Urban/Rural Issues

This page includes the most recent Urban/Rural Issues archives.
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New San Diego Commuter Train Quieter Than Many Expected - The new Sprinter commuter train has begun test runs along lines that closely abut many residential areas in North County, CA, near San Diego. First impressions seem positive, with many residents noting the much quieter horns being used as the train approaches the many road crossings: the car-like horn sounds at just 85dB, as compared to standard freight and commuter train horns at 107dB. Tom Kelleher, a spokesman for the transit district, said he always expected the public to find the Sprinter much easier to live with than other passenger trains that traverse North County. "I think people really thought it was going to be like a Coaster type of engine," he said. "We're glad they're starting to realize that it's not." In Oceanside, Brett Albright, whose home is near College and Oceanside boulevards, said the Sprinter's warning horn does not make him cringe. "College (Boulevard) is more noisy than the train. It's not an issue for me. I don't really notice it," Albright said, as a semi-tractor-trailer released its cacophonous brake in the background, filling the neighborhood with a pulsing roar. Plans to create Quiet Zones, where barriers would allow trains to pass without blowing their horn at all, are in flux as municipalities monitor the new trains. In Vista, the city will see whether the full schedule of trains spurs more complaints, while in San Marcos, city Engineer Mike Edwards said, "It's quiet enough that we no longer feel it's necessary." Source: North County Times, 1/5/08 [READ ARTICLE]

Long Island Helicopters Cause a Ruckus - Increasing helicopter and small plane traffic ferrying wealthy weekenders to and from eastern Long Island is raising concerns about impacts on wildlife and residents. At the East Hampton airport, overall traffic has risen 42 percent in the past two years, due largely to frustration at increasingly congested roads. While ninety percent of local residents have never used the airport, low-flying helicopters that eschew the voluntary flight paths and requirement to stay above 2000 feet are causing the most complaints: "We’ve had enough,” said Bill Reilly of Noyac. From Thursday through Tuesday there are between 70 and 100 flights per day below 2,000 feet, he said. When the helicopters fly over, conversations must cease, lightbulbs flicker, and glasses crack, he said. According to sound engineer Jerome Goodman, the noise from low frequency emissions is more than a nuisance; he stated that studies have shown that regular exposure to such noise actually promotes physiological changes in the body, specifically, a rise in blood pressure. Resident Laura Auerbach believes him. As she clocks up to 20 pass-overs an hour, she says she can "feel her blood boil." Protected woods and wetlands in eastern Long Island are home to diverse wildlife, including Piping Plovers, Bald Eagles, Osprey, Terns, Red-Tailed Hawks, and Great Horned Owls. East Hampton cancelled its fourth of July fireworks display in deference to the nesting Piping Plovers, though local nature reserves continue to bear the brunt of increasing air traffic. Planning underway to modernize the airport, which is currently unregulated (ie, pilots sort out traffic among themselves) does not include any environmental assessment. Sources: New York Times, 8/3/07 [READ ARTICLE] East Hampton Star, 7/28/07 [READ ARTICLE] Great Neck Record, 8/10/07 [READ ARTICLE] East Hampton Press, 8/1/07 [NOT ONLINE]

Cicada Cacophony Nears Dangerous Levels - An extremely large annual cicada brood is driving Illinois residents to distraction with its noise. "I was hoping they were on the wane, but good God," said Mary Coen. "It's dreadful. I don't mind cicadas. I have no problem with them. They're friendly. But it's the noise. By midday, I get a headache. So I'm ready for it to be over." In northern Illinois, the insects have emerged by the billions, shed their skins and now are ready to mate. That means they're letting loose with a mating call so loud that it can be heard in speeding cars over the engine, tire and wind noise. "You can't hear yourself talk," said Coen, 62, of Downers Grove. In an area dense with cicadas, the noise can exceed 90 decibels, about as loud as a bulldozer. Exposure to 91 decibels of sound for two hours, or 94 decibels for one hour, could begin to cause some permanent hearing damage, according to Billy Martin, a hearing scientist at Oregon Health & Science University. John Fitzloff, 67, heard it this week in Lombard as he mowed the lawn of a home he's lived in for 35 years. Cicadas clung to his shoulder and the leg of his jeans. Countless shells from cicada nymphs ringed the base of his American basswood tree. The stench of rotting cicada corpses hung in the air. "This is definitely the worst of the three [emergences since] I've been living here," Fitzloff said. "The kids in the neighborhood thought it was great, the ones who'd never seen them before, but after a week that wore off." Source: Chicago Tribune, 6/8/07 [READ ARTICLE]

