I’m autistic with relatively high sound sensitivity. I’m wondering if another autistic person in this community used any soundproofing in an apartment that actually reduced noise coming from a busy street. There are a lot of different products out there and I don’t want to buy something that doesn’t work.
Ugh, I agree the lack of noise regulations is a serious issue no one talks about. I moved away from the city in large part because it was always loud. Pretty sure I got tinnitus from years of daily earplug and headphone use, too.
Nowadays, I always sleep with a fan on for noise, and if that’s not enough then I play this. Doesn’t block everything out, but really helps reduce my irritation. https://youtu.be/hXetO_bYcMo
Would it not be an option to just move somewhere quieter?
I sleep a lot better after moving out of the inner city to the edge. To an area on a dead end street
No, capitalism.
A buddy used to live in an apartment where the amount of road noise made it hard for him to sleep. He added a blackout curtain over his bedroom windows which made a huge difference for him.
I have the same issue, and ended up building myself a coffin. Soundproofing a rental apartment would have been an insane waste of money that I didn’t have anyways, and sleeping with headphones on was impossible to me due to how painful it would get, having the plugs in when I slept on my side, pushing them further in.
During the day, I used the noise canceling earphones solutions most mentioned and that worked really well, but thank heavens I’m not claustrophobic.
If it gets so bad you need to do that, make sure you get good enough ventilation, an easy way to open it, and personally since I lived with roommates, I ended up also wiring an emergency alert button, so in case anything happened to me in there, they could come into my room and rescue me. One of them even made me a sign for “The corpse is out/in” so in case of emergency or a fire, they would go and wake me up so I could evacuate too. Plus two USB ports, one for a night light, and one to charge my cellphone.
This message is getting kind of long, so let me know if you want more info about it. But in a nutshell it was just an iron frame, plywood panels, for the outer and inner walls, and rock wool for the in-between of the walls. Two doors, one on the upper panel, one on the side, so I could just roll myself out if it in case of emergency. And most importantly, and to repeat myself, ventilation.
A small custom mattress, and lining on the walls to prevent splinters, and you’re all set.
Ok this is legit super interesting. It wouldn’t work for me because I have to sleep in bed with my girlfriend, but this is really cool.
That honestly sounds amazing
Yeah, I even hooked up an AC and a fan after a while, natural ventilation wasn’t cutting it. And of course, sweat is moisture, so you need it to be dry. Laundry and properly dried sheets and blankets are a must to prevent mold.
having the plugs in when I slept on my side, pushing them further in.
just a note for others who’d like to try with the plugs before going full-coffin, wax earplugs work great and are absolutely on another level of comfort
I use silicone earplugs for years and they are good
Can’t say anything interesting about soundproofing, but I did invest 3 years trying out every possible earplug out there and I can give you a quick summary:
- pvc foam plugs
- pros
- by far the most effective option at overall noise reduction
- do not amplify your own voice when speaking
- widely available
- cons
- hard/annoying to apply, especially in hot environments
- ineffective when applied incorrectly (watch a video or two, it is not obvious)
- single use, making it both environmentally problematic and costly in the long term
- pros
- custom molded silicon plugs
- pros
- easy to put in
- comfortable even for long usage
- custom acoustic profile for musicians
- about as much noise reduction as possible except for pvc foam (still a significant gap between them)
- long lasting when cleaned and stored properly
- cons
- really expensive
- need to go get your ear scanned/molded
- the plugs are physically large making it slightly less portable (if you have small pockets or really tight jeans)
- pros
- custom diy molded plugs
- pros
- inexpansive
- noise reduction comparable to proper custom plugs
- comfortable
- easy to put in
- no need for an appointment
- cons
- many of the ones on the market are made of porous materials, making them uncleanable overtime so they are not actually safe for long term reuse
- physically large so less portable
- pros
- silicone / rubber plugs
- pros
- cheap
- widely available
- large variety of shapes and sizes means that you can find ones that will fit you well
- cleanable and reusable
- good noise reduction
- cons
- not as good at noise reduction as custom plugs
- need to be replaced about every year
- can be uncomfortable for long periods of usage
- often odd shapes are marketed as better, all shapes perform basically the same so ignore it.
