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New York City is known for its noise. A cacophony of sounds bombards residents every time they step outside – screeching subway cars, jackhammers drilling away, late-night revellers leaving bars and clubs. More than 50,000 noise complaints are filed every year by New Yorkers who’ve become fed up with the commotion, according to a spokesman for the city’s department of environmental protection.
The noise generated by vehicles, including cars with modified mufflers, loud motorcycles and drivers who honk excessively, accounts for only a small fraction of those complaints, the spokesman said, but it’s the target of a new tool intended to turn down the city’s volume: noise cameras. The cameras are activated when they record a sound louder than 85 decibels, which is about as loud as a lawn mower. And they are increasingly being used by the department of environmental protection to ticket drivers, according to Rohit Aggarwala, the department’s commissioner. The new technology functions “much like a speeding camera,” he said. The cameras are always on, but they start recording only when loud sounds are detected. Violations cost offenders between $800 and $2,500.
The city installed its first noise camera early last year as part of a pilot programme, Aggarwala said, and it was tested in several locations in Manhattan and Queens. Since then, the city has purchased nine additional cameras, at a cost of roughly $35,000 each. Seven of them were in use as of late last month, with the rest set to be installed by the end of the year.
And on Wednesday, the City Council is expected to vote on a bill that would establish a citywide noise camera programme, with the aim of installing at least five cameras per borough. Keith Powers, the main sponsor of the bill, it had broad support and was expected to pass. Charlie Mydlarz, a research associate professor at New York University who studies soundscapes, called noise “a slow killer”. “Noise isn’t dropping people on the streets, but it’s slowly affecting people.” “But some worry the new technology poses a significant risk to New Yorkers’ privacy. Jerome Greco, a lawyer with the Digital Forensics Unit at the Legal Aid Society, said there were too many questions about how well the cameras work and who has access to the data. “Whenever you have new technology that is capable of doing these types of things, it’s ripe for abuse,” Greco said.
The noise generated by vehicles, including cars with modified mufflers, loud motorcycles and drivers who honk excessively, accounts for only a small fraction of those complaints, the spokesman said, but it’s the target of a new tool intended to turn down the city’s volume: noise cameras. The cameras are activated when they record a sound louder than 85 decibels, which is about as loud as a lawn mower. And they are increasingly being used by the department of environmental protection to ticket drivers, according to Rohit Aggarwala, the department’s commissioner. The new technology functions “much like a speeding camera,” he said. The cameras are always on, but they start recording only when loud sounds are detected. Violations cost offenders between $800 and $2,500.
The city installed its first noise camera early last year as part of a pilot programme, Aggarwala said, and it was tested in several locations in Manhattan and Queens. Since then, the city has purchased nine additional cameras, at a cost of roughly $35,000 each. Seven of them were in use as of late last month, with the rest set to be installed by the end of the year.
And on Wednesday, the City Council is expected to vote on a bill that would establish a citywide noise camera programme, with the aim of installing at least five cameras per borough. Keith Powers, the main sponsor of the bill, it had broad support and was expected to pass. Charlie Mydlarz, a research associate professor at New York University who studies soundscapes, called noise “a slow killer”. “Noise isn’t dropping people on the streets, but it’s slowly affecting people.” “But some worry the new technology poses a significant risk to New Yorkers’ privacy. Jerome Greco, a lawyer with the Digital Forensics Unit at the Legal Aid Society, said there were too many questions about how well the cameras work and who has access to the data. “Whenever you have new technology that is capable of doing these types of things, it’s ripe for abuse,” Greco said.
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