PVD residents can now view city noise data in real time

New! View Providence Noise Level Data in Real Time

Dear Noise Project supporter,

On International Noise Awareness Day (April 30) we announced the deployment of the first of a city-wide network of 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.

We have now added a graph of the sound data the monitor is collecting in “real time” (i.e., as it is occurring), including the current decibel levels and hourly and daily peaks, as well the ability to scroll back up to 24 hours to see how loud it was earlier in the day and overnight, and click on the date display to view the noise data for the last 30 days.

In the month the first monitor has been operating, it has routinely indicated that Providence noise levels greatly exceed municipal sound limits for residential areas every day — including late at night and as early as 5:00 a.m. in the morning — with recurrent peaks between 80 and 90 decibels every hour during the day (when city noise limits are 10 dB higher) and at night. And peaks above 90 dB are not uncommon.

The observed source of most of the noise data collected by the monitor has been motor vehicles with modified mufflers or over-amplified sound systems — the two most prevalent noise sources residents report in the city.

Half way through Mayor Brett Smiley’s third year in office — and despite his repeated statements about reducing noise levels in the city — Providence residents continue to be exposed to excessive, unhealthy, and illegal sound levels from vehicles, house parties, and commercial establishments on a recurrent basis. It’s an epidemic of noise.

The Noise Project is planning to add additional sound monitors in July, and will contact mailing-list subscribers who previously indicated an interest in installing one at their home. The goal is to collect a representative sample of sound levels around the city, to help identify areas with the most persistently excessive and unhealthy noise, and thus where Providence government officials should focus their reduction efforts.

If you are interested in installing a noise monitor at your home and have not already contacted us, please use our contact form to send us 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. The current monitors require a power source such as an outdoor electrical outlet, but we're working on ones that use other forms of energy, such as a solar panel.

Let us know if you have any questions about the Noise Project’s noise-monitoring initiative, our other programs and policy initiatives, or other noise-related issues.

In other news, we have added a new Noise Terminology page to our website, to help explain common word and phrases regarding sound levels, the adverse health effects of noise, and related issues. If you have suggestions for other terms should be included on the Terminology page, please contact us.

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.

Thanks again for supporting a quieter, healthier, and more sustainable Providence for all of its residents and visitors,

The all-volunteer PNP staff

ProvidenceNoiseProject.org

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