NoiseBot

NoiseBot by Ambient Bots Inc

24/7 Noise Monitoring, Reporting and Enforcement

Noise is a growing cause of civil discord and health problems throughout modern societies – from urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods to college towns (e.g. UCLA) and wealthy enclaves (e.g. Bel Air). According to former U.S. Surgeon General William H. Stewart, “Calling noise a nuisance is like calling smog an inconvenience. Noise must be considered a hazard to the health of people everywhere.”

Problem:
A common cause of civil discord in communities is excessive noise. For example, neighbors complain about loud sounds from nearby: (1) student housing (including fraternities), (2) commercial operations (i.e. hospitals, restaurants/bars, etc), (3) construction projects, (4) trucks, trains and aircraft5, as well as (5) barking from dogs and increasingly, crowing due to the trend of backyard roosters.

Our anecdotal research indicates that victims are angry not only about the noise, but also because they have the onerous burden of monitoring, reporting and enforcing noise ordinances. This is exacerbated by the fact that, often noise problems occur during nights and weekends when government staff (who are responsible for compliance with noise ordinances) aren't available to immediately confirm and address the noise incident. This time lag between a persistent but intermittent noise offender and prompt response from government officials can create a cat-and-mouse game that can further incite civil discord.

Noise monitors are commercially available, but they are optimized for industrial environments (to regulate compliance with OSHA standards). Consequently, they are too expensive and don’t have feature-sets that are appropriate for residential situations and consumer end-users. Furthermore, there are smart phone apps that are decibel monitors; however, they don’t enable users to set noise parameters that trigger the creation of reports as well as the notification and distribution of those reports.

Solution:
To address the common and growing community noise problems, the new UCLA startup Ambient Bots Inc has developed a smart phone app called NoiseBot. By leveraging pervasive, internet-connected smart phones and their embedded audio sensing technology, NoiseBot provides a low cost, easy to use, 24/7 noise monitoring, reporting and enforcement solution that is initially targeted at consumer/residential (not industrial) situations.