Soundproofing Homes

I need to move to a place that's walking distance from where I work. Right now, I take the train or join a carpool. I can tolerate the commute well enough if I have earplugs on, but I don't want to expose myself to traffic sounds any further if possible.

All residential places near my workplace are high-rise condominiums. I checked out a few units today, all 30th floor and above, but to my frustration, I could still hear the honks of cars and screeches of motorcycles. They're not loud or painful, but they're piercing enough to be noticed. They're not background noises to me.

Is there any way I can soundproof a unit without spending a fortune or doing anything too invasive?

 

Basically, no, not really. You would probably have to change the windows first and reinforce the whole insulation if it's not enough.

Don't forget the noise your co-residents will produce. If you can hear the outside noises so well, there are good chances you will go nuts if someone is noisy inside the building or decides to drill into a wall without telling you before...

 

@Foncky There's no winning here, huh?

 

Sound proofing a dwelling to relieve tinnitus or hyperacusis is not a good idea, as you risk making your auditory system more sensitive. Using earplugs to supress noisy traffic in the manner that you are doing is also not a good idea as you are likely to do the same.

If you are sensitive to sounds (hyperacusis) there are a variety of ways to treat this. In more severe forms it may need specialist treatment such as wearing white noise generators but it's best to be under the care of a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist for this kind of treatment. Normal every day sounds including road traffic noise, shouldn't be surpressed by using earplugs or earmuffs. However, there are exceptions. Used just on a temporary basis and not long term until one's auditory system recovers I don't think will do any harm but I advise caution.

You might find my post: Hyperacusis, As I see it, helpful. Please click on the link below.
All the best
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

 

It's surprising that even at the 30th floor, you could hear the street so clearly.
Was it like a "cheap" building ?

If you find a recent and classy one, the insulation should be good enough to protect you from outside noises.

 

@Foncky, they're new buildings. Some units have not yet been turned over yet. Now, whether they're made with cheap materials, I'm not so sure. The developers have good track records, though.

But there's really something wrong with my hearing. My friend who accompanied me can't hear the honks. She did hear a passing motorcycle, but she said she heard it as a faint rumble, and not like a dominant vroom.

