The greatest cause of noise complaints in Britain is domestic noise.

In 1996, Britain's Chartered Institute of Environmental Health noted a 10- percent rise in complaints about noisy neighbors.
A spokesman for the insititute commented: " It is hard to explain.

One factor may be that the pressure of people's working lives is leading them to make higher demands for peace and quiet at home. "
Two thirds of all the complaints lodged in Britain during 1994 involved late-night music and noisy car engines, alarms , and horns.

But what of the estimated 70 percent of noise- pollution victims who make no complaint for fear of reprisals ?
The problem is truely pervasive.