Noise polluters are lumped in with drug dealers in legislative proposals being considered by the British Government. People who play stereos too loudly could have their equipment confiscated. The sanctions are contained in draft amendments to the Crime and Disorder Bill which could allow police to seize sound equipment while housing authorities could evict tenants who make their neighbours' lives a misery.

All set up to inflict maximum acoustical pain all day long. ES&E photo

One noise polluter played a tape of his vacuum cleaner at earsplitting volume for two years. He set it blaring just before he left for work in a long-running dispute with an upstairs neighbour.

Months of misery ensued before noise pollution inspectors were called in to the private apartments in North-West London. Officers went to the neighbour's flat and they said the noise was unbearable.

The polluter would play the tape in different rooms, depending on where he thought his neighbour was. He was eventually found guilty of breaking the Environmental Protection Act.

Appropriately, a scientist in the United Kingdom has developed the world's first device for blocking out sound electronically both indoors and out. It is called the Electronic Controlled Acoustic Shadow System (ECASS) and creates a "silent shadow" that can mask most sounds over a wide area.

Developed by Professor Selwyn Wright in the School of Engineering at the University of Huddersfield, ECASS has already proved a success at masking single-frequency noise, such as that created by generators or other machinery. Professor Wright is now working on a commercial version.

This article has been abridged.