Narrative:

About 20 minutes after reaching cruise altitude an abrupt loud noise began in flight deck. Noise sounded like a pressurization leak. It was very loud making it difficult to hear ATC communications through our headsets. Also; it was difficult to speak to each other on the flight deck. We immediately checked the pressurization page on the east/wd and saw that all was normal for FL290. Cabin altitude showed 5300 ft; cabin differential showed 7.4 psi and the cabin vsi indicated zero feet per minute. We consulted the door page and verified all doors appeared normal with no amber warnings. The bleed page also showed normal indications. The first officer leaned close to his windows and determined the source of the cockpit noise was emanating from his most rearward side window. While we made our assessments the noise grew even louder. Now I had to turn the volume all the way up to maximum to hear ATC--even then it was difficult to hear. Additionally; when communicating with the first officer I had to lean across the console and strain to hear him. We were by this time about 65 nm southwest of ZZZ and thinking about diverting to that station. We also slowed to .70 mach; (which did not appreciably reduce interior noise). We told ATC we would be soon diverting to ZZZ after consulting with company. Communication with maintenance and dispatch was cumbersome and ineffective so we established a phone patch with company to talk things over. All agreed a diversion was the prudent thing to do. We declared an emergency with center and requested and received direct clearance to ZZZ with a descent clearance. We assured her pressurization was normal and that we were diverting and would be conducting a precautionary landing. We instructed the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for landing in about 12 minutes. Finally; we briefed the passengers. As we descended and slowed the noise levels lessened but they did not abate altogether. The overweight landing was very smooth with a touchdown rate of 200 fpm noted at approximately 148;000 pounds. Once the mechanic got onboard he opened the first officer's window and showed us the cause of the airborne noise: speedtape had been applied all the way around the first officer's most rearward window and during flight the tape had separated to the extent it had formed a sort of canopy along the vertical trailing edge of the window. This separated tape created the noise in the interior.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Due to an inability to communicate; an A319 flight crew diverted to a nearby airport when noise produced by tape applied by maintenance to seal a leak from the aftmost right side cockpit window came loose.

Narrative: About 20 minutes after reaching cruise altitude an abrupt loud noise began in flight deck. Noise sounded like a pressurization leak. It was very loud making it difficult to hear ATC communications through our headsets. Also; it was difficult to speak to each other on the flight deck. We immediately checked the pressurization page on the E/WD and saw that all was normal for FL290. Cabin altitude showed 5300 ft; cabin differential showed 7.4 psi and the cabin VSI indicated zero feet per minute. We consulted the door page and verified all doors appeared normal with no amber warnings. The bleed page also showed normal indications. The First Officer leaned close to his windows and determined the source of the cockpit noise was emanating from his most rearward side window. While we made our assessments the noise grew even louder. Now I had to turn the volume all the way up to maximum to hear ATC--even then it was difficult to hear. Additionally; when communicating with the First Officer I had to lean across the console and strain to hear him. We were by this time about 65 nm SW of ZZZ and thinking about diverting to that station. We also slowed to .70 Mach; (which did not appreciably reduce interior noise). We told ATC we would be soon diverting to ZZZ after consulting with company. Communication with Maintenance and Dispatch was cumbersome and ineffective so we established a phone patch with company to talk things over. All agreed a diversion was the prudent thing to do. We declared an emergency with Center and requested and received direct clearance to ZZZ with a descent clearance. We assured her pressurization was normal and that we were diverting and would be conducting a PRECAUTIONARY LANDING. We instructed the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for landing in about 12 minutes. Finally; we briefed the passengers. As we descended and slowed the noise levels lessened but they did not abate altogether. The overweight landing was very smooth with a touchdown rate of 200 fpm noted at approximately 148;000 pounds. Once the mechanic got onboard he opened the First Officer's window and showed us the cause of the airborne noise: Speedtape had been applied all the way around the First Officer's most rearward window and during flight the tape had separated to the extent it had formed a sort of canopy along the vertical trailing edge of the window. This separated tape created the noise in the interior.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.