Noise pollution in your own yard is a very common problem that can sometimes be difficult to address. The solution starts with asking: Where is the noise coming from, or what is causing it?
Noise pollution in your own yard is a very common problem that can sometimes be difficult to address. The solution starts with asking: Where is the noise coming from, or what is causing it?
Is the problem caused by neighbors, traffic, motorcycles, a highway, air traffic, construction, nearby industrial activity, or animals? Does it involve not only noise but also perceptible vibrations? Does everyone in your household experience this, or are there only a few who react very strongly to it? Are your pets bothered by it, but you yourself aren’t really? Pets sometimes hear more and differently than people do. People who are deaf usually aren’t bothered by noise pollution. But even then, it can become annoying if neighbors(and sometimes even housemates)blast their stereo so loud that plates and cups on your patio table start rattling. It can also be very annoying for housemates and neighbors when a radio, recorder, or TV is turned up extremely loud because the person using it is deaf. A deaf person often doesn’t realize this.
The government has decibel regulations regarding what is and isn’t allowed, but these are highly arbitrary because everyone’s hearing is different. What’s annoying to one person(such as high-pitched screeching sounds or endless, deep bass tones)might not be a problem at all for someone else. Some people get an irresistible urge to go to the bathroom as soon as a little fountain starts splashing in the neighbors’ pond. For others, that’s actually a wonderfully soothing sound. The latter is probably true for those very neighbors. There are people who are driven crazy by the nighttime croaking of frogs or the shrill sound of crickets, while others actually enjoy it. When it comes to many unavoidable sounds(such as a train that regularly passes by), some people will get used to them and, over time, won’t even notice them anymore, while others will never get used to them. With all the consequences that entails!
Noise pollution in the garden can even lead to serious health problems for people who spend time there regularly, because stress has a huge impact on our mental and physical functioning. It can therefore not only be a major annoyance, but also make us sick, which can have far-reaching consequences. So we need to understand that, in many cases, complaints are not just whining, but a real problem for the person raising them. If that’s the starting point—mutual understanding—the problem is usually resolved quickly. Otherwise, it can escalate into very unpleasant situations.
There are people who absolutely should not live in a big city because there is always noise there that they cannot tolerate: traffic all night long, sirens from ambulances, fire trucks, and police cars, all kinds of appliances that make noise(air conditioners and the like), the clinking of mooring lines on docked ships, air traffic, etc., etc. A solution becomes possible when the problem is acknowledged by those who cause it, or when it is very clear to everyone what the possible cause is and that is also admitted.
Noise pollution in the garden caused by low-flying aircraft, for example, cannot be prevented unless flight paths or flight patterns are changed. Getting something like that done can quickly become a time-consuming, nerve-wracking ordeal because it involves very conflicting interests. In practice, you’ll often find that your interests are given less weight than those of the party causing the disturbance. The least you can do right away—and what’s often recommended—is to install(expensive)heavy-duty soundproofing in buildings(homes, workspaces, etc.)and go inside whenever another plane flies overhead.
The vast majority of legal cases involve noise disturbances caused by and at neighbors’ homes(yard parties, loud talking, loud music, barking dogs, etc.). While the cause of such a problem can be mitigated through legal regulations that you can enforce, that is not the first choice for a solution. If those causing the problem fail to recognize it, the conflict will persist and the situation may escalate. That’s how it works in practice. Neither you nor the owner can train a dog not to bark, but you can ensure that it barks less often outside in the neighborhood. However, this often has to be enforced.
In many cases, the best solution is ultimately to take measures on your own property to eliminate or at least reduce the noise pollution.
To achieve that, you need to know a little about sound. You can also hire specialists who, with their expertise, can propose and implement solutions.
Sound travels in all directions through the air, water, and earth in the form of waves, but its intensity isn't necessarily the same in every direction. You can hear the sound of a megaphone better when you're standing in front of it than when you're behind it.
Sound is a vibration that propagates through a medium from a sound source. An earthquake, for example, produces a very distinctive sound(a deep rumble that people in Groningen and South Limburg know all too well), and the vibration is clearly perceptible. Deep, low-pitched sounds, in particular, can seem to hit you, as it were. There is such a thing as sound pressure that you can feel. You may be familiar with that sensation if you’ve ever stood close to a heavy speaker at a rock concert or near a powerful sound system. Hopefully that speaker wasn’t at your neighbors’ house, because if it was, you wouldn’t have been able to sit outside in your own yard for very long.
