I live in a apartment, and have a loud neighbor across one of the walls. They play music with lots of bass in the middle of the night, and my wall vibrates, acting as a giant speaker which fills my room with sound.
What is the best way to block the sound?
So far all I have tried is earplugs, and they help some, but not enough. It is still too loud to sleep through, especially the bass.
I have heard of sound deadening board, but I think it would have to be glued and as it is an apartment I can’t do that.
I have also heard of using fabric, but am not sure how well it would work.
I would appreciate any advice or experience anyone has regarding creating sound barriers in an apartment, or with exceptionally effective ear plugs or ear muffs.
People I know who have had similar problems have found that calling the police is the only thing that helps (assuming that they’re college kids who play the music really really loud and not just someone who doesn’t realize how loud their music is on your side).
Past threads have recommended:
cork on the walls
bringing your neighbor over to show him/her how loud it actually is
hooking up a white noise maching. If you’re going to listen to it on headphones while you’re sleeping, I’d recommend pink noise instead as it’s less likely to damage your hearing.
Fabric and cork can work for higher frequencies but for bass you’
re going to have to dampen the vibration of the sheet rock. Unless you want to spend some money filling the stud spaces with sound insulation I think you’ll have to attack the sound at the source.
Nothing you mentioned is likely to work on bass frequencies. The speakers are probably acoustically and mechanically coupled with the floor and wall. You would have to break these links and then have some pretty good insulation to attenuate the sound much and you would probably still suffer.
Is there another bedroom you can sleep in?
Have you talked to your neighbour about at least dialing the bass down at night?
Are you willing to bring the police or landlord into the situation? It is always good to have the landlord on your side. It is practically impossible to evict anyone but rents do go up, complaints go unanswered etc… I know one landlord who would wait until he got a complaint about the plumbing and then he would remove the toilet saying he had to get a part to fix it. After traipsing down to the nearest restroom a few 100 times they would inevitably move out.
Sound proofing against low frequencies, e.g. bass, is difficult is not impossible.
Sound prevention is the real solution.
A neighbor had a jam session next door one afternoon when I was working nights and trying to sleep. It seemed as if the walls of his house were flexind in and out. Putting speakers in the windows and playing the Bagpipes of The Black Watch Regiment at full volume ended the jam session in short order. The visitors left hurriedly and shortly after the end of the CD the neighbor called to apologize and say that the Bagpipes weren’t really necessary. My response was that I wanted him to experience it first hand and to realize that unwanted music of any kind could be really annoying. Result: No more jam sessions.
You might ask your neighbors nicely to cease and desist. If not cooperative, get a speaker that can be used to make the whole wall a ‘speaker’ and play something totally contrary to the neighbors choice.
There is nothing that will passively absorb/block such sound.
If you’re handy with electronics and are willing to play dirty, I understand that a microwave oven magnetron gives off radiation destructive to electronics, and microwaves are directional.
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Well… You COULD build another wall inside your room. The only thing that will stop bass is mass. You need heavy walls that won’t move with the bass wave. So… If you’re willing to lose 8" of space, you could build a 2 x 4 wall inside the other one (not touching it). Double drywall both sides (1/2" on 5/8", and fill the interior space with fiberglass insulation.
Another option - there are heavy vinyl sound deadening curtains you can buy. The stuff weighs a ton, and is specifically for stopping this kind of noise.
But if it’s going around that wall and also coming in through registers, cracks, the door, etc., it’s much tougher.
It’s been pointed out in other threads (though I still don’t quite get why) that bass can paradoxically sound louder in other rooms. He might not be listening to it all that loud - yet it’s still affecting you. First step is to bring him into the room so he see’s what’s going on.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll look into the vinyl sound deadening curtains, but next time they do this I will ask them to come over and hear what it sounds like in my room - I hadn’t realized that the bass could be louder here than there, but that would make sense because I don’t think they would want to listen to it this loud.
If this doesn’t work, I’ll fight back with some Lightning Bolt.
I believe it is because the lower-frequency waves are longer than higher-frequency ones and thus take more time to “get up to speed” and don’t die down as quickly.
Close. The sound waves are longer, but it’s not a question of speed, but rather of “nodes” and “antinodes” of acoustic energy - the bass waves are probably longer than your neighbor’s room, so they keep heading merrily out until they find points of resonance. In this case, your apartment.