Noisy neighbours - Part 1: Commerical Neighbours | Aural Exchange - Acoustic Panels & Sound Proofing | Noise & Vibration Control | Acoustic Consultant

Of all the types of noise problems we deal with, noisy neighbours can be the most delicate situation to handle. Irrespective of whether you are the victim or the noisy neighbour, read on.

Commercial “Neighbours”

Most Indian cities and towns have many mixed-use buildings, your “neighbour” may be running a commercial enterprise: A retail store with music, a gym or dance studio, a supermarket with a noisy loading dock, a parking garage or most often, a restaurant or bar. In commercial buildings one business may disturb another.

The most efficient way to deal with such problems is with the cooperation of all parties, the residents, the business(es) and the building management. But this is not always possible. In cases where there is no cooperation and the noise occurs at unpredictable times, we can install a long-term calibrated sound level meter with data logging in your location to document the disturbance. Contact us for a quote.

The best course is to try to work together to solve the problem. The solution itself can be much less expensive than the litigation, so it is best to try a cooperative approach

Your neighbour may not even know that he/she is bothering you. In many buildings only one apartment may hear a disturbing level of noise without any unreasonable activity on the part of anyone else. Children playing, people walking, watching TV and exercise equipment may be enough to make life miserable in some buildings.

We can measure the noise transmission from one space to another in order to make recommendations to improve it. We also have special equipment to measure standard acoustic parameters such as:

Impact Noise using the standard Tapping Machine test
Airborne Noise
Reverberation Time (RT60)
Bass measurement (One Third Octave Band Spectrum Analysis)
Vibration Measurement
Audio Recordings (this may require police permission for violation of privacy)

Of course there are also people who make truly unreasonable noise. Loud stereos or home theatre systems played at all hours, drum sets, shouting matches and children whose activities go unchecked by their parents can dramatically affect the quality of life of the people who live nearby. Worse yet are people who use noise deliberately to harass their neighbours. In the past it was often difficult to catch these people in the act.

Not only can we print out graphs of the noise levels, these recordings can be also played back accurately in court. We have another system which does not record actual sounds, but only the sound level data, which is good where privacy issues are concerned.