Government Resources

• British Columbia Noise Law -- Links to provincial Acts and Regulations pertaining to noise. This page will eventually become a much larger list of links, to include Federal, Provincial and Municipal noise laws.

• Loud Car Stereos -- From the U.S. Dept of Justice Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, this guide provides a wealth of information on combatting the problem of "boom cars". Also available in .pdf form here, for printing and sending to your local police and elected officials. The free Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to view this document.

• U.K. Noise Act (1996) -- the full text of the law governing "complaints of noise from a dwelling at night." Penalties include confiscation of equipment such as stereos. (Incidentally, it has been reported that 10 percent of Britons feel their home life has been ruined by noise.)

• European Commission's Green Paper on Future Noise Policy -- this 1996 discussion paper is the first step in tougher anti-noise laws in the European Community. You can read a summary on-line, or download the full text in WordPerfect format. Click [EN] for the English version.

• Environmental Protection Agency (U.S.) -- information on noise abatement.

• Noise Control Act (1972) -- Title 42, Chapter 65 of the U.S. Code.

• Vancouver Urban Noise Task Force final report -- issued in April 1997, the report makes many recommendations for making western Canada's largest city a quieter place.

Other Resources

• Active Noise Control FAQ -- information about an exciting technology that kills noise at the source by generating a mirror-image sound wave.

• Adverse Health Impacts of Airport Expansion -- a very useful paper posted on the RCAA site.

• Barron Kennedy Lyzun & Associates -- a private firm in North Vancouver. Their site contains much useful information

• Bibliography for Sonic Studies -- prepared by Barry Truax of Simon Fraser University.

• Campanella Acoustics Consultants -- comprehensive FAQ page on technical aspects of noise measurement and reduction.

• Hearing Health Information -- facts on noise and hearing loss, provided by the House Ear Institute.

• Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the U.S.A. -- their site includes a bibliography and an index to their journal, Noise/News International

• Laboratório de Psicofisiologia -- an excellent bibliography from Brazil of research on the "ill effects of noise on humans". Mostly Portugese, some English.

• Noise and Traffic -- Netherlands-based site providing "information on effects of noise on people, standards and limits for road traffic, railway , aircraft and industrial noise. Discussion on combination of noises. Simple calculation software is available."

• Tyre/Road Noise Reference Book -- Comprehensive, current 640-page reference text.

• NoiseNet -- Comprehensive reference on technical aspects of noise measurement and attenuation, directory of acoustic services, and suggestions for victims of noise including ways to fund a legal case. British, but much information is universal.

• Oldenburg University Acoustics -- Conducting psychoacoustic research on annoyance level of sounds. See also "Acoustic Nightmare" picture on this page.

Sound Level Meters

Note: Sound level meters like Radio Shack's are useful for approximating sound levels, but for measurements of a more precise nature such as those submitted in legal proceedings, a calibrated professional-grade meter meeting certain ANSI standards is usually required.

• Ono Sokki -- LA-1200 Series.

• Radio Shack -- Inexpensive, popular meters for approximating decibel levels.