ACA2012 Banff - 01dB DUO at MontrealFBe

DOWNTOWN MONTREAL NOISE CONTROL CHALLENGES ON THE RISE WITH MIXITY AND

URBAN DENSITY F.Bouchard 1, D.Vaucher de la Croix 2, Ch. Gagné 3

1Dept. of Noise Control, Ville-Marie Burough of Montreal, 800 Maisonneuve blvd 17th Floor, Montréal, Québec, Canada

2ACOEM, 200 Chemin des Ormeaux, 69578 LIMONEST, France

3Alliance Predictive, 1100 Thomas-Tremblay, Sherbrooke, J1G 5G5, Canada

CONTENT

1. Introduction2. Inner city noise control

3. Examples of practice4. Discussion & Conclusion

3.

Duo Smart Noise monitor - 3

Introduction

� Cities consist of a large urban mix where different human activities coexist

� Stores and transports� Schools and hospitals� Industrial facilities and service firms� Leisure and tourism activities

� Keeping harmonious local noise situations is beneficial to all inhabitants

� Need to elaborate new policies for the management of noise pollution

� New approach with measurement of sound levels in several synchronized points

� Illustrate with typical situations in the Ville-Marie borough of the city of Montreal, one of the most residential city centers in North America, with over 80 000 residents.

Ajouter ici un bandeau

“images des situations bruyantes”

4.


Inner city noise control

� Caseload overview � bedrooms only 40m away from massive air conditioning units blaring 90 dBA each,

resulting in 65 dBA exposure vs. an authorized 40 dBA limit; � sub bass from an outdoor party traversing brick and stone walls into a condo 200m

away;

� business owners buying overly powerful and noisy ventilation systems from sellers unaware of noise limits;

� another bedroom 50m away from a 100’000 Watt sound system inside an after-hours nightclub;

� an entire touristic neighbourhood haunted by a fluctuating whistle tone coming from a dust filled muffler half a kilometre away

� …

� solution such typical situations for noise annoyance requires clear evidence of noise emission above limits:

� Measurements: permanent better than occasional!

5.



� Technology for the benefits of all parties! � DUO smart noise monitoring station especially designed for permanent outdoor

measurements� Very unique features

waterproof microphoneautomated system check

(CIC principle)

6.



� DUO smart noise monitor: Qualification with international recognition:� Class 1 Approval in France by LNE� Class 1 Approval in Switzerland by METAS� Class 1 Approval in Germany by PTB

First and unique!

(hear more from dedicated paper at 2.20pm!)

7.


Examples of practice - 1/3

� More fear than harm…� Situation 1: annoying bass tone from upstairs neighbours…

�Plaintiff suspects there could be a rotating press machine printing all night long� just a clothing dryer on four legs with a tool case on top, backed to the wall and

transmitting the frequency of 63 Hz all the way down to the plaintiff’s apartment

�Solution = dryer legs placed on styrofoam pads and toolcase furthered from wall

� Situation 2: plaintiffs believe upstairs neighbours are terrorizing them with low frequency generators and ask me to raid their appartment with police force

� Problem was a tabletop ventilator placed on a wobbly wood table with two foldable U-shaped legs transmitting tones at 31.5 and 100 Hz into the apartment downstairs…

� Solution =sitting the shaky table on a 1-inch thick Styrofoam baseplate instantly resolved the problem!(15 dBZ reduction at 31.5 Hz and 23 dBZ reduction at 100 Hz)

8.


Examples of practice - 2/3 (1)

� Discotheque soundproof diagnostics� a new 3000 person capacity nightclub located 200 m

away from existing and proposed condo buildings.

� situation prior to completion of soundproofing: 15 dBZemergences at 63 Hz (i.e. kick drum or boom frequency),

- even after attenuating the 18 cardoïd subwoofers, a process which was worsening the sound quality

� only 1 dBA emergence at 180 m away, but… the musical thump was still audible!

� 8 dBC emergence at 180 m away(74.7 dBC with music and 66.8 without).

9.



� Discotheque soundproof diagnostics� inner and outer noise levels monitored with two DUO systems on six channels:

- dBA, lin & selected 1/3rd octaves 40, 50, 63 and 80 Hz, while repeating the same music.

� Further soundproofing � emergence levels dropped to 0 dBZ at 60 Hz - with a remaining 10 dBZ at 50 Hz (yellow peak on the picture; inaudible)

� No variations in dBA were observed with music on or off, and only 3 dBC varied

� The club’s sound system has been set to Montreal’s 98 dBA noise limit at minimum 3m from speakers or musical instruments

� No noise complaints ever been registered towards the nightclub after several months of operation

10.



� Outdoor music festival noise monitoring� Apply the DUO technology and place several instruments in strategic positions

between dwellings and festival sites involving amplified music and pyrotechnics.- Standalone remote controlled waterproof units with modems, GPS, manual and

triggered wave recording, direct audio and SMS warnings thus greatly helped efficiently collecting & processing all relevant information

11.



� Outdoor music festival noise monitoring� complaints about bass tones from an outdoor dance party infiltrating a condo unit

� classical meters (used by sound and lighting company)- No spectral analysis- Levels said “within the authorized limits (80 dBA / 100 dBC) at 35m from speakers

� DUO smart noise monitor � spectral analysis during a 2-hours concert- as much energy west at 50Hz (100 dBZ) as in front of the speakers, although the

global level was 9 dBA lower (79 vs 88) � vertical subwoofers badly positioned

12.



� Outdoor music festival noise monitoring� Second case with a neighbouring resident complaining about bass pulses

reaching his bedroom, where the energy level in the 63 Hz octave was 5 dBZover NR curve 55 that covered the rest of the spectrum.

� The Ville Marie noise control department had that reduced by the sound engineer without any audible difference at the site of the party.

� The department also saw much variation in the high to mid frequencies, due to insufficient compression or limiting of a percussive instrument. The sound engineer quickly remedied this problem as well.

� The department’s actions increased the quality of the sound instead of simply lowering the master volume and frustrating the organisers and clients.

� Everyone was happy, especially the plaintiff!

Illustrer avec une foule joyeuse /festival de Jazz?

13.


Discussion & Conclusion

� Several cases have been reported illustrating the actions of the Ville-Marie noise

control team that improve urban noise environments and defuse possible

conflicts due to excess noise levels perceived

� Although limits are expressed in dBA, pure tones between 22 and 11 314 Hz warrant a 5 dBA penalty as do impulsivity and speech transmission

� In some cases emergences are calculated with L95% levels in order to eliminate

parasite noises like traffic and animal noises (especially dogs and birds)

� Technology helps a lot in getting reliable information based on permanent noise monitoring

� Especially DUO smart noise monitors that bring much more flexibility than any other classical instruments and are easily deployable on site

� Measurements have become a lot easier since acquiring this new technology but…

a lot of what the Ville-Marie noise control department does involves mediation and dealing with human tolerance, perception and expectations

Thank you for your attentionMerci de votre attention !

ACA2012 Banff - 01dB DUO at MontrealFBe

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