If you make too much noise in New York, new cameras might catch you

New York City is known for its noise. Every time they step outside, a cacophony of sounds engulfs residents: screeching subways, jackhammers, late-night revelers leaving bars and clubs.

Yet more than 50,000 noise complaints are filed annually by New Yorkers tired of the commotion, according to a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.

The noise generated by vehicles, including cars with modified mufflers, loud motorcycles and drivers revving excessively, is responsible for only a small portion of these complaints, the spokesperson said, but is the target of a new tool aimed at turn down the volume of the city: sound cameras.

The cameras are activated when they record a sound louder than 85 decibels, which is about as loud as a lawn mower. And according to Rohit T. Aggarwala, the department’s commissioner, they are increasingly being used by the Department of Environmental Protection to send tickets.

The new technology functions “just like a speed camera,” Mr Aggarwala said. The cameras are always on, but only start recording when loud noises are detected. Violations cost offenders between $800 and $2,500, he said.

The city installed its first sound camera early last year as part of a pilot program, Mr. Aggarwala said, and it was tested at several locations in Manhattan and Queens.

Since then, the city has purchased nine additional cameras, at a cost of approximately $35,000 each. Seven of them were in use at the end of last month and the rest were expected to be installed by the end of the year.

And on Wednesday, the City Council is expected to vote on a bill that would establish a citywide sound camera program, with the goal of installing at least five cameras per municipality.

Keith Powers, the bill’s lead sponsor, described the noise in his district, which includes much of the east side of Manhattan, as a “constant annoyance.” Mr. Powers said in an interview that the bill had broad support and was expected to pass.

“We will always live in a city and there will always be some different problems that we have to accept as part of life,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean we have to completely surrender to a noisy environment.”

Arline Bronzaft, an environmental psychologist and noise pollution expert who has been researching noise in New York City for decades, says the deafening noises that roar from some vehicles can seriously harm mental and physical health.

Few people have done more to try to turn down the city’s volume than Ms. Bronzaft, 87. She has been advising mayors, subway administrators and other officials since the 1970s, when she completed a widely publicized study that found schoolchildren in classrooms next to train tracks in Inwood performed worse than those in quieter classrooms.

People who are regularly exposed to loud noises may experience increased stress, have trouble sleeping and even be at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Ms. Bronzaft said.

Sitting in her “noise room” — an office in her Upper East Side apartment where she keeps decades of research — Ms. Bronzaft said sound cameras could be an effective way to reduce New Yorkers’ stress and help them sleep.

‘Do you know why New Yorkers walk down the street very quickly? To get away from the noise,” Ms. Bronzaft said. “So I will always advocate for potential products that potentially reduce noise.”

She added: “This is for the people who don’t sleep well, the kids who might not be able to do their homework.”

Charlie Mydlarz, an associate professor at New York University who studies soundscapes and helped lead a yearslong noise pollution study that placed microphones throughout New York City, called noise “a slow killer.”

“The noise does not drop people on the street, but affects people slowly,” he said. “If you have to adapt to high noise levels when you move to a loud part of town, your brain uses energy to effectively ignore that high noise level.”

But some are concerned that the new technology poses a significant risk to the privacy of New Yorkers.

Jerome Greco, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Digital Forensics Unit, said there are too many questions about how well the cameras work, who has access to the data they collect and whether they can be triggered by noise from a block party . , screaming children or a protest.

“Anytime you have new technology that can do these kinds of things, it’s ripe for abuse. There are legitimate concerns,” Mr Greco said, adding that he was not “anti-technology” and could support the use of sound cameras if certain safeguards were in place. “But as it currently exists, it is problematic.”

Mr. Greco also questioned how the city determined where to install the cameras.

“We have seen time and time again that any kind of monitoring or surveillance is often placed in neighborhoods with a large population of people of color,” he said. “They generally seem to be the victims of all these things.”

The city does not share the locations of the cameras, Mr. Aggarwala said, to ensure that drivers of noisy vehicles do not avoid neighborhoods with cameras and to prevent critics from vandalizing them.

Mr Greco raised concerns about the cameras’ ability to pinpoint noise sources, suggesting some drivers could be wrongly targeted.

“It will be their word to this machine that seemingly has no other oversight,” he said.

By the end of last month, the city had issued 218 violations against drivers of vehicles with modified mufflers and 147 violations against drivers who honked excessively, both violations of the city’s noise law, Mr. Aggarwala said. He noted that more than 90 percent of violations had been upheld by an administrative hearing officer.

Despite some vocal critics, Mr Aggarwala said he had spoken to many residents who supported the technology and several councilors had asked for the cameras to be installed in their districts.

Gale Brewer, the council member who represents much of the Upper West Side, successfully petitioned for a camera to be installed in the neighborhood.

Residents of the area, Ms. Brewer says, constantly complain to her office about noise pollution, especially from traffic and construction. She hopes the cameras “will catch the person, they’ll get a ticket and then they won’t do it again.”

Ms Bronzaft said she was keen to see if the cameras would affect the city’s volume.

“I’m excited to explore any technique that could reduce the noise,” she said. “But you have to make sure you pursue it in a scientific way.”

She added enthusiastically, “Show me the data.”

Claire Fahy reporting contributed.