To most people, noise pollution is a jet engine roaring over their head. For one Spanish woman, it was a neighbor playing the piano more softly than a spoken conversation.
The woman has taken her neighbors in the apartment below — a 27-year-old pianist and her parents — to court. Now prosecutors want to send all three to jail for over seven years on charges of psychological damage and noise pollution.
In a country known for its exuberant noisiness, the case has raised eyebrows. Neighbors often complain about street and bar noise in Spain, but prosecutors seeking jail time for someone practicing the piano is unheard of — especially since that musician is now a professional concert pianist.
At the trial in the northeastern city of Gerona, Sonia Bosom claimed she suffered noise pollution from 2003 to 2007 due to the five-days-a-week, eight-hour practice sessions of Laia Martin, who lived below her in the northeastern town of Puigcerda.
Martin, 27, denies that she played at home that often, saying she took regular classes in other towns. She claims she mostly practiced at home on the weekends.
On Monday, the first day of the trial, the El Pais newspaper reported that Bosom told the court she now hates pianos so much she can't even stand to see them in a film.
The prosecution claims that years of hearing constant playing has caused Bosom "psychological injury." Medical reports showed she suffered from a variety of problems, including insomnia, anxiety, panic attacks and gynecological problems.
Bosom and her family moved in 2007 and she says she has had to take time off work, reportedly due to her problems.
The prosecutor said tests by local authorities found that the sound levels made by the piano were repeatedly up to 10 decibels higher than the 30-decibel limit laid down for musical instruments in the town. City authorities asked the family several times to either stop the piano playing or soundproof the room.
The family told the court they carried out soundproofing work twice but the complaints continued, the newspaper reported.
Nuria Blanes, an environmental scientist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, said noise around 40 decibels "is not very much." A normal conversation produces 55-60 decibels, with noise in a bar reaching 65-70 decibels and an airplane in flight producing 110-120 decibels, she said.
However, she also noted that some studies have established links to health problems such as sleep disturbances and cardiovascular disease if someone faces a constant noise level of over 40 decibels during the night.
"The norm is for 30 decibels as a nighttime limit inside a house, but some authorities are widening it to daytime, which is surprising," said Fernando Simon Yarza, a constitutional law professor at Navarra University. He said that may be due to the high fines that courts have forced some towns to pay for not taking action against excessive noise levels.
"Protection against noise and environmental quality is considered a human right," he told The Associated Press.
The prosecutors have asked for all three defendants to be sentenced to six years in jail for noise pollution and an additional one-and-a-half years for psychological damage. They have also demanded that all three be prohibited from playing the piano professionally for four years.
A Catalonia Justice Tribunal spokeswoman said the trial will end Nov. 15 with the verdict issued at a later date.
據(jù)美國媒體11月12日報(bào)道，西班牙一名鋼琴家練琴被指擾民，受害人自稱因“噪音污染”患上多種疾病。檢方想要判處這名鋼琴家及其家人七年半監(jiān)禁。
索尼婭•博索姆在2003年到2007年間住在西班牙東北部小鎮(zhèn)普奇塞達(dá)的一棟公寓中。博索姆自稱，4年來，她每周五天、每天八小時(shí)忍受著樓下鋼琴家拉亞•馬丁練琴時(shí)發(fā)出的“噪音污染”。她表示現(xiàn)在極度厭惡鋼琴，甚至不能忍受在電影里看到它。
現(xiàn)年27歲的馬丁是一名專業(yè)的音樂會(huì)鋼琴師，否認(rèn)博索姆的指控，表示自己經(jīng)常去外地參加鋼琴課程，只是周末在家練琴。
當(dāng)?shù)卣啻翁岢觯瘩R丁停止演奏鋼琴，要么給房屋裝上隔音設(shè)備。馬丁家表示，他們兩次安裝隔音設(shè)備，但還是不斷遭到投訴。
檢方稱，常年的噪音污染給博索姆造成了嚴(yán)重的“心理傷害”。醫(yī)學(xué)檢查報(bào)告顯示，博索姆患上了失眠、急性焦慮發(fā)作和婦科疾病。博索姆2007年搬家，還因?yàn)榻】祮栴}被迫暫停工作。
博索姆將馬丁及其父母三人一并告上法庭，要求判處他們七年半監(jiān)禁，其中六年是因“噪音污染”指控，另有一年半是因“心理傷害”罪。此外，檢方還要求4年內(nèi)禁止三人專業(yè)演奏。本案審判11日開始，15日結(jié)束，判決書會(huì)在晚些時(shí)候下達(dá)。
當(dāng)?shù)赜嘘P(guān)部門檢測發(fā)現(xiàn)，馬丁練琴音量約為40分貝，超過了當(dāng)?shù)?0分貝的噪音標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。環(huán)境科學(xué)家布拉內(nèi)斯說，40分貝音量“并不過分”，人正常聊天音量約為55至60分貝，酒吧中音量約為65至70分貝。但是如果人長期在晚上受到40分貝以上噪音的困擾，心臟和睡眠可能面臨問題。
