The City of Newport, Rhode Island (USA) faced significant challenges with traffic noise pollution. It formed both a nuisance, and a quality-of-life issue with serious health concerns for residents. The city sought a mobile solution that would enable them to solve the issue effectively, as the historical town gets flooded with millions of tourists each summer.
– Quote Jim O’Halloran, former IT Director for Newport
Traffic noise is especially challenging for Newport, because of the many old colonial buildings, often with poor insulation. The historical town attracts millions of tourists each year, who flood the town during the summer months. This leads to a seasonal issue of intentionally loud cars and motorcycles, leaving residents to struggle with the effects of noise pollution.
Due to the seasonal nature of the traffic noise problems, the City of Newport needed a mobile solution that could be moved to monitor the cities traffic hotspots.
In late 2022, Newport was introduced to Sorama, offering a solution using acoustic cameras. The project officially began in April 2023. Sorama’s technology stood out due to its superior physical design and a business model that aligned with Newport’s values.
Rather than focusing on automated enforcement, Sorama allowed the city to review each potential violation manually, ensuring fairness and avoiding unnecessary fines. When a warning is given and ignored, the next violation will result in a fine. Even though Newport’s main concern is reducing traffic noise and improving quality of life, these fines also help the city achieve a timely return on investment.
Newport’s historical and congested urban layout required a flexible and non-intrusive solution. Sorama’s system offered versatility with options for both pole-mounted and mobile units. Newport opted to mount the sound cameras on small, mobile trailers, which can be moved to different locations, especially during the busy summer months. This mobile approach was particularly well-received by both the city administration and residents.
Implementing this system meant adopting a new technology. The city’s team, including police, technology staff, and administrators, adapted quickly to the unique aspects of acoustic monitoring. The Noise camera is easy to install and set up, requiring only basic understanding of acoustic visualization. Privacy and legal considerations were also critical, as the data collected needed to be secure and admissible in court.
The system generates easy-to-review sound camera footage of the offending vehicle including localization of the noise source, date & time and measured decibel-levels.
The city worked out a solution by employing retired police officers, who are knowledgeable and certified, to review the footage while not adding more duties to active police officers. This approach allowed Newport to maintain public safety while effectively managing the noise enforcement program.
– Quote Jim O’Halloran, former IT Director for Newport
The city of Newport, Rhode Island, turned to Sorama for help in reducing the noise complaints in the popular vacation destination.
The sound camera implementation exceeded expectations, with positive feedback from residents who appreciated the effective approach to reduce traffic noise.
The technology proved highly effective in identifying violations, providing clear evidence, and allowing the city to adjust its noise ordinance based on accurate data collected during the proof-of-concept period. The city of Newport is already expanding the project and installing more sound cameras.
Please watch this video article, created by Kurrant about the Noise camera solution in Newport, Rhode Island USA.
To monitor, detect and enforce overly loud vehicles, we started a partnership between 3 innovative European companies that joined forces.
Sorama’s technology acts as the “ears” of the solution with the L642 Acoustic camera. It detects, locates and visualizes noise from traffic, in the specific frequency where vehicles are deemed as loud.
This information is forwared to the IP-camera of Axis Communications equiped with CAMMRA / CAMMRA AI for License plate, car model, colour and type recognition.
Finally, FF Data factory software by FF Group is there for customers to interpret data for awarness, enforcement or improvements to reduce traffic noise.
The Sorama L642V Acoustic Monitor forms the foundation of the loud vehicle detection solution. The traffic noise monitoring device is equipped with 64 MEMS microphones and an integrated camera.
Traffic noise monioring is one of the most common needs in cities. Therefore, reducing traffic noise can have a great positive impact on the livability within cities. Environmental noise monitoring for traffic allows you to detect loud vehicles and visualize the noise issue.
Our team is happy to discuss your situation and explain the benefits for your solution. Get in touch with us or schedule an (online) live demo.
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