Noise In The News: Weekly Round-Up
by Quiet Communities Staff
Photo credit: Andrea Piacquadio
NYC noise complaints
New York City is a notoriously noisy place, but 2025 showed a slight improvement in complaints, dropping to 636,000 from 738,000 in 2024. Most complaints involved loud music and partying, while others concerned construction and vehicle noise. In response, the DEP will require large construction sites operating after hours to install noise-monitoring devices, and it will expand the city’s network of anti-noise cameras aimed at illegally modified vehicles. Fines range from $800 to $2,500 for repeat offenders.
New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf is getting too noisy for marine life
A new piece from the University of Auckland details how shipping and boating have bombarded the Hauraki Gulf, making it harder for fish, dolphins, and even seagrass to communicate and thrive. Professors Craig Radford and Dr. Louise Wilson are calling for quiet zones in marine reserves — simple measures like speed restrictions and seasonal limits that give sea life room to recover. On Earth Month, this serves as a timely reminder that noise pollution doesn't stop at the shoreline.
Whales go quiet during noisy underwater surveys
New research from the University of Southampton found that fin whale calls dropped by as much as 50% during seismic surveys used to locate oil and gas reserves. As Phys.org reports, these air gun blasts are among the loudest human-made noises in the ocean and can travel over 3,000 kilometers. Researchers are urging seasonal restrictions, exclusion zones, and quieter exploration techniques as solutions to protect whale communication and habitat along key migratory corridors.
This Earth Day, these stories make the case clear: protecting the planet means protecting it from harmful noise, both on land and under the sea.
