I’ve moved to a new flat in the London suburbs. It’s great but in the communal hallway there is some machine in the ceiling - I’m guessing it’s something to do with ventilation - that makes a whirring, throbbing sound which comes through my bathroom extractor fan and is also noticeable in the hallway. And it’s just just just audible in my bedroom as something akin to a high pitched beeping. So once I tune my ears to it, in the dead of night, there it is.
This is really annoying because once I notice it it’s hard to tune out. Even with the radio on I can hear this thing. Not nice when trying to sleep.
I’ve spoken to the management company and they aren’t being very helpful and I can’t identify what it is. Even if I can I doubt I will be able to silence it properly.
I will look to sound proof my doors as I think that’s where the sound leaks through. Bit worried the high pitch nature of it will be difficult to attenuate. I’m not really sure where to start - I guess something around the edges of the doors.
Anyone else encountered annoying home noises and how have your attempts at sound proofing gone?
Does turning on the bathroom exhaust fan help change the noise at all? It might be that having airflow in that vent changes the sound.
You could try an actual white noise machine. A device like this, for example:
You can adjust it to make more or less white noise. It does a great job at drowning out other sounds. If you want to get an idea of how well it works, you can try using a regular fan on high. The whooshing of the air will be similar to the white noise machine, but the dedicated device will do it better and make a more full white noise.
The bathroom fan is loud enough to drown out the sound altogether, but not interested in leaving that on through the night.
However I have a bedside internet radio and I discovered a white noise radio station that plays it 24/7 without interruption. I can turn that on pretty quietly and it seems to do the job. It reminds me of when I slept in a cave behind a waterfall in Costa Rica!
Put a finger behind an ear and fold your ear forward loosely. It completely changes the intensity of different pitched ambient sounds. This might help you identify the source in the offending sound.
I first discovered this one night when I heard an owl far in the distance. Bending my ear made it more in tune with the owl’s hoots, which match the shape of the owl’s acoustic receptors.
