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Dear Noise Project supporter,
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On the 30th annual International Noise Awareness Day, we have announced the deployment (in an undisclosed residential location in Providence) of the first in a series of city-wide noise monitors, intended to ascertain both baseline sound levels and daily / weekly / seasonal noise trends around the city — to determine if the mayor’s efforts to reduce unhealthy noise levels are sufficiently effective.
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In the two weeks that the initial monitor has been operating, it has routinely registered noise levels far exceeding municipal sound-level limits for residential areas — including late at night and as early as 5:00 a.m. in the morning, with recurrent peaks between 90–100 decibels both at night and even during the day, when city noise limits are even higher.
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In response to the Noise Project’s survey of mayoral candidates in 2022, Smiley wrote that the city should actively collect noise data, stating that, “As part of a review of the noise level in our city and improved enforcement, noise should be measured on an ongoing basis in order to produce consistent data.”
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As mayor, however, his administration has not measured noise levels, nor indicated any plans to do so. Without determining existing sound levels around the city, it’s difficult for the city to know whether its noise-reduction policies are effective.
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The Noise Project plans to add additional monitors in the coming months, with the goal of collecting a representative sample of sound levels around Providence, to help identify areas where residents face the most persistent exposure to excessive and unhealthy noise, and thus where the city should focus its abatement efforts.
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If you are interested in installing a noise monitor at your home in the future, please contact us with your name, e-mail address, and the type of building you live in, along with the neighborhood and City Council ward it’s located in. (Some residents indicated their interest in doing so years ago, and we’ll be contacting those people first, as soon as additional monitors are available.)
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Please let us know if you have any questions about the Noise Project’s noise-monitoring initiative, its policy efforts and proposals, or any other noise-related issues.
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And if you would like to help us address residential or other sources of noise, please take a minute to fill out our volunteer intake form, which helps us to learn about your background and experience, and thus best utilize the various knowledge and skills that volunteers bring to the Project.
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Thanks again for supporting a quieter, healthier, and more sustainable Providence for all of its residents,
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The all-volunteer PNP staff
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“Noise is the New Smoking”
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