Monday, April 25, 2011

Noise reduction

Just a thought, so noise/sound is a wave frequency. So technically, if we can have an inverse wave, that can cancel it out right?

If we cover up the site after we work on them, it will definitely help with reducing the amount of dust blown into the air.

Traffic, can we somehow perhaps encourage carpooling to at least reduce the amount of traffic first? I will look at the sites closer and see how the traffic flows, how to re-route traffic.

Rainwater: i think we will definitely want to identify the lowest point in the site first to see where the water will go to? And then from where the lowest point is, the strategy may be different?

11 comments:

  1. The thing about frequencies is that they modulate (change). You'd need to have something (BIG) that dynamically adjusted in realtime to changes in pitch and amplitude. That's like... hardcore military sci-fi stuff.

    I like the idea of covering up sections of the track not currently being worked up with tarp though, and the carpooling idea. I was actually thinking that maybe we could designate an HOV lane (high occupancy vehicle lane) where possible to encourage that. It might cause even more congestion though >_>

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  2. You don't necessarily need high-grade equipment to do what Amanda is talking about. Actually, all you need is a way to generate white noise. A lot of offices are doing this these days. They either allow their hvac equipment to run a little louder or sometimes they even play white noise over speakers. This dampens the random sounds of phones and voices.

    What I'm not sure about is if this would work at the scale and volume (in regards to sound) of a construction site, or if it would work outdooors. Maybe we can find a way?

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  3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_noise

    White noise in office spaces is typically used to mask high frequency noise. In fact, loud white noise Cuts Through other noise (some ambulances use it), so instead of a loud regular noise, you just have loud white noise. I doubt it would do very much to dampen heavy construction equipment moving around.

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  4. Ah, I see. Yeah, loud white noise could be equally obnoxious haha.

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  5. I had a similar idea to Amanda's at one point too, so I had time to think on it.

    Noise will probably be most effectively mitigated through purchasing decisions (making noise a criteria for purchasing or renting), construction management (allowing rest phases between the use of Heavy equipment) and barriers (a la Jess's proposal for the green barriers for sound absorption)

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  7. Yea I also saw additions for equipments to reduce the noise. It is probably most effective to decrease the noise from the source. Anything after may not be as effective.

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  8. Speaking of construction management. I see potential here to work with the the idea of creating events that keeps coming up.

    What if we were to schedule certain parts of the conrstuction as big community events, and invite the public to see and learn? We could find a way to make it informative and fun. That way people have a reason to keep track of the process, and if they are fascinated with what's going on, they're are more likely to be tolerant of the headaches caused by construction.

    It doesn't have to be lectures, music or dance competitions necessarily. Maybe the construction alone can be enough. Sort of like a groundbreaking ceremony only it happens everytime any major step in the construction is about to occur.

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  9. I definitely think that Dave's suggestion is great. I think it makes the residents more understanding in the effects of construction when they are included and part of it.

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