Ontario Hearing Focuses on Wind Turbine Noise - The appellants of the Enbridge Ontario Wind Power project in Kincardine wrapped up their portion of the turbine noise arguments at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) hearing last week. The hearing reconvened after the holiday weekend on May 23, with testimony by meteorological and atmospheric specialist Dr. Jim Young, who sat for part of Thursday as well. He was followed by acoustic engineer John Coulter later that day, with Enbridge and the Municipality cross-examining him on Friday. Both were arguing that there will be unwanted noise impacts to local residents, if the turbines remain in their current proximity to homes; the closest of which is 450 metres. A key argument was that wind can be stronger and louder at 80 and 100 metres off the ground, while being calmer and quieter closer to ground level at 10 and 30 metres, where measurements have been taken. These conditions or ‘barometric layering’, which Young argues are more pronounced within the Municipality of Kincardine, make for louder and more audible turbine noises at quieter times in the evening and in the fall and winter months. Possible solutions to address the problem would be to site the turbines further away from homes, install technology to dampen the sound, or slow the turbine if it exceeds the noise regulations. Source: Kincardine News/WindEnergy Action, 5/29/07 [READ ARTICLE]

Noisy Cities Spur Birds to Sing at Night - A recent study in the UK has linked increases in night-time bird calls with daytime noise levels in cities. "You generally only seem to hear nocturnal singing in cities," explained Richard Fuller, one of the study's co-authors. While such urban night-time birdcalls had longed been assumed to be caused by lighting "tricking" birds into thinking it was daytime, the cause and effect had never been investigated. The study found that while there was a small effect associated with light levels, a far larger factor was noise levels. "The birds appear to be singing at night to avoid competition with high noise levels caused by our cities during the day," Dr Fuller suggested. "Noise levels were 10 times higher in places where birds were singing at night." Source: BBC, 4/25/07 [READ ARTICLE] The Guardian, 4/25/07 [READ ARTICLE]

Wind Turbines Too Noisy, Say Mainers, Texans - Two small communities, very different landscapes, one issue: the whooshing of wind turbines. While proponents have long claimed that the sound of the blades is inadudible, or nearly so, above the sound of the wind that drives them, communities near small wind farms are finding that "insignificant noise" is in the ears of the beholder. In Shallowater, Texas, the local school district installed a small wind farm that is saving $75,000 per year in electricity costs. But Chad Dugger, whose house is 225 feet from the nearest turbine, “I can hear them when they turn off and turn back on. It’s extremely loud in the house I can hear it at night even with the TV on in the living room,” says Dugger. Another area resident, who want to remain anonymous, says, “It’s a pulsating sound just a ‘whooooo’, that’s the part that bothers you.” To some living nearby the sound is not a problem. “Most of the time sort of harmonic you know, just kinda ‘swish, swish’ every once in a while,” says Shallowater resident Dawayne Pounds. Resident Amy Garland adds, “It’s just a humming sound, not a bad sound." Meanwhile, the Freedom, Maine Board of Appeals overturned earlier approval of three turbines, saying that earlier faulty background ambient noise data had been used, and that the turbines would exceed the town's noise standards. Source: KCBD Lubbock 3/3/07 [READ ARTICLE] Maine Today, 3/9/07 [READ ARTICLE]

