Southampton, NY Noise from Specific Sources: Low-Frequency Bass Limits (2026)

Southampton's noise chapter does not stop at an overall dBA ceiling: § 235-3.A also sets an octave-band table that catches low-frequency bass a single dBA reading can miss, the thumping sub-bass from car stereos, outdoor speakers or HVAC compressors that can carry past a simple A-weighted limit. For daytime hours, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., the code caps the lowest band, 31.5 Hz, at 78 decibels and the next band, 63 Hz, at 73 decibels, measured at or beyond any lot line in a residential district.

At night, 7:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., those same low bands drop to 75 decibels at 31.5 Hz and 70 decibels at 63 Hz. The table climbs through higher bands, 125 Hz, 250 Hz, 500 Hz and on up to 8,000 Hz, with progressively lower ceilings, but the 31.5 and 63 Hz bands carry the highest permitted readings because low frequencies are inherently harder to attenuate and less audible at equal sound pressure. A violation of either the flat dBA limit or any single octave band is independently sufficient: § 235-3.A treats exceeding the standard in one or more octave bands as enough to violate the section, so a system that stays under 65 dBA overall can still violate the code on bass alone.

Commercial and industrial districts get a separate, higher octave-band table under § 235-3.B. This provision applies across the unincorporated hamlets of the Town, not inside the incorporated villages, which set their own noise standards.