My Top Tips To Block Out Noise In Bed

photo of many earplugs with text saying: block out noise and sleep in peace

How much sleep have you lost recently because of loud neighbours, a snoring partner, barking dogs, or traffic?

If you’re as sensitive to noise as I am, it can be a real struggle to sleep through the night if your bedroom isn’t whisper quiet.

Considerate family members or housemates will hopefully turn down their television or music volume if you ask them nicely. But it’s not so easy to stop someone snoring, or to sleep through the roar of your neighbour’s all-night party.

And don’t get me started on the problem of old houses with wooden floorboards and poor sound insulation! If someone walks around in the room above you or slams doors, the sound can vibrate right through the house and into your tired head.

Noise has long been my nemesis when it comes to sleep. It’s the main reason I’ve spent years testing earplugs, sound machines, headphones, and various other ways to create my own little oasis of silence.

In this article, I’ll be sharing the techniques that have worked best for me personally, and suggesting ways that might help you either cut down the noise at night or at least reduce it to a tolerable level.

Contents

Part 1: Blocking or masking the noise

I’ll start with the main ways to block or mask the noise you hear as this is what I have the most experience with personally. As well as testing and reviewing many earplugs, headphones, and white noise machines here and on my YouTube channel, I’ve used them on most nights throughout my entire adult life.

Sometimes your best chance for peace is to prevent as much of the noise as possible from reaching your ears. If that doesn’t work, another technique is to mask it with sound that you find more relaxing, such as music, nature recordings, podcasts, sleep stories, or white noise.

I’m not suggesting giving up on trying to stop the noise at its source if you’re able to. However, when someone else controls the noise source, it may be more effective to focus your efforts on reducing how much noise gets inside your head.

I’ll often wear earplugs because they block out all of the noise where I live at the moment. But I’ll also sometimes use noise-cancelling headphones or a white noise machine. It’s all about finding what works best for you, is comfortable, and blocks the specific noise in your bedroom.

Earplugs

In the photo below, you can see three versions of the trendy Loop earplugs, and my favourite basic foam earplugs, which still block out more noise.

Loop earplugs and foam earplugs

In my experience, it’s hard to beat a really good set of earplugs. There are many to choose from, so you may need to try a couple of brands, styles, or sizes to get the best fit.

The difference between earplugs that fit you well with a noise reduction rating of 33 decibels and earplugs that don’t quite fit or only have a noise reduction rating of 27 decibels is significant. So it’s worth doing your own tests to find the most comfortable and effective ones for your ears.

Some brands I recommend trying because they typically have high noise reduction ratings are Moldex, Howard Leight, Hearoes, Flents, Mack’s, 3M and Ear Buddy. All of these can be bought online and in some stores, especially in the United States.

A while back, I tested and compared Loop earplugs alongside basic foam earplugs. You might find my snoring, music, and barking dogs tests interesting. Even though the Loop are more stylish and modern, the foam earplugs did a better job on the whole.

And if you like foam, take a look at my earplugs article in which I review and recommend multiple brands. It’s a few years old now, but I still use the ones I discussed (Mack’s UltraSoft) and the majority are still available.

Noise-cancelling or sleep headphones

In my experience, there are three main styles of headphones to consider for sleep: headbands, dedicated sleep buds, and standard noise-cancelling headphones.

2024 was a good year for sleep buds as the Soundcore Sleep A20 and Ozlo Sleepbuds came out. They are both very small, with the option to either stream your own music or turn off your phone and listen to sleep sounds or white noise stored directly on the earbuds.

In my tests (which you can see in the articles linked above), I found they both did a good job of blocking a lot of external noise.

In the photo below, you can see from left to right: Soundcore Sleep A20, Ozlo Sleepbuds, Soundcore Sleep A30.

sleep headphones

Then in 2025, the Soundcore Sleep A30 came along. To my knowledge, they were the first dedicated sleep headphones with active noise cancellation. It’s not as effective as my new AirPods Pro 3, for example, but it does help and they are good for masking external noise.

You can check out my headphones comparison article for more details on all three of those headphones, as well as some others.

The headband style of headphones typically contain flat or relatively small speakers, and are a good option if you don’t want anything inside your ear canals while sleeping. There are no headbands I know of that have active noise cancellation though, so it’s a case of masking noise with more noise. The Acousticsheep Sleepphones are the best of this style I’ve found so far.

Finally, there are of course many excellent noise-cancelling headphones you could try, especially from companies like Apple, Sony, and Bose. Their larger size means they are less likely to be comfortable when you lie on your front or side, however, so are best suited to predominantly back sleepers. They do give you the option to only have noise cancellation rather than music though, so may be worth trying.

White noise machines or other speakers

White noise or nature recordings can be helpful for masking certain types of external noise. I’ve found they are usually better for blocking noise that’s further away, such as television, music, people talking, birdsong, household appliances, AC units on building exteriors, and distant traffic.

However, they aren’t so effective if you sleep next to someone snoring or if people you live with or upstairs neighbours are stomping around upstairs and creating a lot of impact noise; you might have more luck with earplugs or headphones in those situations.

I published a video and article comparing 20 white noise machines, with my recommendations in 10 different categories to help you pick one.

Below, you can see all 20 white noise machines I tested. As you can see, there’s quite a range of sizes and designs!

white noise machines

I also published a video in which I tested seven white noise machines that contain a real fan. You can listen to the type of noise I tried to block and how the machines sound.

You do need to be mindful of the volume and length of time you listen to white noise for. That’s why most white noise machines have an auto-off timer and/or lower maximum volume than traditional speakers.

Another option is to use an app and Bluetooth speaker, or a home smart speaker. This gives you some flexibility to choose other sounds, and the option to use a sleep timer too. If you already have one of those, you can avoid spending money on a new device.

Part 2: Psychological and practical ideas

Coping with a snoring partner

Just to be clear, I’m not a medical professional. However, I feel it would be a lost opportunity not to include a section on snoring and sleep apnea.

If you sleep with someone who snores, I recommend asking them to consider mentioning it to their doctor to rule out sleep apnea. Additionally, there are lifestyle changes and snoring self-help products they could look into. Some can be bought online or in pharmacies, and a doctor or dentist can also recommend good ones.

If your partner is willing to work with you on the problem, it might have a better outcome than you resorting to earplugs for years rather than addressing the underlying cause.

There are also lots of helpful resources available online for snoring. The American Medical Association has a useful article discussing what doctors wish patients knew about snoring.

The NHS website in the United Kingdom has a brief factsheet about snoring. And the British Snoring and Sleep Apnea Association has useful information and guides.

The art of communicating with neighbours or housemates

If someone you live with is making noise that’s disrupting your sleep, it shouldn’t be too difficult to ask them nicely to be quieter – in theory.

In reality, we all have different perspectives on what’s unacceptably noisy, what time is considered late at night, and how well others should tolerate what we do in our own homes.

This means the art of negotiation, or control if you’re a parent, is going to be invaluable. It’s important to ask someone diplomatically to understand that the noise is affecting your sleep, daily life, and well-being.

In my experience, calmly explaining how your life is affected usually gets a better response than just telling someone they are being annoying (even if it’s true). By asking for help and understanding, you’re more likely to get it than if you confront them angrily.

One practical example is to explain to an upstairs neighbour that you can hear them walking around in the morning before going to work, and ask if they’d mind putting their shoes or heels on just before they leave home? They might not have even realised their shoes were making so much noise and be fine with your suggestion.