Maine Windfarm Surprises Neighbors With Noise - A new windfarm in Mars Hill, Maine began powering up in recent weeks, and neighbors were surprised to find that the noise was loud enough to hear on the phone and keep them awake. A little digging found that the permit for the windfarm, approved with minimal oversight, predicted noise levels at nearby houses could exceed state standards. The 28-turbine windfarm is New England's largest; with 16 currently in operation, six formal noise complaints have been filed. “One night, I kept wondering why the furnace wouldn’t shut off and then I realized it wasn’t that, it was the windmills outside,” Merle Cowperthwaite said. He feels particularly pessimistic about the wind turbines. “The only thing we’ve got going for us is we’re getting older and that means we’re getting deafer,” he said. State, local, and windfarm officials are investigating. Source: Bangor Daily News/WindAction, 1/27/07 [READ ARTICLE] Followup: Town Council fields citizen complaints: "We were told from day one that the noise was not an issue," council Chairman Todd Grass told the crowd. "As far as us trying to railroad you into having to live with these ... there’s no way we ever would have done that." Mersereau said the DEP’s findings in the permit state that "the applicants’ project will not have an unreasonable adverse impact on protected locations..." The real human impact, one resident pointed out, is that he can’t sleep at night without a fan blowing in his room to drown out the sound of the wind turbines. Source: Bangor Daily News, 1/31/07 [READ ARTICLE]
Related: Amplitude Modulation of Low Frequency Noise investigated as source of disruptive wind turbine noise - A couple in Lincolnshire, England have been driven from their home by nightytime noise from a windfarm over a half mile away. "It sounds like a train coming towards you that never arrives," said Jane Davis. The noise is a whooshing pulse that is triggered in certain wind conditions; the phenomenon, known as Amplitude Modulation, is being studied by a government panel, the Wind Turbine Noise Working Group. Source: Farmer's Weekly, 1/12/07 [READ ARTICLE(pdf)]
[SEE WIND ACTION ARCHIVE OF NOISE-RELATED NEWS ITEMS]

Study Confirms Birds' Changing Songs in Cities - Field studies in ten European cities, including London, Paris, and Prague, have confirmed that great tits adapt their songs to be better heard above a variety of noise conditions. The city-dwelling birds, a species that has adapted well to urban settings, were compared to forest-dwelling birds nearby. In songs important for mate attractions and territory defense, the urban songs were shorter and sung faster than the forest songs. The urban songs also showed an upshift in frequency that is consistent with the need to compete with low-frequency environmental noise, such as traffic noise. The capacity of great tits to sing within a relatively wide frequency range, and the ability to adjust songs by leaving out lower frequencies, seems critical to the bird's ability to thrive despite urban noise. Species without these capacities may have no other choice than to escape city life. An earlier study by the same researchers had identified frequency differences in great tit songs in one urban area, reflecting the amoung of low-frequency noise they had to be heard above; this study expands the findings to include many populations of tits, and compares urban to rural populations. Source: ScienceDaily, 12/5/06 [READ ARTICLE] [HEAR AND SEE AUDIO FILES OF URBAN AND RURAL SONGS]

New Airplane Design Aims for Near-silent Jets - A research consortium from Cambridge and MIT charged with reducing the noise of jet aircraft has designed a wedge-shaped plane that they claim would be quiet enough to be barely perceptible to neighbors during take-off. By mounting the engines above the plane, providing some sonic shadowing, and reducing flaps and other noise-producing elements, the plane will also be much quieter for passengers. Because of the need to expand airports in ever-more-populous suburban areas, noise reduction is becoming a key element in airplane design. This prototype has yet to pass through a phalynx of commercial, passenger comfort, and other design challenges and is not expected to be built for 25 years; until then, more efficient and quieter jet engines promise to make incremental reductions in airliner noise. Source: Wired News, 11/15/06 [READ ARTICLE] BBC News, 11/6/06 [READ ARTICLE]
Cambridge/MIT project website [WEBSITE]

