(212) 925-1365
19 Mercer Street, New York, NY
(212) 925-1365
19 Mercer Street, New York, NY
Our calibrated recordings have proven to be powerful evidence of noise disturbances in court. They can show a pattern of nuisance in a way that a single visit from an acoustic consultant cannot.
When played back in court they allow the judge to experience the noise personally, at the same level that it occurred in our client's premises. This gives the judge a better sense of the problem than can be conveyed by a graph or numbers on a page.
Here are two recent cases in which our recordings were instrumental in helping our clients win:
Matter of Filippini
Yamilee Bongo v. Santa Ana Restaurant
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We get calls like this all the time.
An upstairs neighbor stomps around, moves furniture and vacuums in the middle of the night. The conga (or trumpet, or piano) player next door practices for an hour a day, 
but each day at a different time. A water pump makes a loud hum at random intervals. The restaurant downstairs plays loud music, but only when there's a party. The opera teacher upstairs sings whenever the spirit moves her. And of course, a family with "active" children just moved in upstairs.
You can't "teleport" an acoustic consultant or DEP inspector into your apartment to catch such short-lived
Bass:
Is "bass" or "vibration" your problem? The DEP's simple "dBA-only" meters won't measure that kind of noise adequately.
Click for more details.
noises when they happen. And even if you could, you would only have documented one occurrence. This is very important. Residents and even businesses are given a certain amount of leeway for noise that happens only very rarely.
In one case we know of, co-op residents lost their case against a restaurant because the consultant they hired (not Acoustilog) made their only measurements on New Year's Eve. One party, even a loud one, does not demonstrate a "pattern of nuisance".
Your noise problem may indeed be a recurring one, but unless you can present convincing evidence to demonstrate that, your opponents can claim that you have "cherry picked" one unusually bad incident.
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We have assembled a tamper-proof calibrated recording system for situations like this. The studio-quality digital audio recorder records sound from one or more calibrated microphones and vibration sensors. Depending on the number of channels, the system can record for up to a full month 24/7. Our clients can engage the "Record": function whenever they hear the noise of interest. In fact, the system will actually record sound starting 30 seconds before the "Record" button is pressed, allowing the user to "catch" even very short-lived sounds. The system can even discriminate against noises coming from other sources to show where the sound is coming from.
This system not only allows us to catch unpredictable noises, it can document a pattern of dozens or even hundreds of occurrences; exactly the strong evidence you will need.
The NY State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, has just issued a decision in favor of a client of ours, based on evidence obtained with our Calibrated Recording System.
Read about it here.
Most of the people who call us have tried to make phone recordings of the noises they hear ... unsuccessfully. There are many reasons why this does not work.
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The system is calibrated on site. This allows us to play back the audio in court at the same level that it was heard in the client's home. This provides very convincing evidence. The judge doesn't have to imagine what "100Hz at 64 dB" sounds like; we can demonstrate it. The date and exact time of each occurrence is also documented on the recording, allowing time-correlated graphs of the noise disturbance to be made.
Please visit our Testimonial Letters page, which includes letters from Residential Clients.
Questions?
Please call us at:
212-925-1365
or write to us using our Contact Form.
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