I have spent several hours looking for a sound sensor that I can integrate into SmartThings. To be honest, there is almost nothing, and absolutely nothing about actual devices, so I am really just wanting confirmation of what I think I know, that it doesn’t exist! I simply want to get a notification or trigger a routine when a high sound level (say over 90 decibels) is detected. Am I right that this doesn’t exist. It seems very odd.
Just to add that I have zero interest in making some kind of homemade device!
So this isn’t all that helpful but the Ring glass break sensor does in fact connect to smartthings via z-wave thus you need the hub. but unfortunately I have yet to find a driver that actually makes it work…
I checked the latest post here and found this post that I had written but not posted! Must have been months ago.
Thanks for pointing that out. It isn’t as expensive as I expected before I checked it out, but it does still seem to be huge overkill for what could simply be a little box that detects sound. I would probably want two, so up to £100 does start to add up. There is also what appears to be quite a big demand for such a device in places such as AirBnBs for checking on loud parties, for example, which would not be appropriate to have a camera for.
If you just want to check the basic noise level, there are lots of apps that will do that on pretty much any smart phone, so you can get a cheap phone, use it on Wi-Fi only, and go from there.
Or as @Andreas_Roedl mentioned, these days, many cameras have that capability.
There are also decibel meters made specifically for Airbnb hosts because of the privacy issues you mentioned, and some of those can work indirectly. But most of those cost about €50 per device plus a €15 per month charge for the monitoring aspect. And then you’d still have to figure out how to hook it into Smartthings.
there are also many sensors that are part of security systems like the ring that was mentioned that can specifically detect a smoke alarm or breaking glass or even a baby crying.
for that matter some of the smart speakers like echo also have some kinds of sound detection.
(Maker types can also build their own for less than $10 per sensor, but you will probably have to bring it in through home assistant. so the integration is a lot more work.
I agree with @Andreas_Roedl that the easiest integration for general sound detection is likely to be with one of the cameras that already integrate with smartthings.
I’ve got a THIRDREALITY vibration sensor that sits on top of my traditional door bell to alert me when it rings based on vibration. I’ve found it’s sensitive enough that it also triggers when there is a loud noise (usually a child). So depending on your use case, it might do what you need. The sensitivity is adjustable and it’s is only around £20 so maybe worth a try
Went looking for the Third Reality vibration sensor on Amazon and found an Aqara vibration sensor that mentions glass breakage.
As with all Aqara Zigbee devices they require an Aqara hub. But summer of the Aqara hub models support Matter-over-Bridge and integrate well with SmartThings they that path.
I appreciate all the suggestions. They have basically confirmed what I suspected at the beginning: there is no device intended to simply monitor noise levels. I’m not mucking about levering alternative part solutions in, so I will leave it for now. It is disappointing where there is such an obvious market, as I see so many posts from AirBnB owners using smart systems of various kinds for locks and other security applications. It looks like an open door to me.
Had three of those Aqara vibration sensors and returned them after a week because they lost connection multiple times a day even with brand new batteries and when they were kept in close range to the hub.
If I remember correctly, they are from the Xiaomi era.
As I mentioned, there are multiple devices available for Airbnb hosts, and they have become quite popular.
Minuit has a sensor that reports in decibels, but you have to pay $10 a month for the monitoring program.
once you do that, you can get alerts which you can then use as routine triggers in various ways.
If you get the $15 a month minuit plan, it includes a zapier integration, and from there you can integrate with many platforms.
Look on any Airbnb host board and you will see discussion of this and a number of competitors. So that market is pretty much handled, it just doesn’t integrate smoothly with smartthings.
Or, like I said, you can just buy a cheap phone and get a noise monitoring app, there are many of those.
So the acoustic sensor devices themselves exist to meet the Airbnb market. But there just hasn’t been enough interest to create one specifically to work with smartthings.
Good feedback! Lost connection with an Aqara hub or SmartThings hub?
I bought six Aqara leak sensors that I tried to connect directly to SmartThings. They dropped offline regularly so I picked up an M2 hub that I linked to SmartThings via Matter. I’ve since added one “pocket socket” outlet to extend the Aqara Zigbee reach and a handful of Aqara temp/humidity/pressure sensors. All have been solid. No idea if they’re Xaomi holdovers.
I have about 20 sensors and 16 of them are Tapo (Matter bridged 868 MHz devices). Very happy with them, but they’ll be replaced with corresponding IKEA Matter over Thread devices this week.