Low Flying Copters Disrupt Nesting Birds, Lambing Sheep - Low-flying helicopter training missions in the UK have suddenly become louder, after the shift to a new 'copter. National Park authorities claim that the Ministry of Defence has ignored an agreements to work together on the timing of flights, leading to disruption of nesting birds and triggering anxious calls from sheep farmers whos ewes are being startled during lambing; a Parks spokesman called the Ministry's lack of concern "disturbing and arrogant." An Army spokesman responded that "We are very sympathetic of other peoples needs, but we have needs too. The Ministry of Defence is committed to ensuring that low-flying training across the UK is spread as widely as is practically possible so that no single area is too burdened." Source: Guardian, 6/19/06 [READ ARTICLE]

Modern Train Horns Raise Ire of Rural Residents - Across rural England, complaints are pouring in about the sound of new train horns. Sheila Kolstoe, 57, lives near a crossing. "I've lived here since 1987 and it wasn't until the new trains were introduced that horns became a problem," she said. "It used to be a dull noise the body could absorb, but now it's two-tone and causes stress and sleep deprivation. It's like a form of torture. Imagine every time you go to sleep you get woken up every 20 minutes by a noise louder than a pneumatic drill." Residents in Leicestershire have the same problem. Janet Barkby lives a quarter of a mile from a foot crossing in Barrow-on-Soar. "It's got louder, the length of the noise has got longer and it's a more piercing sound than it used to be. Safety is paramount but when you consider it's only a foot level crossing and it's not very busy, it seems a little over-the-top." The Noise Abatement Society says it has received 17,000 complaints in the last couple of years, from across the UK, and describes train horns as the worst noise pollution facing the country. Peter Ainsworth, MP for East Surrey, has proposed a motion in Parliament, backed by 70 MPs, which calls for train companies to install the broadband horns used in the US, at a cost of £700 each, or revert to the old horns. Guidance on horns is issued by the Rail Standards Safety Board which revised the rules in 2003 in response to complaints, lowering the minimum decibel level from 120 to 112. Source: BBC, 1/30/06 [READ ARTICLE]

Rap Signs Spur Skateboarders to Quiet Down - Skateboarders passing through Parkgate Community Center in North Vancouver, a condo development with quaint brick pathways, were created a racket. So, the local park department created signs, painted on old skateboards, that let them know that their noise was a problem:
Yo.....skater, Seriously speakin’, We like your kick flips, But your trucks are squeakin’
The noise is loud, And the old folks are freakin’, They can’t take a nap, The blood pressure’s peakin’
Laughin’ and talkin’, While you’re WALKIN’, When you do that, Then nobody’s squawkin’
Though the signs were soon stolen, boarders have continued to walk since their posting. Source: District of North Vancouver website [WEBSITE]

Hospital Noise Hampers Healing - A review of 20 years of studies of hospital noise indicates that not one facility has met World Health Organization noise standards. A team from John Hopkins University Hospital, considered America's top hospital, began close to home; they discovered that even the newest wings, designed with acoustics in mind, routinely exceed standards. WHO standards for hospitals are undeniablty stringent: 35 dB during the day, 30dB at night, about the sound level of a loud whisper. However, since the establishment of the standards, noise levels have been rising, from around 40dB in the 1960s, to about 60dB today, the level of a person talkking loudly. Low frequency noise from air conditioning, the beeping of machines, and the reverabations caused by hard walls (best for sanitation), all contribute to the problem. Intensive care units are, ironically, especially noisy. "People have been complaining about hospital noise for years, but little has been done about the problem," says Johns Hopkins acoustic engineer James West. It seems the complaints have actually been going on for centuries. Florence Nightingale wrote in 1859: "Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or well." It isn't just a matter of disturbing the patients' peace, the researchers say. Noise contributes to stress in hospital staff, and some studies have suggested that their memory and other mental functions can be impaired by it. And high sound levels have been found to slow down wound healing. Source: Nature News, 12/20/05 [READ ARTICLE]