Also, pre-H, I was sitting beside the window of our 28th floor office, blissfully deaf to the sounds of traffic below. But when I got H, I had to move to the aisle because I was so distracted by the outside noise.

~~~

@Michael Leigh, I just want to be able to sleep at night without hearing the traffic. And as much as I want to start treatment, I've yet to find a knowledgeable audiologist here in the Philippines.

 

If it's new, it can't be really bad. They certainly have to follow certain regulations as far as noise-insulation is concerned.

At the 30th floor, you don't risk any dangerous street noise, it's too far away. Sleeping is another matter but at least you won't be afraid of the noises.

 

I understand where you are coming from. If your tinnitus and hyperacusis was caused by loud noise: headphone use or other, then this will take time to heal. Whilst you are looking for a Hearing Therapist/Audiologist, I suggest you read my article: Tinnitus, A Personal View. It was written for people that are new to tinnitus such as you, or anyone seeking some help with tinnius.
It is well known that moving to to a new location, sounds of traffic etc can take time for the brain to get used to "habituate" . After a while the brain will see these sounds as unimportant and slowly push them further into the back of the mind were they are no longer noticiable. Since you have tinnitus and some hyperacusis, this process might take longer but I believe still achieveable.
Give it time and find a good ENT doctor and Hearing therapist/Audiologist for tinnitus management.
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

@Foncky, from such a high floor, yes, the traffic noise is more of an annoyance than danger. But it's big enough of an annoyance to get in the way of sleeping, I think. And because honks are high-pitched sounds, I don't know how to mask them. They find a way to pierce through AC systems and white noise tracks.

@Michael Leigh, thanks for the resources. I don't know why my brain picked out traffic sounds and stuck by them. I have vibration sensitivity too but that somehow decreased in the past week. But the sensitivity to traffic sounds has been a constant since day 1 of H, grrrr.

 

With tinnitus and hypercusis the auditory system and brain become hypersensitive but in time this will calm down. Use sound enrichment as I've mentioned in my articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View and Hyperacusis, As I see it. I strongely advise you to print these articles and refer to them often, especially the positivity articles in Tinnitus, A Personal View.

I am telling you this from experience. The positivity message takes time to sink in. Reading these articles on a computer screen is fine, but the message is soon forgotten. For them to be effective you need to print the pages and refer to them often. Similarly, I advise you print some of the positivity pages written by other tinnitus talk members. These messages of positivity, when read often they are a form of counselling. It is similar to going the a therapist. You need to attend regular sessions for it to work.
You are in the early days and you need to give the healing process time
Michael

 

Southeast Asia isn't a great place to be with ear issues
It's usually noisy, crowded , hard to commute and hot and humid not easy on ear protection
I would not use earplugs much these can block earwax from flowing out and push it further deep each time you insert those
Get a few pair of ear muffs - even in the hottest days here in Japan I had no issues.
I don't think yo need to worry about the traffic sound from a distance inside your house eventually you'll get used

 

When I lived in the city, I spent a lot of time learning about this. I was never able to do too much; it's very expensive and difficult; good soundproofing layers tend to be made out of relatively heavy and/or expensive materials.

Ultimately, noise was one of the reasons I moved away into the country, and things are definitely a lot better here. The best I was able to do while living in the city around 85+ db planes/construction/etc was to make judicious use of earplugs. Some things like planes may be problematic even if you wear plugs, because they generate extremely low frequency bass which may be at damaging levels even if it's not consciously audible, and because of the way sound waves work, stuff that deep can travel a relatively long distance, and is nearly impossible to block.

Sorry I can't be more positive. Cities are fun in a lot of ways, but practically unlivable for me at this point in my life.

I think it depends on your ears and how you use them, but I sleep with earplugs of some kind at least half the time and I don't have wax problems as a result. I tend to use the silicone ones which might be a little better in that regard, but in a pinch I have used the orange foam ones dozens of times.

 

Hi Lex, the sound goes up, so there is accoustic phenomenon by which in high floors you can actually hear people who are way below talking or perceive music more or less clearly. I am not sure of how it works with db levels; my guess is the db levels go down just because of the distance, but on high floors you are going to find this mixture of the city sounds that may be very bothersome.

Probably it could be better to live in a quiet street at ground level, in a house, as it would be only exposed to the direct noise of the street in front of it, but not the dispersed noise of the city that goes up and is heard in higher floors. If that choice is not available in your area, try to find an apartment that that faces a quiet area instead of facing the street, maybe one that has a façade looking to the common areas of the condominium. That could make a big difference.

 

As much as I would love to quit my current job and live by the beach, I can't afford to do so right now.

So which is the lesser evil? There's a gated community with low-rise flats just 1 km away from where I work. I can get a street-level unit, but my walk to and from the office will be alongside roads with major traffic. My other option is a 30th floor unit facing a parking lot, just 300 m away from where I work. The street I will walk on is also busy, but at least it's short. However, I wonder how noisy it can get once I'm home.

I can't decide!

 

If I were in your position I wouldn't bother about the environmental sounds too much as your brain will soon habituate (filter out) those surrounding sounds. More importantly, I'd be thinking which is the right property for me? Follow your gut instinct that's usually the right choice

 

@Lex ,
30th floor wow....think you would be hearing planes in the sky too...lol.

Im sure you will adapt ok but going for a building with apartments at the rear might be good.
My son can hear the traffic but as our bedroom is at the back its nice and quiet.
...lots of love glynis

 

@glynis I currently live near the airport (like 7 km away) and I do like the sounds of planes flying over. They aren't too loud to me, and for some reason, I've always liked the low rumble planes make when the fly overhead (as long as they aren't too near).

But when I first got H, the sounds seemed so loud and near that I got terrified. Thankfully, that returned to normal. But it's the high-pitched car horns that really get me. Either my H changed the pitch of my hearing, or it made higher-pitched sounds more prominent, I don't know. Sometimes I think, is this misophonia?

 

Car horns are not high-pitched actually. More like 400-500Hz.

 

They're very piercing for me, though, even from afar. Not painful at all but somehow, not background noise.

At first, I thought I was the only one who can hear it. But my coworker who took over my window seat after I vacated it told me that he hears the traffic below, too. But it's not distracting at all for him. Just ambient noise.

So I dunno. Maybe I do hear traffic noise a few notches louder or a few pitches higher. I can't tell. But not all sounds are louder or higher-pitched for me. I thought H will make everything louder and/or higher-pitched?

Or maybe I hear traffic noise the same way, but my brain makes it foreground instead of background noise. Or maybe I have misophonia?

I've been looking for H cases similar to mine in this aspect but I'm hard-pressed to find a lot.

 

https://m.domino.com/how-to-soundpr...m_campaign=pinswap&crlt.pid=camp.XP0h3GF3SeCr

 

I remember living on the 27th floor of a well built building in a big city. This was long before I got H. I heard fire trucks, honking cars and cabs, etc. racing down a boulevard, night and day, and i did acclimate. However, now that i have H, i realize that people with normal hearing have a different set of standards. Things annoy me now that I never would have noticed before.

You are your own best judge. Don't listen to others who tell you how you should or will feel in six months; moving is a big decision. I would find a quiet place to start with.

And is true, sound travels up. So the higher an apt does not mean quieter. Best of luck.

 

Hi,
There are a several products made specifically to insulate spaces. Dampening external noises is pricey though. These are a couple of the more cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing options. I can personally vouch for the noise-reducing potential of the first product.
https://www.audimute.com/isole-sound-absorption-sound-blocking-material
https://residential-acoustics.com/shop/soundproofing/acousticurtain/

Best,
Jonathan

 

@JonL Hi. Could you gIve a bit more info on the isolé? Do you use it over a window? And do you think it would help reduce the sounds of motorcycles/work vehicles/car alarms 15ft from my window? Thanks.