Environmental Noise

Upgrade your DAT Noise Nuisance Recorder

Environmental Noise, News & Press Releases, Noise Monitoring Equipment, Noise Nuisance No Responses »

Mar 282013

tcd-d8-dat-recorder If you’ve got a DAT Recorder based Noise Nuisance Kit, now’s the ideal time to trade it in and upgrade to the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder.

Here are a few of the benefits of upgrading from a DAT based system to the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder:

Noise levels and audio recordings are automatically synchronised together into one simple package
Play back the audio recordings from within the NoiseTools software and view the noise levels at the same time
No more listening to hours of tapes to find the important recordings or storing boxes of old recordings
Simple to use and setup – The Trojan is supplied as a complete system with no options or accessories needed
Very wide measurement range with high quality audio recording so there’s no risk of overload or under-range during measurements
Install the software onto as many PC’s as needed with no dongles, keys or licencing restrictions
Trade-in your old kit against a new Trojan system and get the very latest technology
Use the sound level meter in the kit for handheld environmental noise monitoring

The Trojan has been designed from the ground up to give you all of the functions and features that you need from a Noise Nuisance Recorder and here’s just a few of the key features and functions:

Designed specifically for EHO’s & housing associations to monitor noise nuisance
Complete class 1 noise nuisance recording system
Simple setup & operation
Wireless remote controls provided
Measurement of all parameters
High quality, High resolution uncompressed audio recording
Licence-Free software with free lifetime updates, no dongles or installation limits
Automatic startup & restart
Pre and post trigger audio control with data logging down to 10m/sec
Automatic audio calibration allows recordings to be played back at the correct volume
Designed manufactured and supported in the UK
Detachable class 1 environmental noise measurement sound level meter

To find out more about the Trojan or to discuss a trade-in against your current equipment, call us on 0845 230 2434 or click the “Any Questions” button below and let us know how we can help.

Find out more about the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder

Environmental Noise, News & Press Releases, Noise Meters, Noise Nuisance, Product News No Responses »

Mar 072013

Designed to meet the needs of Environmental Health Officers, Housing Associations and anyone who needs to measure, monitor and record noise nuisance, the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder is both simple to use and easy to deploy.

After consultation with existing customers and users of noise nuisance recorders, we’ve included a range of standard features to help ensure you get the best from the equipment.

Features designed around our customers needs…

When we were designing the Trojan, we spoke to both existing and potential users to find out what was really important and which features they through were essential. The Trojan has been designed using these comments and feedback and on the following pages there are a few of the key points that we’ve incorporated following this research.

vTrojan Noise Nuisance Recorder

Quick, simple and easy to set up

When you are deploying a noise nuisance recorder, it’s vital to know that you’ll get good quality recordings and noise measurement data. With the Trojan, there’s no need for step-by-step instructions as it’s just a matter of plug in, calibrate and you’re ready to go. If you forget to press start, the instrument will automatically start measuring after 10 minutes.

Wireless remote control
It may seem a simple thing, but having a wireless remote control was the most common request that came out of our research. If your user has limited mobility or if the noise nuisance recorder is placed in a different room, being able to start and stop the kit without having to run back to the box can be very useful.

It can often be the difference between getting a useful, good quality recording and no recording at all. The Trojan is supplied with 2 remote controls, either of which can be used with the kit, and we can supply additional units if you need to replace or add more and we can supply a wired hand switch if needed. Continue reading »

Cirrus Research tunes into music and entertainment

Environmental Noise, News & Press Releases, Noise at Work No Responses »

Mar 072013

doseBadge Noise Dosimeter in use Cirrus Research was pleased to sponsor Southampton Solent University’s first conference on Noise in Music and Entertainment which was held on March 5^th.

This one day conference hosted by Solent Acoustics™, the professional acoustics consultancy arm of Southampton Solent University was designed to benefit anybody who may be affected by, or needes to improve their understanding of noise from entertainment, whether planning an event, managing premises, providing technical services or dealing with compliance and regulation.

The one day event featured four presentations from industry experts and an industry-specific trade show. The presentations were given by Andy Shiach of Advanced Communication Solutions, Jim Griffiths of Vanguardia consulting, Chris Turner of Adnitt Acoustics and Michael White of Test Valley Borough Council.

Commenting on the sponsorship, James Tingay, Group Marketing Manager at Cirrus Research said:

“Cirrus Research sees the Noise in Music and Entertainment Conference as a great opportunity to network with key figures in the music and entertainment business. We are very much looking forward to meeting visitors to the event who are as passionate and committed as we are to ensure that levels of noise at music and entertainment events don’t adversely affect those involved in the industry or people who wish to enjoy it.

James continued: “Cirrus Research offers a range of products that help to protect musicians, sound engineers, event organisers and a wide range of people involved in the music and entertainment world. Our product range includes the Optimus noise level meters and doseBadge Noise Dosemeter.”

Find the best sound level meter for you with our new optimus selector

Environmental Noise, News & Press Releases, Noise Measurement, Support, usa No Responses »

Nov 092012

optimus product selector

Our optimus sound level meters cover a wide range of applications and have a varied selection of features which means that there’s an optimus sound level meter that is ideal for every application.

But the question is often asked “Which one should I choose?”.

To help you find the best instrument for your application or needs, we’ve created a simple product selector that allows you to choose the features that you need, such as Leq, 1:1 Octave Bands or Audio Recording.

The selector will then remove the instruments that don’t meet your criteria and you can choose from the recommendations.

Once you’ve chosen the instrument that you are interested in, you can see some detailed information about the product and then either call us or use the online form to request more details.

Why not try the optimus selector at www.cirrusresearch.co.uk/selector and find the ideal optimus sound level meter for you.

PTB Type Approval for the optimus sound level meters

Calibration, Environmental Noise, Information, News & Press Releases, Product News No Responses »

Jul 272012

We are delighted to announce that the optimus red and optimus green sound level meters have been Type Approved by the PTB in Germany!

The Class 1 CR:171 (optimus green) and Class 1 CR:161 (optimus red) sound level meters have been type approved by the PTB to the latest standards for sound level meters, DIN EN 61672, which is the same as IEC 61672.

The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the German National Metrology Institute and is recognised as one of the most prestigious national test laboratories in the world.

After a series of long and detailed tests, which include both electrical and acoustic verification, approval numbers have been issued for the Class 1 optimus green and optimus red instruments as follows:

CR:161A, CR:161B & CR:161C
CR:1710, CR:171A & CR:171B

The approval numbers are:

21.21 / 12.02 for the CR:171 series (CR:1710, CR:171A & CR:171B)

21.21 / 12.03 for the CR:161 series (CR:161A, CR:161B & CR:161C)

The standards that were used in the verification were:

DIN EN 61672-1: 2003-10: „Elektroakustik – Schallpegelmesser – Teil 1: Anforderungen“
DIN EN 61672-2: 2004-08: „Elektroakustik – Schallpegelmesser – Teil 2: Baumusterprüfungen“
DIN 45657: 2005-03: „Schallpegelmesser – Zusatzanforderungen für besondere Messaufgaben“

What is Type Approval?

Type Approval, or Pattern Approval, is a method where a test laboratory such as the PTB tests an instrument against a set of standard tests to ensure that it meets the performance claims of the manufacturer.

The optimus sound level meters have been designed to meet the requirements of IEC 61672 (and the corresponding EN and DIN standards) and so these independent test have been carried out to verify that that the instruments do indeed meet these requirements. The IEC 61672 standard is in three parts.

The first of these is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 1: Specifications and this defines the performance specifications for the instruments.

Part 2 is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 2: Pattern evaluation tests and this defines the tests and checks that a laboratory must carry out when they are testing an instrument for Type or Pattern approval. These are the tests that the PTB have been carrying out on the optimus sound level meters.

Part 3 is known as Electroacoustics – Sound level meters – Part 3: Periodic tests and this defines the tests that should be carried out during a Periodic or routine verification.

This post has more information about the different sections of the IEC 61672 standard.

Case Study - Newham Council uses the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder to monitor noise nuisance complaints

Articles, Environmental Noise, Information, News & Press Releases, Noise Nuisance No Responses »

Jun 112012

Newham Borough, located just five miles east of the City of London, has experienced huge amounts of regeneration and redevelopment over the last twenty years through government investment schemes for Newham and the surrounding boroughs.

Muhammad Islam, Senior Environmental Health Officer at Newham Council’s Noise and Nuisance team, explains: “The diversity within Newham Borough makes it a vibrant and exciting place to live.

However, like all boroughs, we have our challenges such as noise nuisance complaints – of which we get on average, around 155 a week from residents.”

To help obtain vital information and record concise and clear data to support noise nuisance cases, Newham Council has recently invested in two Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorders from Cirrus Research.

The Trojan helps local authorities and housing associations provide quick and accurate noise measurements to support noise nuisance cases and it is supplied in a discreet backpack, allowing the officer who installs the Trojan to leave with the same backpack, so as not to arouse the suspicion of neighbours.

Read more about how the Cirrus Trojan is helping Newham Council monitor and manage noise nuisance in our new Case Study. Click here to download the PDF.

AuditStore - Data verification on the optimus sound level meters

Environmental Noise, Information, New Products, News & Press Releases, Noise Measurement, Product News No Responses »

May 142012

What is AuditStore™?

AuditStore is a new technology that helps you to ensure that your noise measurement data is valid and trustworthy. AuditStore allows the user to verify measurements that have been downloaded to the NoiseTools software against a secure data store within the instrument.

This allows the user to present data with confidence and to have the facility to verify that the measurement data has not been modified or adjusted.

The AuditStore technology is available, as standard, on all optimus sound level meters with firmware version 2.4 or later (March 2012). Downloading the AuditStore data requires NoiseTools version 1.4 or later.

How is AuditStore useful?

When you make a noise measurement with your optimus, the information about the noise levels are stored in your sound level meter.

When you download this information your PC using the NoiseTools software, the data is stored in a database. This information can be used to print out a report which may be used to show compliance with standards or regulations. When you present the data as a printout or a PDF for example, how can you guarantee that the information shown is the same as that which was originally measured by the sound level meter?

With the software that is available on PC’s, it is possible to manpiulate data or create what appears to be a noise measurement report with data that has been changed.

The AuditStore function allows you to verify your measurements and to state that the information being presented is true and has not been adjusted in any way.

Cirrus appoints EMS as its new distributor for Ireland

Environmental Noise, News & Press Releases, Product News No Responses »

May 112012

Cirrus is delighted to announce the appointment of EMS Environmental Monitoring Systems Ltd as its official distributor for Ireland.

Export Sales Manager Jonathan Phillips commented “We are pleased to welcome EMS to the Cirrus distributor family and in particular we would like to welcome EMS Director Chris Searles. Chris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in instrumentation and worked with Cirrus for many years at Mason Technology.”

EMS will provide sales and support for Cirrus noise measurement instruments in Ireland which compliments their range of Air Quality, Gas, VOC, Vibration and Emissions monitoring equipment.

Along with Cirrus, EMS represents Environics, Gfg Europe, NEO, Sensidyne Gillian, Sick Optic, Signal Instruments and Thermo Fisher Environmental.

Contact details for EMS can be found on their website at www.emsys.ie and Chris can be contact on (353) 1 885 3954.

Tonal noise analysis with the optimus green sound level meters

Environmental Noise, Information, Noise Measurement, Product News, Sound Level Meters, usa No Responses »

Mar 232012

Just as a given noise is characterised by the way in which it varies over time, it is usually made up of a wide range of different frequencies. The spread of noise energy across the audible frequency spectrum (about 20Hz–20kHz) is one factor that helps to make it identifiable to the human ear.

Often the sound energy from a noise source will be spread over a wide band of frequencies. Sometimes a noise source will emit noise that is concentrated in a narrow part of the spectrum or contains a high proportion of energy at a single frequency (a “pure tone”). This is referred to as tonal noise.

Examples of sources that can cause tonal noise include fans, compressors, motors and transformers. Most have moving parts that rotate or vibrate at a given, audible frequency. Mains electrical power is a common source of tonal noise, for example, in transformers causing them to vibrate at 100Hz.

Tonal noise is generally more noticeable and more annoying than non-tonal noise of the same level. To take this into account tonal noise can be penalised in assessments of noise impact, usually by adding 5 dB to the measured level.

Whilst tonality can be judged subjectively, it will often be useful to measure it. This can be achieved through octave band, 1/3^rd octave band or by narrow–band analysis.

BS 7445:1991 Part 2 – Description and measurement of environmental noise, suggests that if the level in one 1/3^rd octave band is 5dB or more higher than the level in the two adjacent bands, then an audible tone is likely to be perceived.

The Tonal Noise feature in the new CR:171C and CR:172C optimus green sound level meters can be used to assess this type of noise using one of two different methods. The first method uses the ISO 1996-2:2007 Simplified method (Annex D) and the second uses the Cirrus improved method. There are several limitations with the Simplified Method described in ISO 1996-2:2007 Annex D.

These are:

The frequency bands used are limited to 25Hz to 10kHz
Only A-weighted data is used
Tones between bands may not be detected accurately

The Cirrus improved method takes the ISO 1996-2:2007 as its basis and adds the following features:

Using all of the frequency bands available in the instrument (6.3Hz to 20kHz)
Detecting tones between bands
Using both A and Z weighted spectra
Allowing the thresholds for detection to be adjusted within the NoiseTools software

One of the problems with the ISO method is that in theory, a pure tone at the exact frequency between 2 bands will have its energy equally spread across them, making their value 3dB lower than the value a band would have had if the tone was at its centre frequency.

The Cirrus improved methods checks if 2 bands are within 3 dB, and if they are both higher than their neighbours by the defined thresholds. The highest of those 2 bands is defined as the tone.

When a tone is detected using the Cirrus improved method, the appropriate band is highlighted on both the A and Z weighted screens.

For more information about the Tonal Noise Detection features available in the CR:171C and CR:172C optimus green sound level meters, please refer to Technical Note 32 Tonal noise detection with the optimus sound level meters, Cirrus Research plc 2012

References:

Technical Note 32: Tonal noise detection with the optimus sound level meters, Cirrus Research plc 2012

ISO 1996-2:2007 Acoustics — Description, measurement and assessment of environmental noise — Part 2: Determination of environmental noise levels

Older Entries

NoiseNews

Upgrade your DAT Noise Nuisance Recorder

Find out more about the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder

Cirrus Research tunes into music and entertainment

Find the best sound level meter for you with our new optimus selector

PTB Type Approval for the optimus sound level meters

Case Study - Newham Council uses the Trojan Noise Nuisance Recorder to monitor noise nuisance complaints

AuditStore - Data verification on the optimus sound level meters

Cirrus appoints EMS as its new distributor for Ireland

Tonal noise analysis with the optimus green sound level meters

Stay informed! Sign up for our update newsletter

Do you have a question?

Recent Posts

Follow us on Google+

Categories