A season for complaints: how does weather affect noise complaints between neighbours?

Abstract

AbstractBoth built environment and natural environment have physiological and psychological effect on human behaviour, which potentially affect their sensitivity and tolerance to surrounding noise, and leads to annoyance, nuisance, distress or overt actions and aggressive behaviours such as noise complaints to people living neighborly. This study aims to explore the extent weather conditions affect the prevalence of noise complaints between neighbours mediated through neighbourhood built environment. Using Brisbane, Australia as a study case, we draw on the large-scale administrative dataset in 2016 to explore the monthly and seasonal variations of noise complaints between neighbours, and employ a step-wise multiple regression to analyse the extent weather factors affect noise complaints. Our findings show that neighbours largely complain about noise made by animals and such complaints most frequently appear in March to May, the autumn season in the South Hemisphere. Built environment plays a primary role on noise complaints and culturally diverse suburbs with less green space tend to have a higher likelihood of neighbour complaints in spring and summer; such a likelihood is further increased by a higher level of wind, humidity, and temperature in a yearly frame. However, the effect of weather on animal and non-animal related noise complaints in different seasons is less consistent. Our findings, to a certain degree, reveal that weather conditions may serve as a psychological moderator to change people’s tolerance and sensitivity on noise, alter their routine activities and exposure to noise sources, and further affect the likelihood of imposing noise complaints between neighbours.