Anyone browsing noise nuisance in Reading will very quickly come across these questions on the Council’s website:
Are you being driven mad by persistent loud music from a neighbour? Is someone carrying out noisy DIY work late at night or early in the morning? Is there a noisy pub or shop nearby? Are barking dogs causing sleepless nights?
And their advice is loud and clear – “don’t suffer in silence”.
Like all Local Authorities Reading has a statutory duty to look into any complaints of noise nuisance. With a population of around 155,700 it is one of the smaller boroughs in England but the range of complaints that come into its Environmental Protection and Nuisance Team are pretty varied; from music loving neighbours, crowing cockerels, howling hounds, even noisy budgerigars!
Ross Jarvis has been part of the noise nuisance team for 10 years and has seen a whole host of complaints cross his desk but with only a team of 4 to cover 24/7 there are literally not enough hours in the day for them.
“Having the Trojan as part of our team is like having another member of staff who doesn’t mind working the evenings and weekends.”
That’s where Cirrus’ Trojan noise nuisance recorder comes into its own. “The team all work 5 days a week, 9-5, but inevitably we have complaints that come in after hours and weekends where we simply can’t spend hours waiting around to try and capture a noise nuisance that is infrequent or very short-lived,” he explained. “Having the Trojan as part of our team is like having another member of staff who doesn’t mind working the evenings and weekends.
“It has saved us so much time over the years and is so simple to use – you plug in, calibrate and then record. There certainly seems to be more awareness now about noise nuisance and we see complaints rise in the summer when more people are outside, more active, and they have their windows and doors open more often.
“The Trojan takes away the uncertainty of the if/when you will capture the noise and simply saves us having to camp out for hours.”
“The Trojan takes away the uncertainty of the if/when you will capture the noise and simply saves us having to camp out for hours on end in the hope of a recording – something the householder will be relieved about as well! It is like having a 24/7 on-duty officer.
“We are able to use the data and compare it to the diaries being kept by the householder to produce a very comprehensive picture of the noise levels and the source of the problem. We have found it particularly useful for things such as domestic music noise and car alarms which can be intermittent.”
Cirrus Products Used in This Case Study
The Trojan2 Noise Nuisance Recorder is a simple and effective solution for measuring and monitoring noise nuisance complaints.
NoiseAid is a web-based application that gives you and your users a quick, simple way to gather information about the noise sources that they are concerned about. Users can instantly log noise disturbances via any smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop computer using the simple interface, adding notes when the noise has ended.
NoiseTools is our licence-free noise measurement database, supplied as standard with our sound level meters, noise dosimeters, and noise measurement kits, to help you manage and control noise levels in your workplace or in the environment.
