News & Events Archive

MAS Environmental Ltd has changed. The consultancy is no longer taking new clients but the website will remain active for information.  

Please check out this page to know more.

We're adding video clips created by environmental health expert and trainer, Mike Stigwood.  In these short clips Mike shares some of his experience with statutory nuisance and abatement notices.

Video: Abatement notices and their flaws - Mike Stigwood

Mike also runs regular workshops on these subjects and is planning to start online training for environmental health professionals to continue to receive training during the lockdown. 

We are keen to hear any feedback or if you have other subjects you would like to hear discussed.

A new page has been added to the website regarding a wind farm noise nuisance case with new recordings of wind farm noise.

Click here to visit the page

The World Health Organisation has released updated guidelines on environmental noise and the implications from this are significant to the industry.  If you are interested to learn more, check out our page: www.masenv.co.uk/who-guidelines-and-neighbourhood-noise

Our Interactive Sound Propagation Level Calculator has been rewritten to work with modern web browsers.  

Improvements include:

• Add a second barrier or building
• Control the ISO9613 barrier attenuation limit
• No longer Flash-based so it works on all modern devices
• Save your results as an image
• Draw on the wavelengths

Check it out at noisetools.net/noisecalculator2

We have added a new tool to perform basic arithmetic calculations with decibel sound levels including add, subtract, multiply and divide using your keyboard or mouse.

Check it out at noisetools.net/decibelcalculator

MAS Environmental has been featured in this year's Parliamentary Review:-

"a document that looks back on the year in industry and Westminster. The main aim of the Review is to showcase best practice as a learning tool to the public and private sector."

The article can be viewed on page 31 of the ebook

Mike Stigwood, Danny Baker and Sarah Large all presented papers at Internoise 2017 in Hong Kong. 

Mike's presentation in particular sparked a lively debate around the seemingly wide-spread problem of the integrity of consultants and how to deal with the issue.

To download the papers, please visit our Publication and Papers page

The second generation iTestMic2 is now available to buy.  With audio output 3.5mm jack and external power supply included allowing you to charge your iOS device.

Also the original iTestMic has dropped in price to £185 including VAT.
 

We are planning to make the papers and presentations by MAS available from our website, including the research presented at Internoise 2016 in Hamburg. Head on over to the Publications and Papers page to download these papers as PDFs

MAS have designed a short noise survey with the hope of gaining some insight in to people's perception and judgement of different samples of wind farm noise. The findings will be written up as part of a paper that Sarah Large will be presenting at the Inter-Noise conference 2016.

The survey can be found online at: http://www.masenv.co.uk/survey/

It involves listening to six samples of wind farm noise, lasting approximately 50 seconds each, and rating them as to how annoying you think the sound is.

We would be very grateful if you could share this with as many people as possible (friends, family, groups etc) as the more responses the better.
 

Sarah Large, Daniel Baker and Mike Stigwood have been accepted to present papers at the Inter-Noise conference 2016 in Hamburg.

Daniel Baker has an article published in the latest edition of Materials Recycling World discussing the perception of sound from waste sites.  To view the article please visit our Press Articles page.

We are proud to announce that our very own Daniel Baker has been awarded the CIEH President’s ‘Junior Researcher of the Year Award 2015’ for his paper entitled ‘Application of noise guidance to the assessment of industrial noise with character on residential dwellings in the UK’. Congratulations to Daniel for his outstanding efforts on this paper and the continued recognition his hard work brings.

The paper is available for purchase via the Elsevier website online and may be accessed via the link below:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003682X15000298?np=y

We have two articles published in the September 2015 edition of EHN Online. To view the articles please visit our Press Articles page.

We have launched a new online noise tool which offers free noise mapping / sound level modelling for anybody to use, all you need is a modern web browser. 

We hope the tool will be useful for educational purposes, for those learning about acoustics and sound modelling, providing a better understanding of how modelling can be effective and also its limitations. It may also be useful in assessment and prediction, especially for people affected by noise who may not be able to afford expert advice and advanced modelling software.

Read more about it on our Sound Level Tools page.

We have teamed up with pest control expert Chris Woodard to provide expanded training and advice for clients with pest problems.

This includes a new training course Pest Control for Food Safety Enforcement Officers, Food Safety Supervisors and Trainers on the 13th October at an introductory rate of £90 +VAT

We are also now able to offer specialist advice on pest issues.

MAS have published a technical note in the Journal of Applied Acoustics entitled "Application of noise guidance to the assessment of industrial noise with character on residential dwellings in the UK"

Highlights:

• Critically review the application of noise guidance to industrial noise.
• Compare four sources of industrial noise with BS8233, WHO 1999 & 2009 and BS4142.
• Guidance for anonymous noise understates impact when applied to industrial noise.

