearing if it is loud enough.
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Noise is on the increase in our society, on average we receive
over a thousand noise complaints each year. There are
various types of noise and ways to take
action regarding noise complaints.
Find out more about
- Sources of noise pollution
- Noise mapping
- Sounds from cities
- Acoustics
- Teaching kids about how noise works
Noise nuisance
A noise nuisance is noise which is unreasonable to the average
person and which a court may decide is a statutory nuisance.
Many other factors determine whether or not a noise is a
statutory nuisance:
- The time of the day
- The location e.g. urban/rural
- The duration of the noise
- The volume of the noise
- The character of the noise
- How often the noise event occurs
Common types of noise nuisances
How would we deal with a noise nuisance complaint?
Noise safety
Noise can be damaging to your hearing, the noise erodes the
small hair cells inside the cochlea of the human hearing organ. It
is a very gradual process, and not a very noticeable one in the
early stages. The damage that occurs on a daily basis is at
first temporary hearing damage. With repeated noise exposure
the temporary damage turns into permanent damage. At this
stage the damage is irreversible.
We measure sound in units called decibels or dB's. To give you
a reference, the wind in the trees can be 20 dB; a person when
talking can be 55 dB. A chainsaw can be measured at 95 dB and a
single handgun blast can be as much as 160 dB!
Further information sources
How much do you think you know about noise? Take our short noise quiz today and find out!
For further information, please contact the Pollution control team.