The Tainan District Court has ruled against a woman who sought NT$100,000 in compensation for her insomnia and mental distress allegedly caused by her neighbor’s pet birds.
The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), said that her neighbor, surnamed Tsai (蔡), has kept birds on a second-floor balcony since September last year.
Chen said the birds made sharp, piercing noises that frequently startled her and accused Tsai of creating long-term disturbances by dragging chairs, hammering and playing loud music.
Photo: Wang Chun-chung, Taipei Times
She said the noise severely impacted her quality of life and forced her to seek psychiatric treatment.
Tsai said she owns six birds, with three kept indoors and three on the balcony, and that the birds only chirp during the day and remain quiet at night.
The residences are in a Category 2 noise control zone in Tainan, meaning that the average noise limits are set at 60 decibels during the day, 55 decibels in the evening and 50 decibels at night, the judge said.
The court found that the recordings made by Chen included significant background noise, such as human voices, washing machines and passing vehicles, with some recordings failing to display decibel levels entirely.
The bird sounds occurred between 9am and 6pm, which should not interfere with nighttime sleep, the judge said.
The court ruled that Chen failed to prove that her decibel meter or her recording methods met the professional standards required by environmental protection authorities.
As the recordings could not definitively prove the noise exceeded levels tolerable to the average person, the court ruled in favor of Tsai.
The ruling can be appealed.
Taiwan’s noise control zones are divided into four categories based on land use and population density, lawyer Shih Chih-yuan (施志遠) said, adding that while a person could be held liable for infringing on a neighbor’s right to a peaceful living environment if they produce persistent noise beyond tolerable social limits, the methodology of providing evidence is critical.
Citizens collecting evidence should use noise meters that meet national standards, he said.
Measurements should be taken at the heights specified in Article 3 of the Noise Control Standards (噪音管制標準) and should account for background noise to ensure the evidence is not deemed invalid by a court, he said.
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