Leisure noise management in Montevideo (Uruguay) : An easier-to control regulation.

Abstract

Leisure noise management is a major concern in Montevideo. Although typical conflicts over sound insulation issues are less frequent, new problems have arisen in the last decade; social noise is one of them. It refers to outdoors noise caused by human voices speaking, singing or shouting, music from ‘boom-cars’ and motorcycles, noisy exhausts, horns and other anthropogenic noises. Its proper management falls on the leisure place, since it is due to the presence of those noisy people outside. The 2022 proposal to update the municipal regulations involves a new way of control: a set of acoustic tests and protocolized measurements outside the premises and/or in neighbouring homes will be the basis for defining the closing time of each premises. Thus, municipal inspectors will only have to carry out a control measurement in situ to find out if the premises work correctly or not. All the measurements, the processing of the results and their interpretation are protocolized in detailed instructions of public access, so they will be known by all parties (premises managers, neighbours and authorities). Although municipal management is expected to be greatly facilitated, in some cases it will be unavoidable to carry out measurements inside dwellings.