And if you have a housemate or roommate who keeps you up with gaming noise or watching things on their phone, tablet or TV, asking them to use headphones is perfectly reasonable.

Avoid a sound war

If it’s a neighbour disturbing you, I’d recommend resisting the temptation to enter into a sound war. Again, start with a polite request and continue to ask politely. If you blast your music back at them, nobody wins.

If someone is willing to work with you, try doing some experiments to find the maximum volume they can set a television or stereo to without you hearing it. They could even use a little sticker to mark the maximum volume point.

It might sound like a silly idea or just something nobody really does, but I actually did this with my downstairs neighbour when I was the offending noise creator in my younger days!

Many years ago, my downstairs neighbor told me they could hear my music in the evening and they were working shifts so would appreciate it if I could keep the volume down after 8 p.m.

It only took us a few minutes of playing around with the volume and different songs to find the exact level where the bass wasn’t reaching their ears in bed. And in fact, it wasn’t much lower than I enjoyed listening to anyway, so I was fine with it.

Call the noise busters

This is a more drastic course of action, and won’t earn you any friends: if your neighbours are being continually noisy in a disrespectful way, there may be a local government noise pollution department you can call.

This varies from country to country, but might be the only way to deal with building work on a Sunday morning or constant late-night parties.

Looking up the law where you live can help prepare your case. For example, check online what time builders can start up their power tools, what time fireworks can go on to, how late music can be played in the street.

And while on the topic of making phone calls, if you live in a new build or an old house that was converted into apartments and the soundproofing is terrible, you might find the construction doesn’t meet building regulations.

This would require some investigation, but might be worth it in the long run if you feel comfortable persuading the landlord to fulfil their legal obligations.

Move your bedroom

This might seem like a dramatic course of action, and I know not everyone has enough rooms to simply move their bedroom.

But if your bedroom is next to a main road, a room with a screaming toddler, heavy metal fan, or barking puppy, it might be worth sleeping in a quieter room of your house.

If you don’t have a spare bedroom, and it’s only the occasional night that noise disturbs you, there’s another option: move your bed or even just the mattress to a quiet space in your home when needed.

I’ve personally had no problem carting my mattress into the living room in the past if it meant I actually got some sleep. It’s an instant fix, and I really don’t care how it looks or sounds to sleep on the floor temporarily!

Of course, not everyone is physically able or willing to move a heavy mattress from room to room. In that case, a backup option could be an airbed that you keep in another room. Although it won’t be as comfortable as a normal mattress, you’ll at least have the option to sleep in the quietest spot in your home. If you need to do this often, you could even get a soft foam mattress topper to throw over the airbed to make it more comfortable.

Finally, if you’re staying in a hotel for the night, ask in advance for a quiet room or even to change rooms if the one they give you is noisy. I’ve found hotel staff are usually happy to help if you ask nicely and there are rooms free.

Be prepared for summer noise

Back in June 2023, my 18 year old neighbour came home from the Glastonbury festival with a bunch of friends and decided to continue the party in their garden.

On a Monday night.

It was especially hot that night, so we naturally had the window open. Closing the window obviously reduced a lot of the noise, but it also meant no breeze and a hotter bedroom.

Fortunately, I have a way to cool my bed and bedroom, so I was able to sleep okay with the window closed for one night, even though I prefer to keep it open.

It did get me thinking though. I realised that it can be noisier in the summer, both in urban areas and in the countryside where birds and other animals wake early and make all sorts of noise.

So, perhaps the trick in the summer is to at least have a fan and lighter bedding at the ready. The fan sound might even help mask other noise that’s keeping you awake.

Why didn’t I ask my neighbour to turn off their Monday night drum and bass? Because I was 18 once too, and it was (hopefully) a rare event. Besides, they were so drunk, I don’t think my complaint would have done much good! So I just stuffed in some earplugs and did my best to relax and fall asleep.

Mind over noise

In my experience, sleep problems can easily end up in a vicious circle. The stress of being kept awake by noise can itself turn into a worry that you won’t sleep. That worry can then become the reason you can’t sleep.

And if the person or thing making the noise makes your blood boil and fills you with rage, that’s a problem; it’s very hard to relax and fall asleep when your head is swimming with angry thoughts.

How do you adjust your own reaction to the noise? One approach is to try and control how much you allow yourself to be upset by noise at night. How you go about doing that though can come down to several factors.

If you’re prone to stress or anxiety, I know it can be hard to let go of noise disturbances. Trying to adopt a new attitude that you forgive (or at least tolerate) whoever or whatever is making the noise, and that you can learn to sleep with it can take time.

It’s not impossible though, and you may find you eventually become accustomed to certain sources of noise, such as traffic, and learn to sleep with it. I know the steady drone of traffic isn’t the same as an unexpected party next door at 2 a.m. But in that case, reminding yourself that it doesn’t happen every night might be the best tactic.

Personally, I try to take a few deep breaths to refocus my brain away from wishing I had Jedi powers so I could melt my neighbour’s speakers. It might sound over-simplistic, but focusing on your breathing is often a simple and effective way to reduce the impact of negative thoughts.

Body over noise

My experience has always been that I sleep better when I engage in daily activities that tire me out physically and mentally – even if it’s noisier than I’d like it to be.

I know from spending years observing my own sleep, and how different factors impact it, that when I go to bed feeling ready to sleep, I’m much more likely to sleep through noise than when I go to sleep with excess energy I haven’t managed to burn off.

So try to stay active, both physically and mentally.

Part 3: Thoughts on soundproofing a bedroom

Finally, we come to the most involved ideas for dealing with noise at night, both practically and potentially financially depending on the lengths you’re willing to go to.

I’ve left this part to the end simply because it’s not my area of expertise. I spend my time testing and reviewing sleep products, not building clever soundproofing walls!

However, I have done some of the less invasive steps below, and found them very effective. Additionally, I’ve spent many hours watching videos, reading articles, and speaking with my sister who is an architect and my cousin who is a sound engineer to understand what’s involved in soundproofing a bedroom.

So, I highly recommend doing a good amount of research yourself before embarking on any of the DIY tasks below, and consulting a professional if they are beyond your skillset.

Why soundproof your bedroom?

Sound has an astonishing ability to find its way through the smallest of gaps. It doesn’t just travel through the air either – it also travels through solid materials as vibration. That’s why you can sometimes hear bass, footsteps, or even a washing machine through the structure of the building itself.

Because of this, properly soundproofing a room is rarely simple. If the original construction didn’t isolate sound very well, fixing it afterwards can be expensive, disruptive, and sometimes not even allowed if you’re renting.

If you have the budget, one option is to hire an acoustic consultant. Searching for “acoustic consultant near me” will usually bring up local companies who can assess your home and give tailored advice. Just be aware that professional soundproofing work can be costly, and even then it might not eliminate every bit of noise.

Before going that far, there are some less extreme steps you can try.

First, a common myth

You may have seen foam panels advertised online as “soundproofing.” The thing is, they aren’t very effective at stopping noise from coming into your bedroom.

Acoustic foam reduces echo inside a room. It’s useful for recording audio or improving clarity, but it does very little to stop noise coming through walls from neighbours or traffic.

To block sound from entering or leaving a room, you generally need:

  • Better sealing.
  • More mass.
  • Or structural separation.

While adding mass does help reduce airborne sound, foam panels are simply too light to make any meaningful difference. Even a bookshelf full of books can provide some actual weight and density; foam has a minimal impact.

