Enjoy your tour of New York! But be prepared to do it quietly.

City officials are out to shush the noisy audio systems used by sightseeing buses.Citing rising complaints from pedestrians and residents, the city's Consumer Affairs Department testified yesterday in favor of a City Council bill requiring new sightseeing buses to be equipped with headphone-only systems.

The proposal is designed to "ensure that the tour guide's voice is only audible to those on the bus...and cannot be heard by those on the sidewalk and in nearby buildings," according to a department report. The yappy tour guides atop the open-air double-decker buses have apparently been driving the natives nuts. The department was deluged by complaints during a recent community meeting.

In addition to bristling over the booming announcements, neighbors groused about the noise from idling buses and curious tourists peering into second-story apartments from the double-deckers.

Current licensed buses would be grandfathered until April 1, 2022, to ease the financial burden. The city licenses 12 sightseeing companies, which operate 250 tour buses. The Council estimates the companies took in about $3 billion as recently as 2007.

Tour guides and other industry representatives complained yesterday about the extra cost and the potential safety risk in making headset-only public announcements.