Anti Child Noise Repellents

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Folks,

I was sitting outside at the front of my house this evening when I heard a high pitched noise. I asked the missus if she could hear it and she could indeed. I walked up and down the terrace and the noise seems to be coming from the next door neighbour.
It would seem that she's installed one of those high frequency repellents that are designed to irritate kids and stop them hanging around. The problem is that I and my partner can hear it, the neighbour next to her can hear it as well as her children and it can even be heard two doors down. Are these things legal? We don't exactly have troublesome children on this part of the estate so it seems rather inconsiderate. It's been irritating some of the small kids on the row and my ears are still agitated.

I knocked on the door and politely asked if she had installed one.... her reaction was immediately defensive which lead me to think she must have. Are they legal? It's irritating as hell and with a child due this summer I'm wondering how it'll affect her.

Many thanks.

Cheshire Cat

"Under Ireland's Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997, anyone who "directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another... without the consent of the other" (force including "application of [any] form of energy"), is guilty of committing assault. This issue has been raised in relation to the Mosquito device by Ireland's Ombudsman for Children following legal advice provided by Youth Work Ireland,[36] but has yet to be tested in the Irish courts."

Found here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito

If you and your neighbors are affected by the sound I would lodge a complaint with the local council. Hope you get it sorted soon!

whatnext

There are similar products for vermin / pest control (not the 2 legged types).
My parents had a plug in device that was supposed to be inaudible to humans, but myself, my siblings and kids could clearly hear it. Parents couldn't.

Perhaps it's a similar thing, aimed at mice or rats not your kids?

paddydone1

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055682431

Kintarō Hattori

whatnext wrote: »

There are similar products for vermin / pest control (not the 2 legged types).
My parents had a plug in device that was supposed to be inaudible to humans, but myself, my siblings and kids could clearly hear it. Parents couldn't.

Perhaps it's a similar thing, aimed at mice or rats not your kids?

Thankfully we don't have a vermin issue around here. No, It's definitely there as a child deterrent as she's been giving out about them over the years. It's a young estate and there's always plenty of kids out playing.

I don't have any kids yet myself but there are quite a few in the estate and to be fair in all the years I'm living here they've never caused any trouble.

Kintarō Hattori

paddydone1 wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055682431

Thanks Paddy.... I saw that previously.

El_Duderino 09

Kintar&#197 wrote: »

We don't exactly have troublesome children on this part of the estate so it seems rather inconsiderate. It's been irritating some of the small kids on the row and my ears are still agitated.

If you don't have troublesome youths to begin with then it sounds like a paranoid aul bint spoiling for a fight with the children and their parents. If anything shell draw attention to herself for being so bloody rude. Is it legal to have one of those devices in a residential area would be the key question.

The other approach would be to chat to her about it and suggest a community alert type arrangement where people alert each other to suspicious behaviour and she gets rid of the device.

If she doesn't have youths hanging around her house to begin with, she's likely to have them once the children find out she has one of those new fangled devices. Children + summer weather + holidays + bored = stupid decisions to wind people up and get their kicks.

Gumbo

Contact the Environmental health section of your council.

the_syco

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Children + summer weather + holidays + bored = stupid decisions to wind people up and get their kicks.

It'll become the target to hit by the kids, and everyone affected by the noise will ignore the kids as they target the device. I can't see the device lasting long. And by which time she'll probably have burnt any bridges that she had.

Kintarō Hattori

the_syco wrote: »

It'll become the target to hit by the kids, and everyone affected by the noise will ignore the kids as they target the device. I can't see the device lasting long. And by which time she'll probably have burnt any bridges that she had.

She's burnt the neighbourly friendship she had with us. We share our broadband with her and don't charge her for it. I was as civil as could be in asking her if she had installed one of the high frequency devices but her reaction was telling.

Just to be sure though- are there any faulty electronics which could cause a high pitched noise? On the front of the house there's a floodlight and a CCTV camera. I can't imagine either of those, even if faulty could cause such a noise?

Kintarō Hattori

Would anyone have any idea what that box is on the right hand side of the window?

Parchment

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

She's burnt the neighbourly friendship she had with us. We share our broadband with her and don't charge her for it. I was as civil as could be in asking her if she had installed one of the high frequency devices but her reaction was telling.

Just to be sure though- are there any faulty electronics which could cause a high pitched noise? On the front of the house there's a floodlight and a CCTV camera. I can't imagine either of those, even if faulty could cause such a noise?

You shared broadband with her?! I recognise your user name from the parking thread....is she one of those people? maybe you should move!

El_Duderino 09

OP, you could try asking some more adults if they can hear the noise. If they can then it's probably not an one of those devices.

I wonder about the legality of having one on a residential area. It's one thing to deter people loitering in a public area but if you can hear it in the privacy of your own garden then it's just noise disturbance. It would be similar to blaring music or something else unpleasant.

Could you measure the noise in some way? Is there such thing as a noise-o-meter? If so you could treat it as a public disturbance and let the police deal with it.

