New York residents get a new app for neighborhood noise

Right Avenues helps New York City residents file and track noise complaints

New York City was never considered “quiet.” But even in a city known for its loudness, many residents still need respite from the noise. The city’s sonic environment came into focus when more people began working from home during the COVID pandemic. Suddenly, the city’s ubiquitous construction noise sounded more obtrusive and traffic noise got more distinct. When the lockdown restrictions started to lift, so did tourist helicopters, with over 160 non-essential helicopters per day hovering over residential areas, rattling windows and driving residents crazy.

Anyone can complain to the city about issues like street noise or construction noise, or view the city’s noise complaints as open-source data in a table. But this data isn’t mapped or organized by neighborhood — until now. In October, 2022, a new app debuted called “Right Avenues.” The goal: enable New Yorkers to file specific noise complaints with the app to the city’s non-emergency 311 system. Users can categorize the noise by type, such as construction, traffic, and aviation. The complaints get posted to a map, creating visual noise clusters in some neighborhoods. So if you plan to rent an apartment and you see dozens of noise complaints filed on that block, you might want to look elsewhere.

Jimin Park got inspired to create the Right Avenues app after she moved to an unexpectedly noisy neighborhood on the Upper West Side. She wants to help others share data about noise and get some leverage with public officials to make positive change. Similar to SoundPrint, which maps user-reported decibel levels in noisy restaurants, Right Avenues also aggregates useful data from citizen input.

Be an early adopter

Jimin continues to add more features and noise types to the Right Avenues app and hopes to significantly increase its user base. At launch, it’s available for iOS devices, but it will be available for Android devices soon.

Hear our conversation with Jimin Park of Right Avenues in episode 27 of the Soundproofist podcast: