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MTA to Install 'Dampers' to Muffle Noise at Astoria-Ditmars Blvd Station

 The MTA will install "noise dampers," on all the cars of the N and Q trains.
The MTA will install "noise dampers," on all the cars of the N and Q trains.
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

DITMARS — Next stop, peace and quiet.

Residents who live near the Astoria-Ditmars Boulevard subway station will be getting a reprieve from the grind of train noise with the installation of special sound-muffling technology, officials said.

Trains that are switching directions at the stop, the last on the N/Q line, operate their emergency brakes — producing a noise that's "the same sound level as a jackhammer" according to City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr.

The MTA will install "noise dampers," on all cars of the N and Q trains to help muffle the sound, according to the lawmaker, who said he complained to the MTA about the issue in a letter last year.

The agency responded by doing an inspection of the N/Q line which found that noise from the subway trains' air brakes increases the area's "normal" or ambient sound level by more than 10 decibels.

"This deafening noise has been scaring little kids, startling our senior citizens and damaging our eardrums for too long," Vallone said in a statement.

The noise dampers will be installed over the next six months, Vallone said.