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Excessive Vehicle
Noise - Impact and Remedies
This paper has been recommended by Digital Recordings as suggested reading for their AUDIO-CD product. Copyright 1989-2014, Digital Recordings. All Rights Reserved.
PDF version (40 kB)
The noise level in our cities is rapidly increasing. This is due to heavier
traffic and more powerful engines. On top of that there is a growing number
of vehicles which are much louder and do not adhere to Canadian Noise Standards.
This is due to the fact that their owners install or modify mufflers and install
large sound systems creating so-called "boom cars" (typical sound is boom, boom ....)
which can be heard from a kilometer away. I would like to express my expert
opinion about this phenomenon and suggest remedies, which should be implemented.
Most of the vehicles on the road use combustion engines. Fuel explodes in
cylinders 1000 times/min (for 4-stroke, 2-cylinder engines at 1,000 rpm)
creating sound with 16.7 Hz fundamental frequency and many harmonics. Without
an engine block/enclosure and muffler these explosions will be very noisy
(194 dB at close distance) and deadly. No wonder that vehicles with modified
mufflers or straight pipes can produce sound levels which are deafening
(up to 120 dB at 15.2 m distance) and are up to 40 dB louder than vehicles
equipped with stock mufflers, which meet Canadian Standards (about 80 dB at
15.2 m distance - Transport Canada Regulations, Standard # 1106) To illustrate
this: a modified vehicle which produces a 10 dB louder sound is as loud as
10 standard vehicles , 20 dB louder => 100 vehicles, 30 dB louder => 1000
vehicles, 40 dB louder => 10,000 vehicles. As can be seen from this example
these vehicles can significantly increase the noise levels in the city.
A car or motorbike with a modified muffler can produce noise as loud as that of 100
to 10,000 vehicles.
A similar situation is with the excessive sound systems in "boom cars".
Standard car stereo systems have amplifiers capable of 5 W -> 50 W/channel.
This is sufficient power, since most car speakers can produce 80 dB ->
100 dB sound with just 0.1 W of input power. Boom cars can have sound systems
which have amplifiers with 700 W -> 2000 W/channel. With the same efficiency
speakers they can produce about 143 dB sound, which is 10,000 times more
powerful (some competition boom cars achieved insane 182 dB SPL levels
inside of reinforced cabin). One vehicle like this can produce as much
noise as 10,000 vehicles with a "normal" sound system set at 0.1 W. Very
often, in order to use such powerful sound systems, vehicles carry additional
batteries (the alternator is too small to provide this much power) and speakers
(often large and many) at the expense of the vehicle's structural integrity,
safety and driver's visibility.
A "boom car" can produce sound as loud as that of 100 to 10,000
vehicles with standard sound systems set at 80-100 dB.
First these cars and motorbikes violate the Canadian Vehicles Standards. Second,
they are a tremendous annoyance. It is not reasonable that a vehicle should
produce so much noise that despite its distance it is louder in an apartment
or office than the radio, TV and human voices and sounds. These vehicles can
wake-up an entire neighborhood at night (estimate given in "Time" magazine was
that a single motorbike with a modified mufflers can wake-up up to 200,000 people
at night in Paris).
The noise produced by these vehicles not only lowers the quality of life and
work of the majority of people but also can result in permanent hearing loss
for vehicle operators and people nearby (this includes unborn children, since
noise penetrates the womb). At high levels this noise can result even in tissue
damage (body parts and organs resonate and tissues can fracture at some low
frequencies) leading to serious health problems (it can even lead to a miscarriage).
Walking on the street is a hazzard these days and is not at all enjoyable
(which has no doubt an impact on tourism as well).
These vehicles are highly distracting in traffic and can cause accidents
since they mask sounds and agitate drivers. Loud sounds can affect hearing,
vision, reaction time and judgement of drivers and nearby people increasing
dangers significantly for everyone involved. Very often operators of these
vehicles have tinted windows and race rather than drive through the city.
It is a phenomenon which increased after the release of the "Fast and Furious"
movie series.
The noise produced by modified vehicles not only lowers the quality of life and
work of the majority of people but also can result in permanent hearing loss
for vehicle operators and people nearby.
At high levels this noise can result
even in tissue damage leading to serious health problems. Loud sounds can affect hearing,
vision, reaction time and judgement of drivers and nearby people increasing
dangers significantly for everyone involved.
Excessive noise is a serious environmental problem impacting health
and well-being of all living things. The police and politicians should
be alerted and educated about this problem. Cities should establish simple
and fast SLM (Sound Level Meter) - based measurement procedures for
checking sound levels, which could be performed by some officers and inspectors.
There should be stiff fines for violators. Fine structure could be for example as follows:
Noise pollution caused by modified vehicles is a very fast growing problem.
They are the weapons of intimidation and acoustical terrorism in the hands
of disrespectful and ignorant people. Proposed measures should be introduced
quickly by the government in order to stop this dangerous trend and to protect
the environment, as well as the well-being and health of people. Let's keep
our cities and streets livable and quiet !
Noise pollution caused by modified vehicles is a very fast growing problem.
They are the weapons of intimidation and acoustical terrorism in the hands
of disrespectful and ignorant people.
There are many resources available on the internet in regards to noise. Here are
several websites which contain useful information:
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