If she doesn't want to discuss it and us spoiling for a fight, then it might be best to skip the discussion and argument and let the police handle it

Kintarō Hattori

Parchment wrote: »

You shared broadband with her?! I recognise your user name from the parking thread....is she one of those people? maybe you should move!

Indeed that was my thread but we've never had any issue with her, so it's very surprising.
Well the long term goal would be to move to somewhere in the country with few neighbours around.

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

OP, you could try asking some more adults if they can hear the noise. If they can then it's probably not an one of those devices.

I wonder about the legality of having one on a residential area. It's one thing to deter people loitering in a public area but if you can hear it in the privacy of your own garden then it's just noise disturbance. It would be similar to blaring music or something else unpleasant.

Could you measure the noise in some way? Is there such thing as a noise-o-meter? If so you could treat it as a public disturbance and let the police deal with it.

If she doesn't want to discuss it and us spoiling for a fight, then it might be best to skip the discussion and argument and let the police handle it

Both my partner and I can hear it. The house next door to the neighbour in question, she can hear it and the house next to that- both neighbours there can hear it. So five adults should be enough shouldn't it?
I called the council today and it seems that as it's on a private house there's nothing they can do and they recommend taking the neighbour to court- which seems rather dramatic.

I have thought about getting some sort of noise meter.... but I imagine such a thing would be expensive.

Samuel T. Cogley

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

She's burnt the neighbourly friendship she had with us. We share our broadband with her and don't charge her for it. I was as civil as could be in asking her if she had installed one of the high frequency devices but her reaction was telling.

Just to be sure though- are there any faulty electronics which could cause a high pitched noise? On the front of the house there's a floodlight and a CCTV camera. I can't imagine either of those, even if faulty could cause such a noise?

Yes there are, but generally they would be fairly complex, coil whine is the term and it's bloody annoying. If the majority of adults can hear it then it's probably not a mosquito type device, unless you're all asthmatic.

Kintarō Hattori

Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »

Yes there are, but generally they would be fairly complex, coil whine is the term and it's bloody annoying. If the majority of adults can hear it then it's probably not a mosquito type device, unless you're all asthmatic.

Many thanks for that. Is there any way for us to lock down what might be causing it? How does one go about determining exactly what's causing the noise?

Toots

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Many thanks for that. Is there any way for us to lock down what might be causing it? How does one go about determining exactly what's causing the noise?

I reckon if your broadband service was being interrupted by the high frequency noise, it might be resolved fairly quickly.

Kintarō Hattori

Ha a fair point Toots.

I've just listened to a few coil whine videos on YouTube and it doesn't appear to be that. The noise in question isn't continuous. It comes on for maybe 10 seconds, is gone for 10-15 and then comes again. It definitely varies in pitch from when it starts to when it finishes.

Special Circumstances

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Ha a fair point Toots.

I've just listened to a few coil whine videos on YouTube and it doesn't appear to be that. The noise in question isn't continuous. It comes on for maybe 10 seconds, is gone for 10-15 and then comes again. It definitely varies in pitch from when it starts to when it finishes.

When did this start?

https://www.offerscheck.org/florabest-solar-powered-animal-defence-system/lidl/2017/kw-13/531297

endacl

Out of interest, is she the same obnoxious parking neighbour?

Kintarō Hattori

endacl wrote: »

Out of interest, is she the same obnoxious parking neighbour?

No. It's the neighbour inbetween myself and the obnoxious parker..... whom if you'll recall...... has four kids.

Special Circumstances wrote: »

When did this start?

https://www.offerscheck.org/florabest-solar-powered-animal-defence-system/lidl/2017/kw-13/531297

Not too sure but I haven't seen anything like that on the house.

Special Circumstances

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Not too sure but I haven't seen anything like that on the house.

No idea if these phone apps work but if you could identify the "peak" frequency or frequencies maybe it would help narrow down the possible types of sources..

for example:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.raspw.SpectrumAnalyze&hl=en
* 44100 Hz sampling rate
* Max frequencies up to 22050 Hz (1/2 sampling rate)

If the above specs are accurate and several people are able to hear the noise then the app should detect it. You may need to point the phone mike in different directions to detect it... it may lead you to the physical location?




The box on the wall by the window looks (to me at least) like an outdoor sensor for a weather station more than some sonic repeller. But that's just a feeling more than anything solid.

Kintarō Hattori

Many thanks for that Special Cicumstances, I'll give the app a go. I wasn't too convinced that the box by the window may be what's causing the noise as there's no visible speaker grill.

I love Sean nos

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

"Under Ireland's Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997, anyone who "directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another... without the consent of the other" (force including "application of [any] form of energy"), is guilty of committing assault. This issue has been raised in relation to the Mosquito device by Ireland's Ombudsman for Children following legal advice provided by Youth Work Ireland,[36] but has yet to be tested in the Irish courts."

Found here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mosquito

If you and your neighbors are affected by the sound I would lodge a complaint with the local council. Hope you get it sorted soon!

If it's considered an assault, why would you contact the council? Surely the Gardai would be more appropriate.

triggermortis

No idea what the box to the right of the window is, part of house alarm maybe??

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11984317/Couple-face-5000-fine-for-installing-anti-child-noise-repellant-outside-their-home.html