So if your goal is better sleep in a noisy home, foam panels are unlikely to solve the problem.

Start with the simple wins

Seal gaps and cracks

If you can feel air coming through a gap, sound can get through too. If you can see light around a door or window frame, for example, then you’re losing sound insulation there too.

So check these areas of your bedroom:

  • Window frames.
  • Door frames.
  • Skirting boards.
  • Floorboards.
  • Any visible cracks or seams.

Using an appropriate acoustic sealant can be inexpensive and surprisingly effective. In many cases, sound leaks through small openings more than it passes directly through solid walls.

Use a door sweep or draft excluder

Interior doors are often one of the weakest points in a bedroom when it comes to sound travelling around the inside of a house.

Adding weatherstripping around the frame and a door sweep (also called a draft excluder) underneath can reduce the amount of sound coming through the gaps. I’ve used a door-length fabric draft excluder (mine happens to be shaped like a sausage dog), and even that can take the edge off noise.

Even just rolling up a towel and placing it at the bottom of the door can work, such as when staying in a hotel or someone else’s house for a few nights.

It won’t make the room silent, but it can reduce the sharpness of voices, general household noise, and people walking past your bedroom.

Hang heavy curtains (with realistic expectations)

Hanging heavy curtains or blackout drapes over the windows might slightly reduce higher-frequency noise and improve the sense of quiet in your bedroom.

However, they won’t dramatically block loud traffic or deep bass from music. And as always, make sure any materials you hang are fire-safe.

Add mass where you can

Airborne sound, such as voices or television noise, is best blocked by mass.

You can add some mass in renter-friendly ways by placing furniture against the wall where most sound is travelling through. It won’t block everything, but it may slightly reduce how clearly you hear it. Every little helps.

Try these along the offending noisy wall:

  • Full bookshelves.
  • Wardrobes.
  • Cupboards.

If the problem is footsteps from above

Footsteps and furniture dragging are a different type of noise. They travel through the building as vibration rather than just through the air.

If you have control over the room above you, adding thick carpet, dense underlay, or heavy rugs can make a noticeable difference.

If you don’t control the upstairs space, unfortunately there’s less you can do without major work.

One small tip you could try in this situation is reducing how much vibration reaches your bed itself. Putting thick squares of neoprene or heavy-duty rubber anti-vibration pads under your bed legs may slightly reduce how much vibration travels into the bed frame while you’re lying in it. It won’t solve the problem entirely, but it’s a relatively simple thing to experiment with.

Intermediate improvements

If sealing gaps and rearranging furniture isn’t enough, the next step usually involves more extensive steps to increase mass or improve window insulation.

Replacing a hollow-core door with a solid-core door can help reduce voices and general household noise.

If traffic noise is the issue, adding a properly fitted window insert creates an extra air gap, similar to double glazing, which can significantly reduce airborne sound.

These changes cost more than sealing gaps, but they can be effective.

Major structural changes

If you want serious sound reduction, especially for persistent neighbour noise or bass from music, then major structural changes might be required, which goes beyond simple DIY.

To significantly improve a wall’s soundproofing, two things help:

  1. Increasing the mass of the wall.
  2. Reducing vibration travelling through it.

For example, adding extra layers of acoustic plasterboard increases mass and can reduce airborne noise.

Even more effective is building a new stud wall in front of the existing wall, leaving a gap between them. That gap makes it much harder for vibration to travel from one side to the other.

However, these steps aren’t without downsides to consider:

  • A secondary wall can reduce the size of your bedroom.
  • It can be expensive.
  • It may require professional installation, raising the cost even more.
  • It might not even be allowed in rented properties.

I would think very carefully before investing in major structural soundproofing and get expert advice unless you really know what you’re doing.

A room within a room? Maybe, with expert help

Over the years, many readers have told me they feel stuck. They can’t move rooms. They can’t control the neighbours. And the noise, especially from upstairs, feels relentless.

I once asked my cousin, who runs his own recording studio, whether there’s a simple material you can just plaster over the walls to shut out all sound, like in a studio. Sadly, he told me there isn’t.

Studios work because they’re built with layers of mass and physical separation. In some cases, they are effectively a room built inside another room, with structural gaps designed to stop vibration transferring through the building.

In theory, you could create something similar in a home bedroom. In practice, it’s a major job that requires money, space, and serious DIY skills or professional help. There may also be building regulations and fire safety issues to consider.

Personally, although the idea sounds appealing in principle, it’s not something I’ve tried or plan to try. The cost, effort, and loss of space would put me off.

I’ve only included it here as a point of interest for those who are curious about the most extreme solutions. If you’re considering anything on that scale, as I keep saying, I strongly recommend getting professional advice first.

Further reading

Despite my focus on coping strategies for dealing with nighttime noise in this article, it’s important to acknowledge the potential adverse effects that noise can have on our sleep quality. Insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality can lead to negative health outcomes.

There have been numerous scientific studies conducted on the impact of noise on sleep that you might find interesting. My intention isn’t to alarm you, but they might help you decide how important it is to tackle the noise problem you have.

This article in 2014 looks into the cardiovascular consequences of environmental noise exposure.

A comprehensive review in 2018 considers a broad range of studies examining the impact of noise on sleep.

This article in 2022 looks at the impact of environmental noise on children’s sleep habits.

An article on the World Health Organization website has recommendations for the acceptable noise levels in bedrooms – ideally less than 30 A-weighted decibels.

Your views

Does noise keep you awake at night? Feel free to share your story or vent your frustration in the comments below.

And if you have any useful techniques for coping with noise at night, I’d love to hear them.

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  1. This is the article I’ve needed for years. I live in an apartment complex with parking right outside my bedroom window. I can manage the noise well in the winter, but summer can be tortuous. Earplugs, a box fan in the window—helps mask late-night parking lot chats, partying neighbors, etc. My home is on a busy city corner with sirens and drag racing noise (ugh!). I dream of living in the country and away from manmade noise.

    • Hi Julie,
      Thanks for your comment and I’m glad the article was useful (hopefully!). Sorry to hear you have so much noise to contend with – I know how hard that level of noise can be to sleep with. It always seems particularly unfair when opening the window is the logical thing to do in summer, but at the same time the worst thing you can do if there is lots of noise coming from outside! Have you ever experimented with finding a way to keep cool in the summer while the window stays shut, or is that just not possible?
      Regards
      Ethan

  2. I am suprised that a canopy bed was not mentioned in the article. It would seem to fit in the “room within a room” 🙃 solution. Perhaps they get too dusty for allergy sufferers. An air purifier is also a great solution for white noise anyways.🙃 Stay fabulous🌺

    • Hi there,
      Thanks for your comment. A canopy bed might help, but it would need to have material all the way around I imagine. And yes, an air purifier can be a nice sound, depending on your taste.
      Regards
      Ethan

    • Hi David,

      For that, you’d be looking at headphones I think. Dedicated options like the Ozlo Sleepbuds and Soundcore Sleep A20 or A30 can be used for noise masking and have in-built alarms. You could of course just use standard headphones too and set an alarm – if you find them comfortable to wear in bed.

      Regards
      Ethan

  5. This is a really helpful post, thank you so much. I have terribly noisy neighbors, so need something to get rid of the sounds keeping me awake.

  6. I live in a 1-bedroom flat above a shop on a busy main road, and for the last few months, the noise of traffic that comes into the house is horrendous. I’m a city man, so I get that there’s a fair bit of traffic, but seriously, it’s like I’m living outside. I can hear conversations as well as people go past, and that’s without my window open. I tried blackout thermal curtains, which are supposed to reduce the noise, but they haven’t helped much. Now, I have resorted to wearing earplugs at night to try and block the noise out, but it only blocks a little bit.

    I’ve spoken to the landlord, but it always seems like he just shrugs me off and tells me that the windows are double glazed. I know they are double glazed, but I also know that double glazed windows need maintenance at some point, and I believe that either a seal is broken or something needs fixing. And now, to top it off, my neighbors, who I think are two 20-something women, talk till the small hours of the morning, laughing and giggling and whooping.

    I think it’s time I speak to the landlord again and ask him to sort this out and not treat me like an idiot. For the rent I’m paying, he should at least try a little harder.

    • Hi Phil
      Thanks for sharing your experience, and I’m sorry to hear you’re having a difficult time with the noise. I hope the landlord decides to get the windows checked out. If you can at least tolerate wearing earplugs, then I highly recommend experimenting with those. There are lots of very good earplugs, and sometimes it’s a case of trial and error until you find the right fit and comfort for your particular ear canals.
      Regards
      Ethan

  7. I have been sleeping on my couch for five months because both of my bedrooms share a wall with the neighbors next door and they play their TV until 1 am and I hear the bass in both of my bedrooms and can not sleep. I also get the vibrations with the sound. Any suggestions? Bose Noise Canceling Headphones did nothing to block the low frequency sound and vibrations, nor ear plugs. Running a fan and air purifier did nothing to block the noise. Moving my bed away from the common wall and putting felt pads under my bed did not help. Any ideas?

  8. Hi, so I guess it’s going to be raining and going to be windy. My bedroom is by a gutter and when it rains really hard I can hear it hit the gutters. Do you have any ideas on how I can sleep through all of this?

    • Hi AJ
      I don’t really have any specific ideas for the noise of wind or rain, other than to try the ideas early on in the article. Earplugs work well for me for outside noises usually, as do headphones.
      Regards
      Ethan

  9. Hi,
    In your article, you have an illustration of stacking pillows over your head. You didn’t talk about this much. I’ve found it did help a bit. I was wondering if a memory foam pillow would block more noise than my feather pillow. It would be for those weekend mornings when I want to sleep a little more about people are out making noise such as cutting their lawns.
    J

    • Hi James
      The reason is that the cartoon illustrates the point of being frustrated by a partner. I didn’t want to advise people to smother themselves though and I’m not sure it’s really a good long-term solution anyway. To answer your question though, I think maybe memory foam pillows would require more effort to fold over your head continually, which would be less comfortable anyway.
      Regards
      Ethan

  10. Ok this is the situation. I have a 10 year old who is in school. I was a happy single mother for the first 7 years of her life. I supported us both financially. For some reason I still don’t understand I decided I would buy a house with a boyfriend, we equally paid for it and it’s paid off in full. Now we can’t stand each other. So I thought working nights would be a great idea for all involved and I could still be home with my little one in the morning and after school. He never bothers me when I sleep but he intentionally disturbed my daughter. I know better than to accuse him of this because it will just make matters worse. So I had to quit my job, not a big deal. Anyways my question is this. I bought a white noise box. It’s ok if anyone has any good suggestions on a better brand or anything would be appreciated. I paid 40 for the one I use now and can’t spend another dollar unless I’m sure I can trust it will be an improvement. I have even had to resort to melatonin every night. And I’m not comfortable with that. I am working on getting my own home so he can have what we both equally spent in cost. I just want peace and quiet, melatonin free for my daughter.

    • Hi Bemyi
      Sorry to hear about the difficult situation you are in right now. What is the name of the white noise machine you bought? If money is tight, you could use a speaker and a free phone app instead, if you have that available. What kind of sound does he create that disturbs her sleep?

      Regards
      Ethan

  11. Hi Ethan,

    I hope you are well and sleeping well too. I have PTSD, so noises make me very jumpy and make sleep harder.

    I am living with someone very noisy (slamming doors, shouty stage voice 6am to midnight) so I actually went for an extreme solution and had a cabin built in the back garden to use as a sleeping sanctuary. I am very lucky!

    However, moving from a room in a house with insulated brick walls facing a quiet street, to a wood cabin with 45mm thick walls under lots of trees has had a surprise downside: the dawn chorus.

    The birds are pretty noisy generally but I can tolerate it. But between 4am and 5am they are so, so loud. I read they give out all their mating calls in spring and summer when it’s not too light. No way can I sleep through it.

    I guess my options are:

    – Go to bed extremely early and get up with the birds!

    – Try to soundproof the cabin. We need to insulate it anyway. I am trying to stick to natural materials and considered expanded cork wall tiles, or a frame filled with wool cladding covered with wood planks.

    – Try earplugs or noise cancelling headphones. I already have Bose Quietcomfort earbuds and use a system of stuffing socks to make a donut shape to stop them digging in. This is comfortable for an hour or so but not all night. Also based on what you’ve said I’m not sure they’d work on birdsong. I am also intrigued by the QuietOn noise cancelling sleep buds.

    Any suggestions very gratefully received as this is a very expensive project if it fails!

    Thank you for all this great info :-)

    Best wishes,

    Jen, UK

    • Hi Jen

      Thanks for your comment. It’s very interesting to hear about your project and the lengths you felt you had to go to to get some peace. I guess it’s nicer being woken up by birds than slamming doors. However, I know from experience of living in the countryside that those birds do get started very early in the morning in the UK!

      I have exactly the same problem where I’m currently living, but find that good foam earplugs do a good enough job of blocking out enough birdsong for me to stay asleep. But you do need really well fitting ones with a high noise reduction rating starting score to have much hope of blocking out their high frequencies.

      I don’t think the Quieton are the best option for sleep, or for birds. So I would save your money on those.

      That’s my advice before investing even more money in sound proofing your cabin. Try a few different types of decent earplugs. I’d order them online, and avoid the basic ones in UK supermarkets or pharmacies, as they tend to have a lower noise reduction rating. Perhaps try some Mack’s, howard leight, or moldex.

