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Quieting an Apartment
J.D. Writes:
Acoustical foams and the like are designed to absorb echo, not to stop sound. They are typically light, fluffy products that are mostly air. If someone puts them up to try to stop sound from an adjacent space, it will make their space quieter. The quieter the ambient noise in a room, the easier it is to hear the sound coming in from another room. If you think of a library, it is so quiet in there that you can probably hear someone whispering to you from twenty feet away.
Then turn the fan off, the music will seem MUCH louder than it needs to be, this is because of the
difference in the ambient (background) noise. The radio had to be turned up so that it was audible OVER the background noise. By increasing the background noise in your apartment, it will be harder for your ears to pick up the sound that is bothering you now.
The white noise theory might not help with severe impact noise or with bass from a sub-woofer, but it is the low-cost, easy approach that might at least help.
I found your email on the website and am hoping you can help! I live in an apartment that occupies the half of the bottom floor of an owner occupied home. The apartment is approximately 500sq ft and the home is about 4 years old. My bedroom is directly below my landlord's and despite the six inches of concrete between our spaces, the ability for noise to travel from up to down is amazing. I can hear their bed squeak when they rollover in bed and even hear them fluff their comforter in the morning. The footfall noise is unbearable. I'm wondering what options there might be to create a buffer between my ceiling and their floor. They seem unwilling to purchase a rug or foam padding on their end, so is there a product that can be hung or attached to my ceiling Thanks so much for your help.Unfortunately, there is no easy way to get a soundproof apartment. Your problem is extremely common and incredibly difficult to help, even a little bit. I get probably 10 calls a week from people in a similar situation. After I go through my whole explanation of how to fix the problem, I am asked something like “Can’t I just put up some acoustical foam panels? Won’t that help at least a little?” Unfortunately that’s not the case, and it can even make the problem worse.