My fix for noisy neighbors was a white noise machine aimed at the wall

I live in a thin-walled apartment building outside Cleveland, and the guy next door watches action movies at 2 AM with the volume cranked. After complaining twice and getting nowhere, I grabbed a $30 white noise machine from Target and pointed it directly at the shared wall. It didn't block all the sound, but the rumbling bass became way less noticeable and I actually slept through the night. Has anyone else tried something like that or found a better trick?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan_mitchell24d ago

Pointing it right at the wall is actually a smart move since you're creating a sound buffer zone right where the noise bleeds through lol. I did the same thing with a box fan on high speed pushed up against the wall and it worked way better than I expected. A cheap foam pad between the device and the wall might even kill a little more of that bass rumble if you're up for experimenting.

vera19523d ago

Remember reading somewhere that putting the sound machine right up against drywall can actually amplify the vibration instead of blocking it... something about the wall acting like a big speaker cone. @drewr15 might be onto something about the foam killing the white noise though, cause the machine needs that surface contact to spread the sound evenly. My neighbor tried setting hers on a thick book instead of padding and said it worked out pretty well.

drewr1523d agoOG Member

Yeah but @logan_mitchell, I think the foam pad might actually muffle the white noise more than the bass because the machine needs to vibrate the wall a bit to work its magic. I tried a towel once and it killed the whole effect for me.