      All the best
      Ethan

  12. Hello Ethan,
    Thank you for your wonderful thoughts about noise and soundproofing. I was wondering if you could help me?
    I live in 1 bedroom flat in a block, that was designed and built as a frame, then the flats (called Pods), were built separately, and then fitted into the framework building one by one. They are quite good on sound for flats, but I have something called Bi-polar and OCD, and I have figured out in the last 6 months or so, my sleep greatly affects my condition. There are new people who live above me now, and they are only in their early 20s, and seem to not care much about anyone else but themselves. I put some notes up at the start of Jan becomes if people let the internal doors, which shut automatically on their own as they are fire doors, slam, or even shut too much on their own, it reverberates up or down and wakes people up. I spoke to them myself and she made up excuses. I am 6foot 3, and have a lot of scars on my arms from self harm, so I didn’t wanna push it when I was not sure if she was there alone, as her saying I was getting stroppy (as she is someone who might exaggerate if it was to serve her purposes), would only look bad for me. So I backed down. My friend Becky came up and she went up there on the saturday and explained. At first they tried to fob her off, saying the woman was a building serveyer, and sound doesn’t travel through the walls as they are concrete. Even though her example was the walls to the sides of the flat, not the floor and ceiling, which is what we were referring to. Long and short, Becky told her she had also been woken up from then door slamming when she short at mine On the sofa. Her BF was there, and they both backed down a little after that. She went in their flat and they tried saying “they don’t make any noise”, and opened the door about a foot and let it shut, and Becky said “no, but you can’t fit through a gap like that and even if you open them a bit more (not even wide open), they do make noise. She told them about why I wasn’t talking to them myself, and about the bipolar things, and they were a bit more understanding. For a few nights it was ok, then last Tuesday in the day they slammed it, so I chucked a ball at the ceiling and it went quiet. Then again at 2.30 am on Sunday morning, and once again today. So I am pissed off, and have been reading all about how to use earplugs (which I have done anyway for years). I was thinking maybe there are ones that are better than the silicone and foam ones I have. I have noise cancelling headphones, but they are over the ear ones, so you can’t wear them and go to sleep on a your side.
    You can get the in-ear ones that cancel noise, but I’m not sure how more effective they would be than silicone ones.
    The flat above now has laminate floors, which won’t help.
    Is there any way I can do stuff to stop the sound coming down the walls (it seems to), or in general through the ceiling?
    I thought about moving my mattress, but they are totally unpredictable, and if I slept in the lounge, I don’t know if that would change the distance much between the doors they seem to be slamming, and where I am.
    If you could think of anything, I would be very very very grateful.
    Many thanks,
    Matthew

    • Hi Matthew

      Thanks for your comment, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with this.

      Hear are my thoughts:

      – First of all, I think you did the right thing in not being too pushy and having a friend help out. It will hopefully serve you well in the long run if you need to work with them somehow to reduce the noise. I’d avoid throwing stuff at the ceiling though if you can resist, as it is unlikely to achieve much other than annoying them too and making them care less about being quiet.

      – I think moving the bed to another room can help a lot sometimes, but it depends on various factors. I would give it a go and see.

      – Those fire doors usually have swing arms with more than one part that can be adjusted. The last ones I worked with had a setting for the initial door close speed, and another for the final closing. If you can get the landlord involved, they might be able to send someone to adjust them to reduce the speed of whichever setting is a bit off. I’ve done this before myself and it worked really well. It does depend on the particular door and the mechanism used though.

      – Have you tried different foam earplugs? Those with a noise reduction rating of around 33 are worth exploring. And try different sizes to get the right fit for you. Brands I recommend are 3M, Heroes, Moldex, Mack’s, Howard Leight.

      – Noise cancelling earphones can help, but if you’re a side sleeper it’s trickier. Sony make some good in-ear ones, but they won’t stop the sound of door slams reaching your brain unless you also have music playing through them. If you find music relaxing and can sleep with it, maybe try a headband style like the AcousticSheep sleepphones.

      – Preventing impact noise at your end is very hard. You could need to invest significant funds into changing the ceiling and maybe walls too, with no guarantee it would work. So I would try smaller steps like mentioned above before even thinking about splashing out on acoustic soundproofing.

      Hope that helps!
      Regards
      Ethan

  13. We have the unfortunate luck to have moved next door to a housebound guy that watches TV 24 hours a day. He has a sound system on his TV so we hear the bass at night. He even opens his window when it’s 20 degrees out so we’re convinced he’s not all there. We ended up making sure our bedroom window opposite his by about 25′ diagonally was all sealed up and even made a soundproof board to fit in the window perfectly. It’s made of 1/4″ plywood and soundproof panels on both sides of it. Yet we still hear the boom boom bass at night. Any options for this situation?
    Thanks

    • Hi Steve
      Sorry to hear you’re struggling with this noise issue. It’s a difficult one, I know! I think you’re either going to have to try something like earplugs, headphones, white noise at your end. Or maybe adding furniture by the wall where the sound is coming through to soak up more of the sound energy. But really, your best bet might be to try to talk to him politely and see if you can work together to find a volume level that’s acceptable to you and he can still enjoy whatever he likes to listen to.
      Regards
      Ethan

  14. Hi Ethan, Thank you for your informative article. Over the many years I’ve worked out that I’m particularly sensitive to low frequency noise. Basically anywhere near roads/traffic or overhead aircraft seems to diminish my sleep quality significantly, yet higher frequencies (creaky old houses, birds in the morning) cause no issues. Have tried double glazed glass windows, white noise machines, and even noise masking air plugs – but they don’t really help that much. Any tips on dealing with lower frequencies?

    • Hi Anthony
      Which white noise machines have you tried? Did they have good pink or brown noise? Perhaps that might help. If you have a decent speaker or set of headphones, you could just download an app and experiment with different noise colours to see if anything helps.
      Regards
      Ethan

  15. Lol so I moved here sometime in 2013 I wanna say, and everything was peaceful and quiet. Then, one of my neighbors passed on from old age and everything was still peaceful and quiet for a good few years until this year. The person who lives 2 houses away on the next street never knew how to quiet their dog at all, never knew that their music was literally blasting through the street keeping everyone awake, and now I have to deal with them constantly revving random vehicle engines all day and they’re enough of a jerk to even do it through the night. It’s super annoying to constantly hear it through whatever I’m doing and I keep thinking about going to tell them to stop revving it so much but people keep telling me that I shouldn’t because “it’s a normal noise”. I feel like if you’re trying to fix something and genuinely fix it, you shouldn’t have to keep revving an engine and every other vehicle engine you have. Even with a car you don’t even do that, like I feel like you either know what you’re doing or you don’t and you annoy everyone else around you who’s just trying to live peacefully and quietly. As you can tell this person is really getting on my nerves and I don’t know what to do at this point so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

  16. I’ve complained to my landlord once. I’ve spoken with my neighbors more than 3 times. Still, I got woken up either by their television/conversation past midnight or heavy elephant footsteps.
    I’ve spent so much money on moving blankets, heavy curtains, carpets. Sadly the noise still passes through from downstairs and the apartment beside.
    I even wear noise-canceling earphones to sleep every night till I have headaches.
    As for earplugs, they gave my ears an infection due to too much usage.
    I never had a decent sleep for almost a year in this apartment. It’s so painful :(

    • Hi Lyne
      That sounds very stressful, and also like you’ve tried lots of things already. I wish I had some more advice for you, but there’s not much I can think of beyond what I already wrote, other than considering moving if it’s a possibility and it looks like your neighbors are here to stay.
      Regards
      Ethan

  17. I moved into an apartment 6 1/2 years ago. The first 3 years were loud during the day but quiet at night and early morning hours. After the first 3 years, a new tenant moved in below me and walks on her heels. There is wood floors in her apartment. This wouldn’t be an issue if she got up at the same time every day but she changes from 4:30 AM to 5:30 AM every day. I work late and so I sleep later. Unfortunately, it takes me around 45 min to an hour to get back to sleep and then I over sleep and am groggy. If she just got up and walked out of the bedroom, then I could have done back to sleep but she paced back and forth quickly so not only did the noise become an issue but she actually was shaking my bed. I moved my bed to another wall which did help but I am still woken up by her each morning through the sound and vibration. 1 thing that did helped after my incessant pleading with her to be mindful of how loud she walks in the morning was to wait until I was sure she had gone to bed and had been sleeping and then I started stomping back and forth numerous times. It got quieter after that. She still forgets when she gets out of bed first thing but no longer does she pace back and forth on her heels. I hated fighting back in this way and tried desperately to speak with her about it and was ignored. It took me showing her how loud she was for it to almost cease. Yes, I still get woken up but it’s easier to go back to sleep now as I no longer hear incessant the back and forth and for the most part, only the vibration and sound when she first gets up and falls out of bed.

