Noise In The News: Weekly Round-Up

by Quiet Communities Staff

Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio

Make the sounds of the world into music

How do the sounds in your everyday life inspire you? Cities and Memory has launched its 2026 Spring Project, inviting music lovers around the world to reimagine over 200 field recordings spanning 38 countries — from the ambience of a jazz club in Paris to the singing of humpback whales — as music. Participants select a recording from the project's database and creatively recompose it. Every submission is added to the global sound map and shared with the public as a podcast episode. The deadline to join is June 5.

Mystery Manhattan noise tormenting New Jersey residents

Residents of Edgewater, New Jersey say they've been tormented for weeks by late-night music traveling across the Hudson River. The noise has been keeping families awake from 11:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Saturday nights. Edgewater police pointed to a now-closed West Harlem nightclub as the likely source, but neither law enforcement nor the venue's prior owner can confirm where the noise is coming from, leaving residents with hundreds of complaints filed and little hope for a resolution.

Noise bill passes Colorado Senate

Colorado Public Radio reported this week that a bipartisan bill that would give local governments more authority to issue exemptions to state noise pollution laws passed out of the Colorado Senate. Senate Bill 98 would change state’s 1971 Noise Abatement Act to specifically allow local governments to issue these types of permits. Still, the legislation faces vocal opposition.