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Noise Sources

Noise comes from many different sources, each with its own causes, characteristics, and impacts on communities. Understanding the most common sources of disruptive noise helps clarify where problems originate and what strategies can reduce them.

Aircraft
Aircraft noise is a persistent environmental problem that affects health, daily life, and surrounding communities, raising ongoing challenges of mitigation, responsibility, and accountability.

Audible Vehicle Alerts
Audible vehicle alerts contribute to noise in public spaces even though visual confirmation systems can provide the same confirmation.

Backup Alarms
Traditional backup alarms rely on loud, non-directional warning tones that create widespread noise disturbance and confusion, even though quieter, more localized broadband alarms can provide equal or better safety with far less community impact.

Boom Cars
Boom cars use high-powered audio systems that generate excessive low-frequency bass capable of traveling long distances and vibrating through homes.

Car Alarms
Car alarms are a common yet ineffective anti-theft device that causes noise problems.

Data Centers
Large-scale data centers increasingly function as industrial infrastructure, introducing continuous noise into communities.

Electric Vehicles
Electric vehicles incorporate external speakers that introduce engineered noise into the environment.

Engine Brakes
Engine brakes on heavy trucks produce loud, abrupt bursts of noise.

Exhaust Systems
Modified exhaust systems amplify engine noise beyond legal limits and are a major source of unnecessary vehicle noise pollution.

Landscaping Equipment
Leaf blowers are the most frequent source of sustained landscaping noise in residential areas, but other gas-powered landscaping equipment also generates noise and air pollution.

Low-Frequency Sirens
Emergency vehicles increasingly use low-frequency sirens, creating significant disturbance for nearby residents.

Motorcycles
Motorcycles with modified mufflers or aftermarket exhaust systems can exceed legal noise limits.

Off-road Vehicles
ATVs, dirt bikes, and other off-road vehicles generate high noise levels that impact nearby residential areas.