    • Hi there
      It sounds like you made some progress at least. I can empathise with you as I’ve lived below people who walk around with clunky shoes on as well, and it’s infuriating. I think it’s common sense to not walk around with heavy shoes if you know you have neighbours below. But not everyone thinks about this, knows others can hear it and are bothered by it, remembers not to do it, or even cares at the end of the day. Only hearing the sound once is a big difference from repetitive noise, and hopefully something you can eventually learn to sleep through, or fall back to sleep again quickly when awoken.
      Regards
      Ethan

  18. My neighbor across the street from me never ceases to go out at night and slam the door of his truck, like he’s testing his arm muscle limits. I am prone to insomnia anyway and have been formally diagnosed with it. Here’s what I have done to get better sleep, but NOTHING keeps me from waking up upon hearing a vehicle door slam: 4 (count ’em) white noise machines; 2 stereo speakers playing static from an FM station not tuned in; heavy noise-canceling drapes. I keep a regular sleep schedule even on the weekends, but continue to be plagued with insomnia and being a light sleeper. NOTHING works.

    • Hi Jimmy
      Are there other noises that wake you each night too, or is it just that one truck door slam? Maybe write an anonymous note very politely asking him to close it more gently and see if that works?
      Regards
      Ethan

  19. Our roommate asks us to be quiet and says the house is very loud while they’re working, but does so without shutting the door to their room. It feels like an unreasonable request to ask us to be quiet enough that we can’t be heard when they won’t even do the slightest thing on their end. If they’re being loud we shut the door or put on headphones or whatever. I think we’re pretty reasonable and not super loud people, but how can you even know if we’re being too loud if your door is wide open? It seems like the bare minimum of meeting in the middle on noise.

    • Hi Aviva
      That does seem like a reasonable request to me too. Is there any reason you can think of that they might not want the door closed? Is it hot where you live and they need the airflow? Do they struggle being in enclosed spaces? It might be worth asking in a friendly way to see if there is something going on there. If not, then I think I’d also be having another conversation with them about simple solutions like closing the door.
      Regards
      Ethan

  20. I listened to your video for the Avantek rechargeable machine and it sounded ideal for my purposes. Now I can’t seem to buy it. Any ideas please? I am not awfully good with the internet and the looking up bit.

    I need something to help me cope with a low noise which I hear particularly when I go to bed. I live on the South Coast and there is a wind farm out to sea. Could I be hearing this, it appears to come from the direction of the turbines? I could go on and on about it, but will leave it at that.

    Any help you can give would be gratefully received.

    Thank you.
    Mary

    • Hi Mary
      Unfortunately, they discontinued that particular white noise machine. I don’t know why. You could try the older model of the Avantek, which isn’t rechargeable, but still has good sounds. I also recommend the LectroFan Evo. And if you really want one with an internal battery, either the LectroFan Micro 2 or the Dreamegg D3 could be good options.
      Regards
      Ethan

  21. Hello, I really hope you can help because I’m at the end of my tether.
    I have been experiencing a low constant humming for months – it was like a car running outside, now this week it’s like a plane going over – constantly.
    I can distract myself in the day but evenings and nights are evil.
    I use silicon molded earplugs and headband speakers and now trying a fan all night!
    I hope you can offer some advice as to what this may be (no obvious sources) and how I can block it? Please and Thank you!

    Just to add, I am in a rural village in the UK x

    • Hi Laura

      Have you considered the possibility that it’s tinnitus? Is it the same sound wherever you are, not changing from room to room or outside your house? I’d mention it to your GP and see what they think.
      Regards
      Ethan

  22. Hi Ethan
    I’m writing from the UK about a problem that my younger son suffers from.
    He lives alone in his own small house and can’t sleep if there’s any noise at all. However, his major problem is the birds that nest in a number of large trees not on his property in the early hours. He’s tried some foam earplugs and a white noise machine, nothing has worked so far. He regularly moves bedroom and he’s desperate. Any advice, please?
    NB He’s spoken to his neighbors about cutting down the trees, but they aren’t interested.

    • Hi Geoff

      Funnily enough, my sister is in the UK and has very loud birdsong right outside the guest bedroom. When I’ve stayed there before, I used earplugs to block them out and it worked fine. I know UK birds well enough to know there are very few that are louder than the ones in her garden. Sure, seagulls, crows etcare harder to block out. But most birds in my experience can be blocked out by good earplugs. So my thoughts is that either he hasn’t found the right earplugs yet, used the right size for him, or hasn’t fit them very well. However, it could be that he has an unlucky combination of leaky windows for noise, good hearing, and a lot of loud birds!
      I would suggest experimenting with better earplugs first and watching a video on youtube to fit them properly. It sounds silly, but it can make a big difference. Look into Mack’s, Moldex, Howard Leight – all available in the UK on Amazon. Failing that, does he have the money to look into temporary double glazing? Are the window frames well sealed with caulk? Are there gaps? Blocking those windows better will also make a big difference if done correctly.

  23. I recently bought a single bedroom apartment and I have a noisy neighbour above me. Entire day and night there’s impact noise of him stomping or bouncing a ball. Like incessantly. Tried speaking to him and I don’t think he wants to do much about. I’ve developed a sleep disorder. Like how you’ve mentioned I have a bed in the hall and i keep shifting between my room and hall multiple times whenever the noise doesn’t happen. Can a false ceiling arrest impact noise?

    • Hi
      Sorry to hear you’re having this frustrating experience. In theory, it should be able to help. How much is impossible for me to predict. Getting a proper assessment and getting it right is key I think. If you have the funds to get a professional opinion based on your own home, that might be a good first step unless you really trust your own DIY skills.
      Regards
      Ethan

  24. Your thoughts on point #8, Mind over Noise really hits home for me. I have shift work sleep disorder and struggle to stay a sleep. No problem falling asleep but often wake up for various reasons and then can’t fall back to sleep. When I wake up from from a dream or have to go the bathroom and can’t fall back asleep it’s upsetting but I’ve learned to accept and deal with it.
    But when I’m woken up from a deep sleep because of my wife’s snoring I almost instantly become angry and lie there with negative thoughts and emotions about it. I know i definitely have to work on this aspect of trying to adopt a new attitude and to be more forgiving in these instances. As you say, it probably won’t be easy. Thanks for the info and articles.

    • Hi Eric
      I’m glad the article was food for thought for you. I think this is one of the trickiest things to do, but can be very helpful. It’s easy enough to buy a product like earplugs, stick them in and let them do their work. But if you have to do some mental work, it’s not quite so simple! But I do think it’s worth trying. Even just knowing that it’s a possibility can make a small difference in my opinion. The thought “I should try to be calm and not overreact” is likely to be more relaxing at night than “just shut up!!!” on repeat. Whether you achieve that calmness is a different matter. But at least it gives an alternative pathway than just stewing in frustration. And hopefully, over time you can take more steps down that more positive path.
      Regards
      Ethan

  25. Any advice for blocking out the noise of heavy slamming doors? I live next door to a house fitted with fire doors and the neighbours just let them slam. The whole shared wall vibrates, so we don’t even know where it’s coming from. Because it’s otherwise quiet at night I wake up with a start if I don’t mask the noise. Fans don’t block it out and earplugs (which I don’t care for anyway) don’t either. The only thing that does is headphones and white noise, but at a volume that’s making me fear for my hearing.