Japanese Court Orders Payments to Compensate for US Air Base Noise - A Tokyo appeals court ordered the Japanese government Wednesday to pay more than $27 million in compensation to residents affected by noise from a U.S. air base, raising the amount awarded by a lower court. The Tokyo High Court, however, rejected the plaintiffs' demands for state compensation for future damage and the suspension of early morning and late night flights from Yokota Air Base in Tokyo's western suburbs, saying that was beyond the jurisdiction of the Japanese government. "In order to live like a human being and recover the nights we can sleep through, we will continue our effort to eradicate the noise pollution," plaintiff Yoichi Toyama said. Source: San Diego Union-Tribune, 11/30/05 [READ ARTICLE]

Boeing Project Aims to Quiet Jets - Boeing and several industry partners are designing new technologies to reduce the noise levels of jet engines. The Quiet Technology Demonstrator 2 used Boeing 777-300ER with GE90-115B engines, already the quietest airplane in its class; it was fitted with eight different noise-reduction engine inle and exhaust combinations on the right wing, and the baseline production engine on the left wing. The most striking improvements came from a sound-absorbing liner on the engine intake, which reduced fan tones heard in the front of the aircraft by up to 15 decibels. Source: Azom.com, 11/15/05 [READ ARTICLE] GE News Release, 11/05 [READ PRESS RELEASE]

Moderate Noise Exposure Increases Heart Attack Risk - A major new study of heart attack risk looked at the effect of chronic exposure to moderate environmental (traffic) and workplace noise. After controlling for other more classic risk factors, researchers found a significant increase in heart attacks in men (doubled risk) and women (tripled risk) exposed to environmental noise, and in men exposed to workplace noise. The risk seemed to increase as sound increased, up to about 60-65dB, after which risk leveled out. Current workplace noise standards range from 90dB in the US to 85 in most of Europe; 60dB is a typical noise level in a busy large office while 85dB is equivalent to road construction equipment, according to the scientists. One explanation was that noise might increase psychological stress and anger, causing physical changes such as increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline, hormones linked to increased blood pressure. Especially interesting was that annoyance about noise was not related to risk, while the actual exposure level was. These findings may also raise questions about risks to animals exposed to human noise, where stress may also be triggered, especially if annoyance (as evidenced in animals by avoidance of noise) is not a reliable measure of impact. Sources: MedPageToday, 11/23/05 [READ ARTICLE] Reuters/Alternet, 11/24/05 [READ ARTICLE] The Australian, 11/25/05 [READ ARTICLE]

Suburbanites Feel the CBM Pressure - While ranchers throughout the west have been dealing for years with the increasing development of subsurface mineral rights on their land for years, most recently with the skyrocketing of coalbed methane wells and noisy pumping stations, a subdivision 35 miles from Jackson, Wyoming is now bringing suburbanites the spector of traffic, noise, aquifer depletion, and air quality degredation that accompanies oil and gas development. "To kind of plunk this thing down on a subdivision that has 140 homes without any notice is shocking," said a homeowner spokeswoman, "Most of us can understand development on the Anticline or on the Jonah Field, but on this level, near homes, some people that's their only home, and everything they have is tied up in there." Source: Casper Star-Tribune, 11/9/05 [READ ARTICLE]

Aural Historian Receives MacArthur Grant - Emily Thompson, author of the book Soundscape of Modernity, has received a MacArthur "genius" grant. In her book, The Soundscape of Modernity, she integrates the histories of the United States, technology, science, sound production, and acoustics to examine the transformation of the American soundscape from the turn of the century to the opening of Radio City Music Hall in 1933. Thompson organizes her work around developments in twentieth-century architecture, such as new concert halls and new building materials, and explores innovations in the science of acoustics, the emergence of excessive noise, and the efforts of scientists and designers to create new spaces and a new, “modern” sound. Source: MacArthur press release, 10/3/05 [READ PRESS RELEASE] [HEAR NPR STORY]

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