Noise management

On the EngineerLive website there is a news item about Brüel & Kjaer's noise management service - Noise Sentinel - which, at the time of the post, was a finalist for the Environmental Initiative of the Year Award at the 2013 International Tunnelling Awards.

http://www.engineerlive.com/content/noise-management

The Noise Sentinel is described as being able to simultaneously monitor noise, ground vibration, dust and air quality, and complies with environmental guidelines.

Even though the Noise Sentinel didn't win the 2013 prize, my students were intereted in the innovation, since many of them are studying engineering aspects of tunnel systems and other areas of construction.

We found further information on the wesite of Brüel & Kjaer:

http://www.bksv.com/Products/EnvironmentManagementSolutions/UrbanEnvironmentManagement/ConstructionSentinel.aspx

The information given is very business-oriented, and like an advertisement. The focus is on describing the Noise Sentinel (what it does) rather than on how it works.

What we found interesting is the vocabulary used to sound very enthusiastic about the product. This provides a focus on language used for persuasion (useful for business proposals) and use of adjectives to advertise a product or service.

Also useful for students to notice is the language used to explain why a feature is considered an advantage. Some examples (indicated in boldface):

• Noise Sentinel takes care of the hassle associated with monitoring compliance, as we provide the instruments, installation, ...
• And because you are not buying the equipment, the costs of establishing your monitoring capability are much lower than if you were to purchase and operate your own instrumentation.
• Alerts on exceedances so you can take immediate action to reduce their impact.
• Noise Sentinel alerts you immediately when noise or vibration exceeds defined levels, allowing you to take immediate action...

Of course, the focus here can also be on linking and transition vocabulary, but in this text each feature is described as an advantage to the consumer. This relates well to other texts about products and services on business websites.