What Noises are the Nuisances of the Nation?

Nationwide lockdowns have forced everyone to spend more time at home. An unintended consequence is that it’s left them at the mercy of annoying noises that they might not have noticed before. A recent survey by Currys PC World uncovered what noises bug Brits the most. Here are some of the top highlights:

Who are the UK’s noisiest neighbours?

The survey found the regions that had the most noise complaints per year (based on one notice for every 10,000 people) are:

London, which has a population of 8.9 million people, and had 189 noise complaints per 10,000 people
Yorkshire and the Humber, with a population of 5.4 million, had 56 counts
The North East of England, with a population of 2.6 million, received 56 counts of noise complaints each year
The South West of England, with a population of 5.6 million, received the fewest noise complaints at just 27 counts.

Here’s the best and worst cities that are exposed to both noise and light pollution ranked out of 100 (100 representing the worst level of pollution):

Coventry scored the highest with 67.5 out of 100
Bradford scored the second-highest with 65.5
Hull has the lowest amount of noise and light pollution and gets a score of just 25

UK residents would prefer to speak to the culprit about their noise levels than retaliate in other ways

Establishing a good relationship with our neighbours can be tough when they’re loud and disruptive. In fact, 34% of respondents blamed neighbours for being the biggest culprits of excessive noise. Here’s how Brits opt to deal with a noisy neighbour:

Just under half of Brits (47%) prefer the face-to-face approach
27% of respondents wouldn’t do anything
15% would play music to drown them out
12% of Brits would make a noise complaint or leave a note asking them to keep it down
7% of Brits would call the police

Brits are willing to fork out the cash for a moment of silence

Nearly 20% of Brits are willing to pay up to £50 a month to make sure they aren’t disturbed by loud noises. Here are the cities that are willing to pay the most: