Environmental health officers can now use live Internet connectivity to remotely monitor investigation progress with Bruel & Kjaer’s ‘Matron Live’ Neighbour Noise Monitoring system.
Using unattended noise monitoring equipment for investigating persistent noise complaints has been standard practice for many years with local government noise control officers.
The results, however, may sometimes be invalid due to operator error, complainant tampering, incorrect setup or equipment damage – all of which can go undetected until the equipment’s recovered seven days later and it is too late to correct.
Arranging a repeat investigation is time consuming, costly and frustrating for both the officer and the complainant.
Live Internet connectivity, with the installed equipment to monitor progress of the investigation, is an entirely new practice which keeps the noise officer in touch with their equipment 24/7, by sending them regular e-mail updates of measurement status, instant e-mail alerts when tampering or damage occur and real-time display via the internet of noise level trends from the installed equipment.
The low cost and wide availability of wireless Internet coverage throughout the UK presents local authorities with an opportunity to reduce the cost of noise nuisance investigations by facilitating a ‘get it right first time’ approach when using web-based noise nuisance monitoring equipment.
Existing users of the Bruel & Kjaer Matron systems can upgrade their equipment to Matron Live with a minor hardware upgrade. This allows all Matron users to benefit from the new, smarter technology, helping to minimise their noise nuisance workload.