Carlo Schoonebeek published an interesting article in the Vakblad Geluid (no. 1, March 2023) about the approach to loud vehicles by the Dutch G4 municipalities.

Excessive noise from unnecessarily loud motorcycles and cars causes a lot of nuisance in the big cities. Tackling this type of noise nuisance is difficult, which is why the four large Dutch municipalities (G4) are looking for new ways to deal with this.

Residents who experience nuisance from loud vehicles have long been asking the municipalities to do something about the nuisance. The simplification of enforcement seems to be a first step towards a more effective approach to noise nuisance from overly loud vehicles.

Read this article in Vakblad Geluid nr 1 2023 (in Dutch)

About the author: Ing. Carlo A. M. Schoonebeek, who works as a senior noise policy officer at the Emission-free Mobility of Spatial Planning and Sustainability Team of the municipality of Amsterdam. Since 2009 involved in policy development and projects in the field of noise, including road traffic, rail and events. Official leader of the Dutch municipal noise action plan.

At the end of 2021, the Naamsestraat in Leuven was equipped with Munisense noise monitoring stations (sound meters) that provided sound recognition in addition to all usual noise parameters.

The set sound level in combination with defined sound recognition parameters were, after a period for the zero measurement, used as a trigger for testing various nudging techniques. The investigation by the City of Leuven has now been completed.

The nudging messages to the nuisance cause(s) that were projected directly onto the street proved to be most effective. These light projections reduced noise pollution by 30%.

And indicates the City of Leuven "Now we know what we can roll out throughout the city.".

Great to hear from such a satisfied and innovative customer!

Nieuwsblad.be published the article below, with video about this research of sound measurements and sound recognition in combination with nudging in Leuven.

Light projections are the answer to Leuven's night noise problem. This has emerged from research that the city carried out together with, among others, KU Leuven and the police during the past year. Using Munisense sound meters, they tested the impact of various nudging techniques, and only the light projection turned out to really help.

“Leuven is traditionally a real nightlife city. That is nice of course, but it also brings night noise. Those who want to live in the real entertainment center, for example above a café on the Oude Markt, opt for this. However, the night noise also spreads in several streets that are further from the real center. And that is, to say the least, disturbing for those who have to appear at work fresh and cheerful the next day. A bustling city is very valuable, but so is a good night's sleep,” says alderman Thomas Van Oppens (Groen).

In the past, people already worked with posters, or people walking around with T-shirts with the inscription 'Silence'. Now, however, the city decided to play its innovative card and really use smart technology to investigate what could dampen the decibel peaks.

Thursday night
Between August 2021 and November 2022, the city mapped the noise nuisance with seven noise meters between the Collegeberg and the Stuk arts center. They registered peak noises of 70 decibels or more, between 11 pm and 5 am. “The baseline measurement immediately taught us that a lot of night noise is registered, especially in the night from Thursday to Friday. Then Wednesday and Tuesday. The weekend is remarkably quiet.

On Wednesday and Thursday there are peaks of an average of 88 decibels, comparable to the noise of a lawnmower. The noisiest month was October 2022, the start of the academic year. March 2022 also scored poorly. Then the last corona measures were lifted. “In total, we registered more than 1,000 peaks that we can label as night noise,” it sounds.

Video: https://www.robtv.be/nieuws/bi...

No posters
The research did not stop there. “We also investigated which nudging techniques reduced night-time noise. It soon became apparent that hanging posters or stickers on the street had no effect at all,” says Van Oppens.

The police also tested whether they could mean anything by following the sound data and immediately rushing to the scene in the event of a peak, looking for and addressing the 'perpetrators'. “That turned out to be useful when we found them, but it was very labour-intensive and it often involved such a short peak that we no longer found the people involved by the time we arrived,” says student cop Gil Vanommeslaeghe.

‘Here sleeps: Mohammed (5)’
What clearly worked was a light projection. “We projected a message 'silence zone', including names and ages of people who 'sleep here'. Successfully. The projection clearly reduces nuisance, by no less than 30 percent. We do notice that it mainly had an effect up to about 1 o'clock, and less with people who came through the street at 3 o'clock, for example. Perhaps because they are more tired or drunk, and therefore less alert to the message,” says Van Oppens.

