gluminal: How to Block Out Noise

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Whether it's street sounds keeping you from sleeping or office chatter disrupting your focus at work, unwanted noise can be a real annoyance. But there are ways to block out that noise! For instance, there are a lot of simple measures you can take to better soundproof your office, bedroom, or entire home. Or, you can use things like earplugs, headphones, and white noise emitters to counteract annoying sounds wherever you may be.

EditSteps

EditSoundproofing Your Space

Place heavy curtains over any windows. Even when they're closed, windows often provide the easiest route for exterior noises to make their way inside. Try hanging curtains made of heavyweight fabric over the windows—they'll help to deaden the sound waves that penetrate the glass.^[1]
- Textured fabrics like velvet or microfiber work best, and pleats or ruffles in the curtains are also beneficial.
- As a temporary measure, you can also hang blankets or towels over windows.^[2]
- Lightweight curtains will not provide nearly the same amount of soundproofing, but they will let in more light.
Roll up towels against door bottoms. If there is enough of a gap for daylight or a draft to sneak under your closed door, there's room for sound waves to come in as well. Simply roll up a bath towel and place it against the bottom of the door.^[3]
- You can also roll up a small area rug or a large sweatshirt.
Hang textured fabrics on the walls. Soft and fluffy materials with an uneven surface absorb sound waves much more effectively than solid, smooth walls. Use hooks, clips, or other methods to hang quilts, woven rugs, or similar fabrics along walls where noise penetration is an issue. They can be both decorative and functional!^[4]
- Try to keep hanging fabrics out of direct sunlight, especially if they are expensive. Sunlight coming through a window can fade the colors.
Move furniture up against the walls. Tall bookcases, cabinets, and wardrobes in particular can really help deaden sounds that penetrate a wall. You're essentially thickening the wall and reducing the ability of the sound waves to pass through.^[5]
- Cut and slide sheets of rigid or flexible foam behind the furniture to further increase the soundproofing.
- For maximum effect, you could add a built-in bookcase that spans an entire shared wall. Filling the shelves with books will only further enhance the soundproofing impact.
Use plush furniture with cushions and pillows. If you've ever moved, you've probably noticed that an empty room has an echo that disappears once it's furnished. Soft pieces of furniture like couches are particularly helpful at deadening sounds, but even just adding a few pillows can be an improvement.^[6]
- So, in theory, letting dirty clothes pile up in your bedroom may provide some soundproofing benefits. But don't expect your parents to buy this excuse!
Add carpeting or rugs to the floor. Like adding furniture in the room, floor coverings help to reduce echoes that increase the impact of noise infiltration. Also, if the troublesome noise is coming from below, they'll help reduce the amount of sound that makes it into your area in the first place.^[7]
- The thicker the floor covering, the greater the impact. So consider going retro with some 1970s-style shag carpeting!
Seal up spots of air infiltration. If air can get in from outside, so too can noise. Check around windows in particular for holes, cracks, or gaps where you can feel air coming through. Use caulk or other sealants to plug up these spots.^[8]
- Check around electrical outlets on exterior walls as well.
- Especially if you have older, single-pane windows, adding storm windows to the outside or clear plastic sheeting to the inside will help with both air and noise infiltration.
Add insulation inside walls. If you live in an older home with walls that are uninsulated or poorly insulated, sound waves will have a much easier time penetrating your living space. Consider hiring a company to add blown-in insulation to the interior of your walls. It may seem like a pricey investment for soundproofing, but you'll also save quite a bit on your heating and cooling costs.^[9]
- Whenever you're building new walls, exterior walls should always be well insulated. But insulating interior walls as well will provide noticeable noise blocking benefits.
Skip pricey acoustic panels, except for ceiling applications. In reality, acoustic panels that you hang on walls and ceilings are better at keeping sound in the room than keeping it out of the room. So, when it comes to blocking outside noises, you may find that you don't get significantly better results than you can with much cheaper alternatives (like hanging curtains or quilts).^[10]
- However, if the offending noise is coming through your ceiling, for instance from a noisy upstairs neighbor, hanging acoustic panels according to the product instructions is likely your best option. Building a second, lower ceiling with insulation in between is a less practical alternative.
- You can go all-out and invest in constructing a sound-proof room to get better results, but this isn't practical or cost-effective in most cases.

EditTuning Out Distracting Noises

Turn on a fan or white noise generator. Most people find sounds with a lot of variation—such as people talking—distracting, while consistent sounds are much less so. The consistent hum of a fan, for instance, can help block out distracting noises without being distracting itself.^[11]
- If a fan doesn't do enough to counter bothersome noises, you might want to invest in a white noise generator. These machines produce consistent sounds that are specifically intended to help block out distractions.
Play nature sounds or ambient music. These work similarly to fans or white noise machines, but have a bit more sound variation. CDs or apps of nature sounds like falling rain or ocean waves can block out unwanted noise and be soothing in their own right.^[12]
- When it comes to music, think "elevator music"—light acoustical pieces that tend to fade into the background.
Use earplugs or hearing protection earmuffs. If you don't want or need to hear anything, your best bet is to block sound waves from entering your ears. Soft foam earplugs are cheap and will contour nicely to your outer ear canal. You may get even better results from hearing protection earmuffs meant for use when operating power tools and the like. Look for them in hardware stores and home centers.^[13]
- These methods are likely to be more practical when you're studying in your room, and less so when you're working in your office and need to hear the phone ring, etc.
Download a self-adjusting white noise app. There are plenty of white noise apps available for download, but look for ones that use your smartphone's microphone to self-adjust the white noise to suit the ambient noise. You'll hardly notice the subtle shifts in the white noise, but the adjustments will do a better job of blocking exterior sounds.^[14]
- For maximum impact, consider playing the white noise app through your earbuds, then placing hearing protection earmuffs over your ears and the earbuds.
Invest in noise canceling headphones. As the name indicates, these types of headphones are designed to cancel out exterior noises while allowing you to listen to your chosen music, nature sounds, white noise, etc. They are a particularly good choice for air travel or commuting on public transportation.^[15]
- Most of the higher-quality brands of noise canceling headphones run in the range of $200-$300 (or more) USD.^[16]
- Some models have buttons that allow you to let in external sounds—for instance, so you can hear a flight attendant.
Seek assistance dealing with noise sensitivity. You probably have particular noises that really bother you, causing a reaction that goes beyond the impact of the actual noise. For instance, you may be very distracted by the faint sound of a dog barking, due perhaps to a history of bad experiences or other factors. For this type of noise sensitivity, you may benefit from professional assistance.^[17]
- Consider visiting a licensed mental health professional, who might utilize techniques such as cognitive behavioral therapy to reduce your response to particular noises.
- While there isn't much evidence to support it, some people believe that hypnosis therapy can help with noise sensitivity.