    Are there superior earplugs I should be trying? Some sort of combination of earplugs and lower volume white noise?

    Am really desperate. Talking to the neighbours and their landlord has got me nowhere.

    Thanks.

    • Hi Rebecca
      Oh, slamming doors. I hate those! And they are so tricky to block out – as you say, the solution can end up being just as bad as the problem. It depends which earplugs you’ve tried. I actually just finished filming a video about earplugs I plan to publish on my Youtube channel in a few weeks. I’m a bit slow with editing though, so it might take a while!
      In it, I talk about the importance of finding appropriately sized earplugs with a good noise reduction rating. As a rule of thumb, women tend to have small ear canals, so I would look into smaller earplugs if you haven’t already, like howard leight small, mack’s dreamgirl, or mack’s ultrasoft. But if you think you have larger ear canals, maybe try ear buddy, hearoes, any moldex type or howard leight. Just avoid generic own brand drugstore/pharmacy earplugs as they tend to be useless in my experience.
      But for the doors, I’d be wondering if you can find a way to communicate with the neighbours about adjusting the swing speed of the door closers. It’s a simple fix really – as long as the doors aren’t broken or don’t have proper closers
      Regards
      Ethan

      • Hi Ethan,

        I too have issues with door slamming and closing loud. I live with my sister her husband and kids and they all slam doors, especially the kids staying up until 4 in the morning making all kind of noise. Trying to tell them to be considerate and stop slamming doors does not work. I cant insulate my room as it is not my place to do that. By the morning I get so tired I end up drowsy and end up wanting to sleep. I have polio and not sleeping ends up with having petit mals and all. No earplugs works for me as they don’t block loud noises. What can I do?

        Michael

        • Hi
          Could you ask your sister and husband to put in some draft excluder strips to help soften the door slams? Unfortunately, the sound of slamming doors is notoriously hard to block out, even with earplugs. So really, it’s a case of communicating how much it affects you, and maybe finding ways to keep those doors either open with door stops if they don’t need to be open and closed constantly, or a way to soften the blow when they do shut.
          Regards
          Ethan

  26. Hi, i’ve been having huge issues with 5 x students since they arrived August 2020 – they have driven us mad with weed, loud music etc but their noise at night is the worst of it. At first it was them playing drunken games and stomping up and down stairs which would literally rattle our house. We had to go to the council in the end, which was horrible, but it improved and we’ve had hardly any issues since then, until recently. Now it’s the nightly noise again (I’m talking from midnight until about 5am) but this time it’s not drunken games, I actually don’t think it’s deliberate noise. It’s a thump here, a stomp there, a slamming door here, a clatter there – but it’s CONSTANT and there’s 5 of them so it just goes on and on and on. They have guests too which adds to the sound. Last week I spent a lot of it pretty tearful because I just don’t know how to deal with it. We’ve spoken to them so many times, spoken to the landlord who’s been no help whatsoever, spoken to the council that one time – it feels like a lost cause. My partner says the same thing as you, Ethan, to try and accept it’s noise I can’t control, but it just drives me MAD that they refuse to edit their volume levels accordingly, once we enter antisocial hours? My sense of injustice is so strong. I have to get up and work every day and they just don’t care. I am completely miserable and can’t think about anything else. We’re trying to soundproof our rooms as best we can but life’s just so difficult already.

    • Hi Ellie
      Sorry to hear you’re struggling with the students. I can remember being a student many moons ago and having a neigbour complain about the noise we made. I remember thinking it wasn’t even that bad – we were literally just doing normal things. The problem really was the construction of the house and someone had converted it into two flats as cheaply as possible. So even just walking from the bedroom to the kitchen bothered our neigbours. We tried to be quieter every time they mentioned it, but soon forgot simply because we didn’t feel like tip-toeing around our own house and never laughing or closing doors etc. And when we were 19 years old, we wouldn’t have thought to adjust a door that naturally slammed. If it slammed, it slammed, and it wasn’t our problem. I don’t believe we were bad people or bad students or different from many other people of that age. We just didn’t have experience of not being us and having to live next to us! Now I do have that experience, I’m sure I wouldn’t want to live underneath the 19 year old version of me either…
      This is the kind of point I mean when I talk about accepting it. Even if it drives you mad, I think taking away some sense of being vicitimised can help some people who attach a kind of hidden warfare to the fact that it’s just people of that age being normal (for them). That includes music – it’s just not in every young person’s nature to listen to music quietly, just in case it annoys the neighbours!
      What to do? Hopefully your soundproofing will help. Can you move your bed and/or mattress? Are there are drastic steps left you haven’t tried?

  27. I’m going to try something. Earplugs, plus one of those night time sleeping headband style headphones. Wearing both at the same time. Headphones help for sure, but are too uncomfortable to sleep with. So I’m going to try the headband style.

    Hope to god it works.

  28. Hi
    I am so pleased I found this article. Reading everyone’s comments I realize mine are so minimal.
    We have lived in our house for 35 years and lived next door to a little old lady who made no noise at all. Sadly we have new neighbors now who are lovely people but I have found it hard to accept the change. I feel they are inconsiderate where noise is concerned. The main problem being their bathroom is next to our bedroom and they get up at 3.00am for work. I get up at 6:00, so unless I can get back to sleep quickly it’s going to be a long day.
    My wife hears nothing and isn’t bothered. We have always used earbuds due to snoring. My wife gets up in the middle of the night and I won’t even know. I sleep through thunderstorms with ease!!
    However the slightest noise from next door and I am awake. Their house reservations have included heavy hardwood internal doors and laminate flooring which are bad chooses for sound transfer.
    I have spoken with them calmly and not in a complaining way. In a polite manner asking for their help. This worked 100% and the response was excellent!! However, many months later I have started waking again at 3:00 and I don’t know why. It has to be due to a noise. Have they relaxed their efforts, I now think they are inconsiderate again. I find myself waiting to hear a noise. I can even predict their routines and have started fighting back with noises of my own (not good).
    As my family will confirm I am not a tolerant of others in many ways.
    It has been good to read other comments and know I am not alone.
    Thank you
    Chris

  29. As I live in a bungalow, my neighbour has 3 kids and 2 of them have autism. My room is next to a 12 year old and he constantly kicks and bangs against the wall. I sometime hear the mother shouting. I can’t sleep because of them. I go to bed at a decent time, but they don’t stop until at least 11pm-12pm. The 12 year old sometimes bangs and kicks around that time and I have to be up early for work so I hardly get enough sleep. He wakes me up, but I’m kind because of his condition. It’s just hard.