The aldermen and all organizations involved speak of a very successful investigation. “We now know when to intervene, and how best to do it,” says Van Oppens. “The investigation is now over and the projection is gone. It is our intention to roll this out in other streets in Leuven and to conduct even more research. Consider, for example, the Tiensestraat or Brusselsestraat, where there are also many complaints of nuisance. In this way we can reduce night noise without the police having to intervene.”

Barcelona, MWC – According to the World Health Organization, noise pollution is the second most significant threat to health in urban areas. In response, European legislation has been developed to reduce noise pollution, but this method of determination is far from the actual perception of noise by residents, leading to time-consuming enforcement and inadequate insight for policymakers. To address this issue, Munisense is proud to introduce its noise monitoring stations and services, which provide deep insight into sources of noise through scalable sound monitoring networks that localize and identify each sound source using AI/ML.

The Munisense noise monitoring stations and services are suitable for a range of noise sources, including industrial noise, traffic noise (road, rail, air), construction noise, wind turbine noise, music events, sports noise, and nightlife disturbance, etc..

Automatic analysis and conversion of the data to meaningful real-time and historical information fills the online dashboards, providing actionable insights. The nuisance can trigger external systems, like lighting, external displays, and video cameras via open data APIs. Municipalities, businesses, and residents have continuous and historical insight into sound exposure, sound quality, noise pollution, and detected sound events in their environment, resulting in a range of benefits:

• Quickly resolving residential noise complaints at low labor cost

• Improving enforcement at over 40% lower cost

• Creating awareness of noise pollution and enabling self-regulation

• Providing high-quality feedback on the effectiveness of policy measures

• Providing understandable insight for residents into the quality of their sound environment and empowering them to participate in discussions with local government on improvements in their living environment

• Facilitating faster and more cost-effective investigations by consulting firms due to the permanent availability of measurement data

• Stimulating innovation through availability of high-quality noise event data via open data interfaces

"It's no surprise that the largest cities in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as numerous consultancy firms and businesses, are using the Munisense noise monitoring services. Thus gaining control over noise pollution and improving the quality of the living environment, in collaboration with their residents," said a representative from Munisense.

Munisense's sound monitoring network offers the lowest cost of ownership of permanent monitoring infrastructure (ZHAGA) and integrates privacy protection (ISO 27001). The system provides real-time control over noise pollution and provides open API’s to integrate noise events into smart city solutions.

We look forward to meet you this week at our booth in Barcelona during MWC-4YFN - Hall 8.1 D23.4

Dutch telecom operators will phase out their 2G/GPRS networks over the next 3 years.

Vodafone and KPN have planned to be the last to switch off their 2G networks on 31-12-2025. Of course we write this with some reservations because the Dutch government will also express its opinion on this and possibly make changes. In other countries, this moment lies further ahead in the future, on 31-12-2030.

However, the 2G coverage for our LV4 and LV5 water meters will decrease somewhat in The Netherlands because T-Mobile will pull the plug on their network in mid-2023.

We now have an excellent successor: the LV8. This works with LTE-M and roaming SIMS from Deutsche Telekom. This future-proof solution can last 25 years.

What now with LV4 and LV5?

No worries! Because our digital service will continue to exist for all working LV4 or LV5 water meters, as long as they will have sufficient 2G coverage.

However, the LV4s are no longer repaired but recycled since the beginning of this year.

We will continue to repair the LV5s for you, until January 1st, 2026.

Furthermore, the batteries for both LV4 and LV5 water meters will remain available until the end of 2025.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this.

Switch to LTE-M

To ensure a smooth transition to the LV8 (with 4G/5G LTE-M), during 2023 a discount will be appliccable on the purchase of the future-proof LV8 when replacing LV4 water meters with serial numbers MSLV4h or MSLV4i or all LV5 water meters.

Contact us at sales@munisense.com. We are happy to advise you on the smartest (and cheapest) way to switch.