Noise monitoring and enforcement in New York City using a remote acoustic sensor network

The urban sound environment can have a profound effect on quality of life as indicated by the large majority of noise related complaints to New York Citys 311 information/complaints line. To effectively monitor and understand these spatially and temporally dynamic environments, a process of real-time, long term measurement and analysis is required. This paper discusses the use of a smart, static, low-cost acoustic sensor network for continuous urban noise monitoring. The paper discusses the implementation and use of a level based noise event detector to reveal an indication of a noise code breach. The system was used to study 11 months of calibrated sound pressure level data from a cluster of 17 sensor nodes in Manhattan, where it positively confirmed the presence of construction noise from 47 localized complaints where subsequent enforcement visits could not identify the offending source. Its use as a tool to aid city agencies in effective noise enforcement is discussed.