Researching ways to block out noise
My neighbors have turned up their music rather loudly, which is terrible timing as we'll all be working from home for the foreseeable future. I tried drowning it out by listening to music via my TV/soundbar. I tried talking to them - they said they would turn it down - and I tried listening to music with headphones, but the headphones eventually hurt my head (as they usually do after an hour or so.) They've been playing music from 10am to at least 8:30pm - I can't hear it now with the dishwasher running. I moved my desk setup to the dining room rather than living room which has greatly reduced the amount of bass. Tomorrow, I'll put my white noise machine in the living room to see if it blocks the noise.
I spent most of the day learning about how to block noise and specifically bass. A lot of the very effective solutions require doing things to the apartment that I can't do - get down to the drywall and reinsulate and use Green Glue, for example, or building a room in the room so there is a gap between the room you're occupying and the room that is continually getting the reverberation of the noise.
I could buy rubber flooring, but that wouldn't make my living room seem homey. I could buy thick rugs, but that would get really expensive. I ended up buying isolation pads, in hopes that their speakers/subwoofer is just on the floor or next to the wall and reverberating. By putting the gear on the pads, they will get better sound, and I won't get any. At least, that's what one commenter said when they purchased their pads after their upstairs neighbor complained about the bass from their sound system. The pads should arrive early next week, and I'll be extra polite and hope they'll be able to use them and I can have a much quieter apartment again.
It seems I can mostly block them out if I play music AND something with significant white noise, like the fan that blows hot or cold air to the vents in the apartment, or the dishwasher.
If this doesn't help, I'll have to move my desk into my guest room, that seemed to be much quieter, but also has the smallest windows and no overhead lighting, so I'd have to spend more money on getting better lighting for that room. Right now, there is just one floor lamp in the corner, as it was being used as a guest room for when my parents or brother would visit. Since travel is restricted, and I'm doing social distancing, no one will be visiting me for many months.
Hopefully we can get a solution in place that keeps them playing music while I'm in near silence.
Coronavirus update:
Still bad.
I spent most of the day learning about how to block noise and specifically bass. A lot of the very effective solutions require doing things to the apartment that I can't do - get down to the drywall and reinsulate and use Green Glue, for example, or building a room in the room so there is a gap between the room you're occupying and the room that is continually getting the reverberation of the noise.
I could buy rubber flooring, but that wouldn't make my living room seem homey. I could buy thick rugs, but that would get really expensive. I ended up buying isolation pads, in hopes that their speakers/subwoofer is just on the floor or next to the wall and reverberating. By putting the gear on the pads, they will get better sound, and I won't get any. At least, that's what one commenter said when they purchased their pads after their upstairs neighbor complained about the bass from their sound system. The pads should arrive early next week, and I'll be extra polite and hope they'll be able to use them and I can have a much quieter apartment again.
It seems I can mostly block them out if I play music AND something with significant white noise, like the fan that blows hot or cold air to the vents in the apartment, or the dishwasher.
If this doesn't help, I'll have to move my desk into my guest room, that seemed to be much quieter, but also has the smallest windows and no overhead lighting, so I'd have to spend more money on getting better lighting for that room. Right now, there is just one floor lamp in the corner, as it was being used as a guest room for when my parents or brother would visit. Since travel is restricted, and I'm doing social distancing, no one will be visiting me for many months.
Hopefully we can get a solution in place that keeps them playing music while I'm in near silence.
Coronavirus update:
Still bad.
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