    • Hi there
      Thanks for your comment. I can appreciate how hard that must be. It’s also decent of you to be understanding despite the toll it must have on your sleep. But I do think that learning to tolerate a noise you can’t control helps because letting yourself get stressed and angry about it can just make it worse. It’s very hard to sleep when your head is full of angry thoughts.
      So in your case, I’d be thinking about what you can do to block the noise (as you already are otherwise you wouldn’t be on this page!). Can you move your bed to another room? Even if it means something unusual like putting the bed in the living room on nights you really need to sleep well? I personally have no issue with throwing a mattress down anywhere in my house as long as I can sleep (maybe not the bathroom…). When it comes to sleep, I don’t care if my house looks weird temporarily as long as I wake up feeling refreshed.
      But even if you move the bed to the other side of the room, you could potentially start to line and pad the shared wall with a bookcase, wardrobed, hangings – anything to dampen the noise. Then get yourself some really good earplugs to help dampen it more.
      Regards
      Ethan

      • I have the same issue, a new tenant and her 3 children have moved in next door to me. The youngest child is nonverbal so from 3 pm after school until 11 pm I have constant high-pitched screaming, wooden floorboards being banged and things thrown against the wall. I have to use headphones to watch my TV as some of the bangs make me jump out of my skin. The 2 teenagers sleep until 3pm then they are awake all night so I have stomping footsteps, doors being slammed, furniture being dragged across wooden floorboards. I did speak to the mother who was apologetic and said her teenagers are up all night and she asks them to be quiet as she has a little one. Unfortunately, there has been no improvement. I have now moved my mattress onto the floor in the side bedroom, I have pinned thick blankets all around the parting wall upstairs, have wardrobes against the walls and use earplugs. This does help a bit but the vibrations and noise on the floorboards of the bangs and door slamming still wake me up every night / morning between 2am and 5am. I am at my wit’s end, it is really affecting me now due to lack of sleep and I am constantly on edge waiting to jump out of my skin with the banging. So much so I am thinking of moving, which is sad as I really love my house.

        • Hi
          Sorry to hear you’re in this difficult situation. Can you move the bedframe as well, and try putting some neopreme, or other material under the legs to perhaps help a little with the vibrations?

  31. Small noise affect my sleep. Even I can’t tolerate switch sound. My mom always abuses me for sleep. I can’t sleep peacefully because my family members wantedly make tv sounds or speak loudly when I’m sleeping.

  32. Your advice on mind/body over matter is easier said than done, but I will give it a shot. I still have nine more months in a room with a paper-thin shared wall. Instead of continuing to be miserable by fixating on the noise and engaging in passive-aggressive, mean-spirited retaliation, I’ll choose to focus on doing things that make me happy (with earplugs if need be), work on my sleep hygiene, and see this time as training ground for mindfulness and resilience. If I can learn to overcome my thoughts and be at peace with where I am now, I’ll be able to be happy anywhere else. Thanks so much for your inspiring words.

    • Hi m
      You’re welcome! I know it’s not easy, I still sometimes struggle to remain calm when there’s unusually loud noise keeping me awake! I think the main thing is to keep trying the strategies to cope, even if they don’t always work. Hopefully, in time the noise will slowly become less of an intrusion emotionally as well as audibly.
      But yes, earplugs are usually the way to go in my experience!
      I hope that nine months isn’t too stressful.
      Regards
      Ethan

  33. I have a neighbor whose driveway is next to my bedrooms. He backs his large truck between the houses next to my bedroom windows. He leaves every morning 5am or soon after. He starts his truck with the exhaust pointing at my bedroom windows/exterior wall. I have already filled the wall with blown in insulation, and the windows are older double pane. I measured the decibels inside my bedroom window and the lowest level was 89db…inside my house. The bass noise is the worst and it vibrates through the house. The bedrooms are so small I cannot add a 2nd interior wall. I have put furniture on that wall and have filled the closet on that wall with stuff (mass.) I tried ear plugs and it didn’t help… same bass noise and vibration blast.

    I have developed a health issue (I fall a lot) because I am completely exhausted by early afternoon. I haven’t broken bones yet, but it is likely.

    The truck owner is well aware of the problem he has created for me and the previous owners/renters of this house. (He told me the first day I lived there that he would be waking me every morning.)

    How can I bring down the noise? I am desperate and don’t really have the money to sue them or put up an expensive brick wall. (I only have about 3 feet of space outside that wall.)

    • Hi Grace

      Thanks for your comment, and I’m sorry to hear this is an issue for you. I can completely understand because I get woken up most mornings by garbage trucks making a huge bang every time they tip up the giant metal communal bins.
      And even though because of what I do with this website I have in my house right now 20+ different types of earplugs, 12 white noise machines and 10+ headphones, I still can’t block out that one noise!
      There are some noises which are just too extreme and nothing will block them out – at least nothing the average person can do without going to extreme measures with DIY etc.
      So, my advice – and forgive me if you don’t like it – is to do what I do: accept that it’s short-lasting and try to change the mindset to stress less about it.
      I know it’s really annoying being woken up every morning by someone being loud. But at least – in both yours and my case, it doesn’t go on all morning. So you can, in theory, go back to sleep when he leaves.
      Now, I know there’s an element of “I shouldn’t have to put up with it” or maybe “I can’t fall asleep again”. I’ve been there too…so I know.
      But I also know that stressing about it can make it even worse. So I’ve learned to accept that I will lose a couple of battles in the goal to create silence in my home. But as long as I win the war, or at least limit the damage in the battles I lose, I can retain my sanity and my ability to remain calm.
      More recently, we got a COVID puppy (as they call them apparently). So now I have garbage trucks at 6am and puppy crying before and after then. But the same principle applies: yes, it annoys me and wakes me up. But if I stress about it, that stress will keep me awake even longer. So I try to accept those noises as being beyond my control, and that acceptance lets me fall asleep again once the noise stops.
      Sorry for going on a long monologue with not very practical advice. If I had real practical advice beyond what I already wrote in the article, I would have offered it.But for now, this is all I’ve got. Give me the benefit of the doubt, and give it a try. Take a couple of deep breaths tomorrow morning when it happens, tell yourself it’s ok, try to relax, and once he’s gone, put it out of your mind, focus on how warm and cozy your bed is instead to take your attention off any negative thoughts and feelings, and try to go back to sleep.
      All the best
      Ethan

      • Hi, thank you for the article. I once heard in a hypnosis session the phrase “every noise makes me go deeper and deeper”. Lately I was thinking of finding a hypnosis tape that instructs your subconscious mind to go deeper into sleep with every unwanted noise you hear. I’ll let you know when I find it. Whatever works, right?

  34. I’m 68 and live alone in a ground floor flat in a block of 6. My neighbour upstairs above me gets up at 4 30 to leave at 7 15 to catch a bus. She showers does washing always running water enough to fill a swimming pool drops stuff on the floor etc for nearly 3yrs I’ve been woken up and not been able to sleep. So i get up and its a very long tiring day.I sometimes can’t stay awake come afternoon im shattered. I phoned her politely and told her i could hear her washing machine she said i had a problem not her. She has friends from her country phone her at our time 6ish but there its much later. The best sleep ive had in nearly 3 yrs was when i had 2 operations. Sad but true. Shes kept me awake on her days off as she then does housework late at night. The nights she works she’s in bed by 9 and up as early as 4 30 yet doesn’t leave the building till gone 7.What do i do i have a phobia of having anything in my ears due to my mother ridiculing me cause my ears were not clean and i hated her fat finger plunging down my ear. All my adult life I’ve had this fear of anything going in my ears so earplugs are not for me. I guess there’s nothing i can do like Covid i have to live with this problem. I’m in a wardened council property and have reported this but the neighbour has become complacent and in her little world with no care of how it affects someone like me whos retired and have done the early mornings with great respect for my neighbours.

    • Hi Pamela
      Sorry to hear you’re having this issue with the neighbour – I know how stressful it can be.
      Is it just a fear of things going inside your ears, or does over the top of them also cause you anxiety? For example, normal headphones or headbands?
      Regards
      Ethan

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