Quote:
Originally Posted by Chi-Town
|
Thanks for sharing that video! So, the house was built after the freeway was announced, so the Florida Department of a Transportation is not responsible and won’t build a noise wall.
The owner should note that a noise wall isn’t likely to cut the volume more than 7 decibels near the wall and 5 decibels across the street. What does that mean? The decibel scale is a bit like the Richter Scale for earthquakes. 80 decibels is 100% louder than 70 decibels. 90 decibels is 100% louder than 80 decibels. (My acoustic guitar, played as loud as possible, can reach 98 decibels two feet in front of the sound hole, but ten feet away it’s not that loud.)
I have a decent decibel meter on my iPad that I downloaded from the App Store. It cost maybe $5. It’s called SPLnFFT, whatever that means. It’s very easy to use. I recommend getting one. Measure the decibel level in the back yard. Now go to the front of the house and measure the level. How many decibels less? 10? 20? If so, that is FAR more sound reduction than you would get from a wall. What is the level in the house, in various rooms? Are some rooms noisier than others? I’m in a silent room with the central air conditioning on as I write this. The decibel level is 36. A loud exhalation from two feet away raises that to 70 decibels for a moment.
I’m sorry to tell the original complainer this (not the original poster), but I think your best solution is to sell your house and buy another one as far as possible from a large road. Of course, you could end up with neighbors a few feet away who play music you can’t stand or have hearing problems and watch television on their lanai with the volume very high. Often even a normal conversational level from thirty feet away can be easily overheard. Then there are the people who talk on the telephone as if they were using two tin cans and a string—a conversational shout. Good luck.