Noise Pollution

One of the major problems for people living in communities of any sort – apartment complexes, close residential neighborhoods, and so on – is the issue of noise control. This problem rises from several mitigating factors: the quality of building materials for sound-proofing, the tolerance levels of individual tenets, but mainly the behavior of the offenders themselves. In many cases, the offense is unintentional, due to the fact that one might not know how well sounds travel through the walls of one’s domicile. On the other hand, a distinct segment of the offending population seems to behave with careless disregard for the rights of fellow residents. This is the most serious aspect of noise control, and the hardest to address.

Often, in group living situations, there is a legal document which binds and mediates the terms of the arrangement. A lease or contract usually spells out what residents can or cannot do in their living space; in certain circumstances, such as specialized housing for students, clauses concerning acceptable noise levels dictate how and when noise levels will be tolerated. However, many persons are unused to reading carefully the terms of such documents, or may not understand them when they do, and violation of such terms is thus often a matter of ignorance of the stipulations of the agreement. This sort of transgression is easy to remedy by simply calling the resident’s attention to the terms and indicating that signing the contract constitutes acceptance of the rules. This is most efficacious if there are terms of punishment spelled out in the document as well.

However, there remain individuals who may or may not be aware of such rules, but adopt an attitude of entitlement with regard to their behavior. T...

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... multi-unit apartment buildings; not only do they contribute to the sturdiness and safety of the domicile, but they filter out unwanted noise and promote peaceful cohabitation. As tangential as it may seem, also, such environmental stresses as water leaks, air pollution in urban locations, or malfunctioning climate control add to general stress levels; residents suffering from outside stressors are often less charitable towards otherwise amenable levels of sound from neighbors.

Just as outside stresses can augment the irritation level created by excessive sound, so can inconsiderate noise create general stress and discomfort among people living in close quarters. While it may sound petty to individuals who have never had to deal with distracting sound in their homes, solving this problem contributes to the overall well-being and harmony of group living situations.