If education fails to win either improved product design, or legislation, the next step is direct protest. This is called Complaining.
The public often asks whether or not it is worthwhile to complain. The answer is an absolute yes. Complaints are a significant indicator to the noisemaker. Though complaints can be manipulated, can be made to show an increase or decrease for the same noise source, the sophisticated noisemaker knows that individual reactions are potential threats. Noise control experts tell noisemakers to watch for the following community behavior: a letter of complaint to officials, a telephone call to the operator of the noise source, or the initiation of legal action to suppress the noise-producing activity. How far an individual or the community will go, is a barometer of how much noise the receiver will take. It is therefore important to register some form of protest when faced with a serious noise problem. Students of Queen Elizabeth College in Kensington, England, reacted militantly, but without violence, when construction noise kept them from studying for their exams; they simply went on strike.
It is difficult to assess complaints as a noise indicator, because the lack of complaints may have little to do with the seriousness of the noise in question. Lack of complaints may merely mean a lack of leadership, or a lack of the ability to communicate with the noisemaker or government. A lack of complaint may also be the result of individuals' attitudes toward complaining.
The complexity of complaints as a means of evaluating a noise problem was noted in the Oklahoma City sonic boom tests, where the number of complaints was high, but the statistical percentage low. An evaluation of the complaint level was made in a government report on the tests:
"This relatively low complaint level at Oklahoma City was due primarily to three factors. First, there was widespread ignorance about where to complain; 70 per cent of all respondents expressed such ignorance in the interview. Second, there was a general feeling of futility in the usefulness of complaining; only 4 per cent felt there was a 'very good' chance of doing something about the booms, and another 10 per cent felt there was even a 'good' chance to do something. Third, the general pattern of complaining about local problems was low in Oklahoma City; only about a fourth of all people felt like complaining about a serious local problem when they had one.
"Only one in every twelve annoyed persons actually expressed their feelings to the FAA complaint center."
Don't complain in generalities. Know your target: be specific. Develop a "noise intrusion profile." What is causing the noise? At what time of day? Who owns the source? Who operates it? Any regulations violated? In the case of aviation noise, plane spotters should have detailed data on type of plane, time of day, identification number, distance above buildings, and so forth.
Try to be specific about the impact of that noise source. What kind of structures are being hit: homes, hospitals, schools, churches? How many elderly, how many children? If schools are near an airport, how much classroom time is lost? One town effectively organized to stop a proposed private airport by producing evidence of how the resulting noise would impair classroom instruction. A state legislative committee was visibly impressed by a presentation which showed what the noise levels would be at the various schools and how this would interfere with speech communication.
Petitions—most effective if notarized—can provide useful statistics when taking a neighbor-noise complaint to court. Make sure that the press receives a copy of any letters of protest or petitions sent to government officials and/or noisemakers.
It is an art in itself to know where to complain and what government agency to complain to. Here is a partial list for New York City, just as one example:
| Noise Source | Agency |
|---|---|
| Over-all | Central Complaint Bureau Environmental Protection Administration |
| Moving buses | Metropolitan Transportation Authority |
| Idling buses and trucks | Department of Air Pollution Control |
| Building construction (between 6:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M. except with emergency permit) | Central Complaint Section, Buildings Department |
| Utility construction (between 11:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M.) | Construction Division, Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity |
| Private garbage collection (between 11:00 P.M. and A.M.) | Trade Waste Division, Department of Licenses* |
| Public garbage collection | Sanitation Department |
| Helicopters | Noise Abatement Officer, Federal Aviation Administration |
| Jets taking off | Kennedy and LaGuardia Operations: Port of New York Authority |
| Jets landing | Noise Abatement Officer, Federal Aviation Administration |
| Noise from loudspeakers, sound trucks, and other electrically amplified devices | Police Department |
| Neighbors After 11:00 P.M. Before 11:00 P.M. |
Police Department Your landlord |
| Restaurant air conditioners | Sanitary Inspection Office, Health Department |
| * For a cease and desist order, supply the name of the carting company and the time and date they were making the noise. | |
In addition to complaining to administrative and police agencies, by all means let your local, state, and Congressional legislators know what is going on. Your city councilman may be hearing the same noise you hear, but accepting it as the price of progress.
The legal attack should include those government agencies holding responsibility for protecting the health and safety of workers. Government officials should be sued for not moving to require reasonable and adequate protection for workers in extremely noisy factories and computerized offices. Work sites above 85 decibels should be prima facie evidence of neglect.
At some point the public must realize it has nothing to lose but its pains. Protest must become militant: non-violent, but persistent.
Petitions must be replaced with peaceful demonstrations. Professor Amitai Etzioni, a member of the President's National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, pointed out that many "respectable" members of the community were resorting to demonstrations as a political weapon: teachers, doctors, clergymen, and even police.
Picket to get attention. Picket the right targets. In the case of construction noise there is the contractor, the sponsoring developer or government agency, the manufacturer of the equipment, the manufacturer of the noisy components used to assemble that equipment. For good measure, picket City Hall and the medical societies.
Help the helpless. Picket construction and jet noise at hospitals and schools.
If desperate, try what others have tried: a noise for a noise. In England, citizens called Members of Parliament in the early hours of the morning to tell them they might be interested in knowing that there was jet noise in the land.
Check with your attorneys to clarify the legal aspects of this type of action. It is justified if in spite of the existence of silencing techniques the noisemaker continues to deprive human beings of their basic rights to sleep and rest and privacy. Make it cheaper and easier for a contractor to use muffled equipment than to withstand your pressures.
Make up a list of who to heckle about the noise. This will include manufacturers, distributors (stores, etc.), civic organizations, politicians. If the noise source is a brand name product, look up the name of the corporation president (your library can help you). Write to him. Send him petitions. Let the press know of your action. Do the same if the problem is one of government irresponsibility. The names of city officials will also be available in your library. The League of Women Voters can be helpful in identifying elected officials on all levels of government.
Any or all of the above measures are justifiable. Nonetheless, some can lead to arrest. This must be expected and accepted. The courts, however, should recognize the differences between destructive protests and protests of social value.
If workers want to preserve their hearing and general health, they may have to take similar steps. They must find a doctor brave enough and compassionate enough to start the battle for less occupational noise. Workers should demand that their unions press for work environments that minimize hearing damage and extra-auditory stress.
Since most of the burden for noise control is thrown on local government, there should be equivalents of "Nader's Raiders" to investigate the operations of city government from the mayor's office on down. These investigations will determine the legal or declared responsibility of each agency, and check its track record. This type of investigation will uncover little omissions, such as the omission of a municipality to have the decibel machinery necessary to back up a zoning resolution. It will also lead to the possibility of lawsuits against mayors and police and license and other commissioners for failing to act according to the rules.