Industrial noise

SailinAway · 10-19-2022, 06:49 PM

Some towns have an industrial noise ordinance that is quite specific about noise levels, time of day, etc. My town is not one of them. There is a factory that seems to have changed its hours of operation (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and its equipment as the noise has increased considerably. It's a loud hum that's at just the right frequency to make you lose your mind. It's not possible to work at home or to sleep at night without masking the noise (earphones with white noise, etc.). I know that some towns have a complicated way of determining the noise coming from a factory. Those terms don't mean much to the layman. I'm trying to figure out a strategy for taking this up with the town. Since I can't go out and measure the noise, can someone give me a general idea, in layman's terms, of what a reasonable level of noise is? Obviously there is a subjective component---what bothers me might not bother someone else. What kind of evidence can I provide so that the problem is taken seriously?

I'm about a mile and a quarter from the industrial park. We're both on hills, without many trees and no other obstacles between us (the industrial park can be seen on the other side of the Merrimack River valley from the height of land on my street). The noise seems to be amplified by the location of the factory and my house on hills and the empty river valley between.

10-19-2022, 06:49 PM	#1
SailinAway Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2019 Posts: 991 Thanks: 256 Thanked 280 Times in 169 Posts	Industrial noise Some towns have an industrial noise ordinance that is quite specific about noise levels, time of day, etc. My town is not one of them. There is a factory that seems to have changed its hours of operation (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and its equipment as the noise has increased considerably. It's a loud hum that's at just the right frequency to make you lose your mind. It's not possible to work at home or to sleep at night without masking the noise (earphones with white noise, etc.). I know that some towns have a complicated way of determining the noise coming from a factory. Those terms don't mean much to the layman. I'm trying to figure out a strategy for taking this up with the town. Since I can't go out and measure the noise, can someone give me a general idea, in layman's terms, of what a reasonable level of noise is? Obviously there is a subjective component---what bothers me might not bother someone else. What kind of evidence can I provide so that the problem is taken seriously? I'm about a mile and a quarter from the industrial park. We're both on hills, without many trees and no other obstacles between us (the industrial park can be seen on the other side of the Merrimack River valley from the height of land on my street). The noise seems to be amplified by the location of the factory and my house on hills and the empty river valley between.