Answers · Safety and health

Who handles a noise complaint in Hawaiʻi?

It depends on the noise. The Department of Health's Noise Section regulates noise from construction, industrial and agricultural activities, and mechanical noise from stationary sources: pumps, air conditioners, generators, compressors, and ventilation or exhaust systems.

Noises resulting directly from people, such as loud gatherings next door, verbal disputes, nuisance noises from animals, emergency sirens, and noise from vehicles not actively used for construction, industrial or agricultural work (garbage pick-up, for example), are not within the section's jurisdiction, it says. Its page links the Honolulu Police Department's policy on animal nuisance complaints.

Construction that exceeds the maximum permissible sound levels needs a noise permit from the section, which asks for applications four weeks before the start date; work outside normal permitted hours needs a variance, applied for three to four months ahead. The section can be reached at (808) 586-4700.

From

Hawaiʻi Department of Health, Indoor and Radiological Health Branch, Noise Section: Department of Health, Noise Section: forms, FAQs and links; Department of Health, Noise Section

As of

Sept. 27, 2026, when the Ledger read the agency's page

Applies to

the whole state

• When are Hawaiʻi's outdoor warning sirens tested?
• What should I do during a brown water advisory?
• How much emergency water and food should a Hawaiʻi household keep?
• When is hurricane season in Hawaiʻi?

Basis. Every sentence above comes from the page or document named, read on Sept. 27, 2026, in the agency's words as closely as a sentence allows; the agency's page governs if it has changed since. The Ledger adds no advice of its own. Corrections: the corrections log.