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Technology
Keep it down: Knoxville tests noise-monitoring camera
To catch noise ordinance violators, Knoxville is testing the 24 Acoustics “smart” camera, which has a sound level meter with a couple of high-resolution cameras attached to it. (Shutterstock.com)
By JULIE YOUNG | The Municipal
In the novel “1984,” George Orwell introduced the concept of a “Big Brother” watching everything you do. However, in Knoxville, Tenn., he’s more likely to hear you: if, that is, your car is disturbing the peace. To address complaints leveled by those who have grown frustrated by noisy motorists with modified mufflers and drivers who rev their engines at all hours, the city has installed a mobile camera that captures data associated with distinct noise ordinance violations. “Right now, the city is limited to anecdotal complaints and what patrol officers witness,” Carter Hall, Knoxville policy and business innovation manager, said in a press release. “This camera, on loan from 24 Acoustics Ltd., is a promising new tool that can help cities address noise as a quality-of-life issue. We want to conduct a short-term demonstration project to track the frequency and source of the worst noise issues.” Demanding action The impetus for the new initiative came in October 2020 when the leaders of several homeowner’s associations in the downtown 52 THE MUNICIPAL | APRIL 2022
Knoxville area reached out to Mayor Indya Kincannon and asked her to do something about vehicles with illegally modified exhaust systems and loud sound systems that make dinner conversation, Zoom meetings and sleep difficult. “Excessive noise is more than an inconvenience. It keeps residents awake and disrupts workers, and chronic noise pollution creates a risk of negative health effects, both physical and mental,” Deputy to the Mayor Erin Gill, the city’s chief policy officer, said in a press release. While there’s a $50 fine for each infraction, catching violators in the act is easier said than done, which is why the 24 Acoustics smart camera is worth a test run. According to Dave Coles, director at Intelligent Instruments Ltd., and a senior consultant at 24 Acoustics, the noise system he helped to develop is a patented, Class 1-accuracy Intelligent Noise Monitor that includes a sound level meter with a couple of high-resolution cameras attached to it.
