I live in a housing association flat. When I moved in two years ago I had no idea there was an ADT industrial alarm installed. The alarms are all linked so if one person in the next blocks alarm goes off everyone’s goes off. The very first time ot went off I literally nearly had a heart attack adn am not ashamed to say I think I suffered a little shock. I had never ever in my life heard anything louder. It didn’t matter where you went in these small flats the noise was unbearably loud so you had to leave the building whilst holding your ears because not only are these things in in every flat, they are in teh stairways. When I got outside in the middle of the night there were children, elderly people visibly shaken and some crying. A dog was uncontrollably shaken. I was absaloutely shcoked this housing association could have something so loud installed in every single flat.

Little did I know this was going to become a regular occurrence. Within a matter of days it happened again. After a few more times I wrote letters and telephoned the housing association to inform them these alarms were dangerous. I was fobbed off of course in the name of health and safety. This went on for a year until finally ADT reduced the sensitivity of these things.

All through that year though I complained to ADT (who slammed the phone down on me) and the housing association countless times. Now heres the thing. Im a sound engineer so I absolutely knew what I was talking about. I measured the noise and it was an incredible 160db covering a frequency range from 4000hz to 16000khz, basically the crucial hearing range…..

Ok, to cut a long story short one night about t3.00am the alarm went off and I was so angry I decided enough was enough and tried to smash the alrms. It was loud remember that I ha dto run at it, try and hit it with a pole and quickly run in to the other room and cover my ears. It didn’t work so I had no option but to get up closer and use a screwdriver to dismantle it there and then. It was the most stupid thing I ever done. Whilst I held my right ear on my shoulder my left ear was exposed because I had the screwdriver in my hand. I got in to that thing within 15 seconds but the damage was done.

Now heres the real kicker. I protested long before this happened and informed the housing association and ADT that there must be a way to reduce the volume. They denied this, but damn! I knew there must be a system to do this. Lo and behold when I got in to the alarm there were a series of dip switched which reduced the level massively.

My left ear is completely ruined. I cannot enjoy music at all. I cannot watch TV because of the constant crackling and highly irritating noise. The constant very loud ringing has made me a nervous wreck. I’m now unemployed because I cannot work in my industry. I have tried seeking help but no one will help. I contemplated taking legal action but an unemployed man doesn’t stand a chance. All i would have wanted is one of those special ear plugs that can cut out certain frequencies. At least then I could walk down the road and not be bothered by traffic noise. Everything irritates my ear, even softly spoken words. Sometimes I feel it would be better if I were deaf in that ear.

ADT and the housing association have literally ruined my life, prevented me from having an income. They both deny any wrong doing (of course). Interestingly they sneakily reduced the level of the alarms from the central box. I could tell straight away

As the two years have passed my left ear has gotten worse just by doing daily things. I’m very angry that no one has taken this seriously because it has seriously affected my livelihood. My ears were my livelihood.

Ironically all those years I protected my ears when producing music or listening to it were cancelled by PC correct, H+S safety obsessed bureaucrats.

Apologies for the longs story, but I just had to write this down and I can assure anyone reading this its the absolute 100% truth.

PS
The housing association had the cheek to bill me 280 pounds for the alarm. I have never paid it and never will. I wante dthem to take me to court at least that way someone may have listened to me. They never did and eventually stopped hassling me for the money.