Shaker Heights Noise (shakernoise.org)

Context : A Comparison

Typical ambient noise

  • Lighter colors mean higher decibels (dB)
  • dBFS on the right side is a digital device relative scale
  • levels shown in the lower left are calculated by the audio software (sox) to (sound pressure level) dB SPL, which is what applies to the ordinance
  • In the bottom left, note that the average "level" reading is 59.11 dB
  • The pointed shapes are cars driving by, about 75 -100 feet from the microphone
  • The time axis of this graph is 240 seconds or 4 minutes

Typical landscaper visit

  • Note how the landscaper's leaf blower sustains a baseline level of at least 85.23 dB of noise for the entire recording
  • And sound peaks go as high as 93.44 dB
  • This sustained level of harmful noise lasts at least 20 minutes and as long as 80 minutes during visits