Read more on the Publications page

It's been twenty years since Mike Stigwood began his own consultancy and started MAS Environmental.

In 1994 after years of working in Local Government, Mike decided to start his own private consultancy and since then MAS has grown into a team of passionate experts with a reputation for going the extra mile on cases while maintaining fair prices and small business values.  We are always focused on becoming a better company and we are grateful to all our clients and associates that have helped us along the way by trusting us with their business and also for their patience when our busy consultants are difficult to get a response from.

Here's to another 20 years!

"Wind Farms Noise – The sacrifice of the rural minorities" is the presentation by Mike Stigwood delivered to delegates attending the Scotland Against Spin conference, held on the 24th November in Stirling.

Click here to go to the Scotland Against Spin website

For those of you interested in the ongoing debate about wind farm noise, you should check out the new articles, including one by Mike Stigwood, in the latest Acoustics Bulletin.

Click here to view the article

MAS Environmental recently presented a paper at the 5th International Conference on Wind Turbine Noise in Denver on 28-30 August 2013

The paper was titled: Audible amplitude modulation - results of field measurements and investigations compared to psychoacoustical assessment and theoretical research

Check out the presentation in full here

We have added the guide "How to check wind farm noise data against the Den Brook condition" and new locations to the Listening Room Experience, Delabole and Wadlow.

We have also added an update to the Kessingland location called Kessingland Revisited

We have now added Cotton Farm to the Listening Room locations that you can preview on our site.
Click here to see the page and listen to the wind farm noise yourself.

We have now added "ground effect" to our decibel sound level calculator based on the ISO9613-2 guidance, alongside other bug fixes and improvements based on user feedback. 

Check it out here: Interactive Sound Level Calculator

We have added information about our work with wind farms and wind turbines including graphs and audio of existing sites, how to experience Amplitude Modulation (AM), how to contact us regarding any planning applications that affect you and much more.

Click here to visit the new pages.  We will be adding more to it over the next few months.

Look for buttons to listen to recordings of wind farms.

We have a job opportunity for an Environmental Health / Acoustics Consultant

Please click here for more details.

MAS Environmental was proud to support the 4th Cambridge Food, Garden and Produce Festival at Parker’s Piece which took place over the weekend of 17 & 18 September.

We were really pleased with how many people visited our stall and participated in the prize draw.

We are happy to announce the winners of our prize draw on this page.

As part of all the work MAS Environmental has done regarding wind-farm planning applications, we have put together a detailed study comparing the methods now commonly used to assess wind turbine noise limits.  The results of the study are concerning as it shows the changes to ETSU-R-97 procedures as published in an Institute of Acoustics article and adopted by many developers in recent times seriously reduces the protection provided to communities.

Click here to view the paper | Publications page
Requires Adobe Reader

UPDATE: A summary is now available for download
27th October 2011

One of our students has been awarded a prize for scoring top marks in the country for the RSPH Level 4 Award in Managing Food Safety in Catering.

"I completed my Level 3 and Level 4 food hygiene with  MAS and the standard of teaching was superb. Things were explained in a clear and easy to understand manner whilst making the lessons interactive and enjoyable. It is due to the high calibre of training that MAS offered that I received the highest mark in the country for RSPH Level 4 Food Safety in Catering Award." Simon Flanagan

Details of the awards on the RSPH website

We are pleased to announce that as of 1st July 2011 our partnership has changed to a limited company.

As our business is expanding progressing to a limited company is exciting news for both us and all of our valued clients.

We would like to thank everyone for your continued support and look forward to working with you in the future.

Mike, Terri and the Team

MAS Environmental supported the 17th annual Tastes of Anglia food and drink festival in March 2011 at Chilford Hall, Linton, Cambs. 

We would like to thank everyone who came along and visited MAS Environmental’s stand and supported locally produced food and drinks!

We look forward to seeing you again soon!

We're proud to announce that Sarah Large, our youngest acoustic consultant, has been given a prize for achieving the highest average mark of all students of the IOA Diploma in Acoustic and Noise Control 2010.  Sarah's outstanding work achieved merits in all three written papers, in her laboratory work and also her final project on the need for standards in background noise measurements.
LSBU Article

This year we won the Best Trade Stand at this years University of Cambridge Culinary Competition.  We were happy to hear from the committee that "the information on display and the hand outs were very informative and helpful".

Thanks to recent developments on our website, Noise Bulletin have placed us 5th in their list of top Noise related websites (non-local authority) in their latest website review - Nov 2010.

Experts dealing with noise levels should check out the Interactive Sound Level Calculator - a simple and effective tool for calculating sound level reduction due to propagation over a distance, insertion of a barrier and air absorption.

Food Safety expert Terri Stigwood was a guest judge for the Chefs Competition in Cambridge, October 2009.

Click here to view her appearance