Quote:
Originally Posted by Talk Host
I have had some experience in using a "decibel measuring device" to determine if noise is exceeding the allowable level.
Here's the issue. Where do you position the device to take the measurement? (absolute versus relative) Do you stand at the origin of the noise? Do you walk a block away? Do you go to the home of the complainant and get into bed with them?
A 120 decibel reading at the bandstand is much less a block away.
Noise ordinance enforcement is a new phenomenon. If 8 p.m. music shutdowns are made to stick, then it is also a violation for you to ride your Harley Davidson after 8 p.m. Laughter can exceed 100 decibels too. So, if you think something is funny after 8 p.m., stifle the laugh until the next morning. Remember too that normal conversation is 70 to 80 decibels and shouting is 90 decibels.
But consider this, a train whistle exceeds 120 decibels at the horn but is 90 decibels at 500'. Music on a bandstand is 120-150 decibels, so, it too, is about 90 decibels at 500'. Anything over 80 decibels is considered hazardous.
If a tree falls in a forest and the noise exceeds 80 decibels and it's after 8 p.m. but there is nobody there to hear it, is it a violation of the noise ordinance.
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Those numbers give us some help. The ordinance standard that was quoted last night was:
" . . if it generates decibel levels greater than sixty (60) decibels in any residential or multifamily residential neighborhood at a point located one thousand (1,000) feet from the location generating the noise . . . "
If music on a bandstand, which I presume means a full band, which I believe would be louder than the typical music that is playing at the CC's or restaurants here, dissipates from 120-150 decibels to becoming only 90 decibels at 500', then at another 500' distance (referring to the 1000' distance used in the ordinance) one would think that that sound level would dissipate to less than 60 decibels (the standard).
Assuming that is true, the lesser level of sound from the typical music being played outside here in TV, which is probably much less than that of a full band playing outdoors, would probably have to be less than 60 decibels at 1000 feet away.
(1000 feet is nearly 3 football fields! The next question is . . . are there homes within 1000 feet of the CC's/ restaurants?)
I don't know how the meters work, but it would seem to me you would have to measure the 1000 feet distance from the source, and take a reading at that distance (which would seem to be the most accurate); unless the meters are able to project for distance reading.
(Maybe a decibel meter will become a standard accessory for going out for the evening in TV?)