- pros
- wax plugs
- pros
- block water from entering you ears when swimming
- cons
- low noise reduction as they are not really meant for that
- pros
- filter based adjustable plugs
- pros
- about the same noise reduction as silicone plugs
- reusable
- good ones will be easy to adjust making them really versatile (can be used in different noise levels while being able to hear and not be too insulated from the environment)
- cheap, about 2-5 times the price of silicone ones
- easy to put in
- comfortable
- cons
- can break
- sensitive to dust
- not easy to find
- pros
This basically covers it. My personal setup is a small two chamber box that is always with me, in one chamber there are pvc foam plugs for max noise reduction and in the other chamber I have adjustable plugs that have 3 levels that I would define as:
- Everything is slightly quiter, nice for slightly noisy places where I still want to hear or have a conversation
- Not used often, but can be useful in some specific noise levels where I want some quite but have to still be aware
- About as good as silicone plugs, I use it almost daily whenever I want some quite (basically anytime I walk in the city)
If you are interested, I am using 3m foam plugs and these random adjustable plugs that I found that are surprisingly good quality for the price (cheap so don’t expect anything special)
- pvc foam plugs
Acoustics is one of my main hobbies. The others recommending noise cancelling headphones are spot on. Most of the “soundproofing” stuff won’t stop the sound, they’re actually made to reduce echo in a room.
To stop sound you need either mass or distance, both are hard to do unless you like straight up build an inner room in your room and carefully engineer it. It sucks but there’s no getting around physics
Yeah this. There’s a reason why recording studios are so expensive, treating a room basically requires very specific construction
Can you perform ANC via stereo system?
Only for low bass rumble/roar, but I haven’t seen any noise cancelling subwoofers for some reason. Passive bass traps exist. They work because a point sink can absorb bass from a large volume of air, because of the long wavelength of low-frequency sound.
It wouldn’t work for higher frequency (shorter wave) noise because the loudspeaker could only absorb the small part of the wavefront that collides with it, and the rest would pass by. As useless as trying to cancel light pollution from street lights by adding a few vantablack objects to the room.
Theoretically it could perform better if the system had microphones where the noise was coming inside (window probably), cameras to continuously track the positions of your ears, and some computation to solve what anti-noise to play from each loudspeaker when, so that the noises would combine out of phase at your ears. The system would have to be taught the room’s reflective properties by you wearing microphones in your ears for a few hours when the typical noise was active. It still wouldn’t be as effective as adding a better window on the noise leaking window.
This is the correct answer. Don’t waste your money on expensive solutions that won’t fix the problem.
i cant be bothered to read everyone elses replys but ive found the best thing for me is some earbuds with a nice pair of over ear hearing protection. ive got some industrial over ear earmuffs with a 32 dB or so attenuation. those by themselves help a ton, but to really get the isolation ill play some brown noise or ocean waves through my earbuds. the combination of controlled noise and high attenuation of outside noise provides almost perfect sound isolation, to the point i cant hear anything in the room, even someone speaking right next to me. it helps if you can find a kind of noise thats comfortable for you, like i said for me something like brown noise or ocean waves work best. they’re soothing for me but you might prefer something else.
I am highly sensitive to sound, and it honestly has ruined my life at times when I’ve had to live in apartments. (not only do I fly into rages over excessive and/or long-lasting sound, it also gives me migraines that make half my body go weak). There aren’t really options for preventing sound bothering us using sound-proofing. That said, windows are likely your main source of problem if it’s coming from the street. You could try making sure the weather stripping is intact, cover the window with foam board, and also using plastic sheeting around the windows to create an air gap. They sell this as draft insulation at hardware stores.
You could try covering the sound with a noise machine, but if you’re like me, you will find the constant noise exhausting.
I swear we need designated “quiet” neighborhoods so people like us can just live
Foam board is light and flexible, therefore bad at blocking noise. Plastic film is even worse, unless several millimeters thick like window glass. Acoustic foam is light and flexible too, that’s why it’s supposed to be glued to a wall or ceiling to connect the missing necessary properties to the foam so it can work.