Animals can sense those vibrations or hear the accompanying sound better than we can and react to them much sooner. During tsunamis at sea, many animals sense(or hear)the earth’s crust shaking long before we humans even notice anything. The animals then flee to higher ground, while people are often too late and cannot save themselves.
Earthquakes can travel incredibly far. Seismic institutes in the Netherlands can easily detect tremors occurring in places like Siberia. Sound waves also travel very far through water. Whales produce sounds that they can hear from each other hundreds of kilometers away. But that’s still a shorter distance than through the ground. Sound travels even shorter distances through the air. Air dampens sound the fastest. In humid air(at about 20 °C), the speed of sound is well over 1,200 kilometers per hour; in drier air, it is often less than 1,200 km/h. Temperature and humidity therefore have a major influence on what you hear in your surroundings. When it’s foggy, you can hear sounds from a great distance.
Above, we stated that sound travels in waves. That is true, but it can do so in very different ways. A highway, for example, creates a sort of tube of sound along its entire length that becomes wider and wider. Non-directional sound forms a hemisphere of sound around itself, with the sound becoming increasingly muffled as it radiates outward. The sound is, as it were, diluted. You can hear a neighbor’s running gas-powered lawn mower much more clearly than the same machine at a neighbor’s house five houses down. The condition of the surroundings also plays a role. A soft surface(such as a lawn)dampens sound better than a hard or smooth surface(such as pavement or the surface of a pond). High-frequency sound is also dampened more effectively(by air)than low-frequency sounds(long waves). Sound is thus dampened by the path it travels and by the material through or past which it moves. Wind direction also plays a role. If sound travels against the wind, it is dampened more quickly. Air temperature is also a factor in noise pollution. Experts asked to propose measures take all these factors into account. Solutions will therefore vary on a case-by-case basis. The best way to prevent noise pollution is, of course, to eliminate the source of the noise. If your neighbors are bothered by the fountain in your pond, it’s best for everyone’s peace of mind to simply do without it. If your dog is causing a lot of disturbance, you may have to part ways with him or her. If you enjoy listening to music in your garden, perhaps you could turn it down a bit. Loud conversations can often be toned down as well, once you realize how irritating it can be to “always have to listen in.” There are many issues like this that should actually be fairly easy to resolve.
Sound can be reflected, deflected, or scattered. These are phenomena that can help solve noise problems when they cannot be eliminated, as is the case, for example, with highway noise. For monotonous, steady sounds, technical counter-noise(anti-noise)can be generated to eliminate the noise nuisance. But this rarely happens. Usually, structural solutions are proposed and implemented. In such cases, structures are literally built or installed to make the noise pollution more tolerable. However, this rarely eliminates it entirely. A noise barrier along a highway partially blocks the noise; the rest of the noise is, as it were, “lifted” and will then “settle” again at a greater distance from the road. By that point, the noise has been somewhat muffled, but people living farther away from the highway are still bothered by it—and often even more so than those living right behind the noise barrier.
For gardens, fences(along the property line)are often suggested as a solution. These should be as tall as possible(at least as tall as permitted by law and in that specific situation), but such a fence must be solid. An open fence is of little help; at best, it scatters the sound slightly. The same effect is achieved by planting vegetation with dense, fine foliage. All those small leaf surfaces scatter the sound, making it less irritating. If you have the space and it’s permitted, you might consider building an earthen embankment(which lifts the sound upward)and then planting it with fine-leaved plants as well. There are dozens of possible solutions like this for a wide range of noise problems.
Can't figure it out on your own? Then hire an expert. They can guide you step by step toward a solution. The main thing is to maintain a good relationship with your neighbors—preferably a lasting one—right?
Noise pollution remains a huge problem that only gets worse as more people live in close proximity to one another! There are many websites on this topic and related subjects.
Browse our products and discover the unique Greenwall® green noise barrier.
Check out other articles on applications, real-world examples, and the latest developments in green soundproofing systems.
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