Glass is heavy, so it blocks noise well. Adding a better window on the noise leaking one will help a lot.
I agree about the weatherstrips, but if the missing strips (or open-cell foam strips) are a purposeful air intake, then you’ll have a ventilation problem to solve after sealing the window airtight.
Fair. I had done this on my house, so perhaps the distance from the street meant only a small amount of noise needed to be blocked
I feel your pain. I just can’t fully be relaxed if there’s too much sound. The sensitivity appears to have gotten worse as I’ve gotten older. I wish every product in the world had sound limits so that nothing is too loud. Most people look at me like I’m crazy because they can never truly understand.
I keep asking my therapist if my tolerance has gotten lower with age!
I’m actually living in a tent “dispersed camping” for the summer while trying to give my nervous system a break. I know how insane that sounds: camping long-term to get away from noise. But I haven’t been this relaxed in a few years, so it’s worth it to me
That sounds super relaxing… maybe someday I can do the same.
I wish we lived in a society that made it so you wouldn’t need to do that to feel peace. For now, do what you need to do to feel calm, whatever that is.
Thank you. I hope you find a solution, too
Yeah noise cancelling headphones are your best bet, it’s been a life changer for me
I already have noise canceling headphones and loops. I don’t like wearing the headphones all day because they get uncomfortable after a while. I’d like to target the sources of noise if possible.
How long are you able to wear yours? The right pair might change everything…
I’m unable to wear most headphones for longer than 15 minutes due to wierldy sensitive, painful ears but my Bose QC 35 I can literally wear for 8hrs straight before they start to irritate other areas
If you have any comfortable noise-canceling headphones recommendations that would be helpful. Mine are not really comfortable and I can’t lay down and wear them because I like to lay on my side when I rest.
I lay on my side as well so my noise cancelling headphones dont work for that sadly
If im wearing them I have to lay on my back
I’ve tried everything I can get my hands on. For actual silence (or close to it) I wear yellow foam 3m ear plugs and then I wear construction ear muffs, like what you wear to operate loud equipment, over them. Also works wearing them over a small pair of ear buds if you want white noise or music or a podcast. Construction ear muffs are light and made to be worn all day.
I also have a set of sony wh-1000xm5 and they are great for noise cancelling when also listening to music I really like.
A good pair of noise cancelling headphones is gonna be the easiest, cheapest option. You don’t even need to play music through them; just wear them and have them powered on with the noise cancellation on.
Lots of hanging cloth helps dampen noise too
At my old apartment with thin walls, we bought some cheap fleece blankets and hung them on the walls. It was janky, and they probably collected dust and needed to be washer more often than my 22 year old self realized. Wasn’t perfect acoustic isolation or anything, but it cut down on road noise and allowed us to feel like we could have conversations without the whole building knowing what we were saying. Also helped thermal insulation a lot.
“Lots” measured in mass. Buy your curtains by weight.
Leaving an air gap behind a cloth hanging on a wall extends its absorption frequency band lower because it makes it effectively as thick as the gap from the sound’s perspective. It also becomes a panel resonator with the air gap.
Oh wow, is this an area of expertise for you?
Hobby for 30 years.
Replace your windows with thicker glazing. Or if you live in a rental you can add sound proof secondary glazing in front of your windows. And for the rest of the room the best way is to build a room inside the room with soundproofing insulation behind the walls. Or hang Mass Loaded Vinyl against the walls.
Basically proper sound proofing is expensive as fuck. Cheapest is a good pair of active noise canceling headphones and custom fit earplugs.
Triple glazed vacuum sealed windows do wonders to dull out most of it.
Boots do an own brand version of loops. Easily sleepable in and cuts out a surprising amount of noise.
https://www.boots.com/wellthy-by-boots-sleep-earplugs-1-pair-10384239
I hate hearing myself breathe super loudly, which is what every in-ear noise blocker (be it plugs or earphones) causes to happen.
Same for me, doubly so with over-ear cans. Any internal noises (breathing, swallowing, coughing etc) get cranked to 11. And any noise from the cans or headrest goes to 12.
