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Making Your Room Quiet

Posted by Hemos on from the ssshh-SHUT-UP dept.

el_flynn writes "This may be a cure for those of you with loud computers, or perhaps those who spend lots of time in NOC rooms that generate lots of noise: NewScientist.com mentions about a "Silence Machine" that gets rid of unwanted noise. I want one to quiet down my neighbour's loud dogs. " These are also being tested in cars, to make the car quieter. I've got a pair of the headphones that the article alludes to - they make airplane travel much nicer, and having something like this to cancel machine noise would be excellent.

10 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Noise cancelling headphones by slithytove · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I tried out a friend's pair of Bose noise cancelling headphones with an iPod in a crouded restaurant the other day.
    I was absolutely amazed- I'd tried cheaper noise cancelling technology years ago and not really been able to tell the difference, but this time I was turning the noise cancellation on and off with glee!
    I hope they catch on so we can get some volume pricing going:)

    1. Re:Noise cancelling headphones by vandemar · · Score: 5, Funny

      The other day I let a friend of mine use my noise cancelling headphones to listen to a CD he just bought. After fiddling with his CD Walkman for a bit, he still wasn't able to hear anything on the headphones. It turned out the CD he bought was N'Sync's greatest hits album, and the headphones were actively cancelling out all the noise from it leaving only the real music (ie silence).

  2. White noise by sparcv9 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I find it difficult to sleep at night without the whoosh of the fans from the handful of servers I keep in my room. What kind of geek likes quiet machines?

    --

    This is not a Fugazi .sig
    1. Re:White noise by antibryce · · Score: 5, Funny
      hahahahah


      I read that and immediately thought "Wow, sounds like my last roommate." Then I look at the userid and guess what...it *IS* my former roommate. :)

  3. Cheap solution is near! by itsnotme · · Score: 5, Funny

    try breaking your eardrums, then you cant hear diddly.. and its cheaper than buying these 'quiet' solutions!

    I can say myself, I've been deaf since I was born ( I was born deaf ) so I can say that its the easiest solution since I cant hear diddly so all of my computers are supposedly "quiet" for me! Soundproof padding for my room? Nah! dont need it! :-)

  4. bass by astafas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder if this will stop bass vibrations. I work nights and during the day when I try to sleep I get my neighbor playing his music real loud. I can't hear the music, but the vibrations from the bass keep me up until I get out of bed go over and knock on his door to get him to turn it down. This would help if it could block bass vibrations, but I don't think I want to spend a four digit sum on it.

    1. Re:bass by daeley · · Score: 5, Funny

      I wonder if this will stop bass vibrations.

      I didn't realize they made that much noise. They're only fish, after all. I suggest staying out of the water. ;-)

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  5. Save money by shepd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Build this.

    Cost? About $10 - $20 depending on how much you have lying around. Best thing? It lets you use any headphones you like instead of being stuck with the inferior quality of many noise cancelling headphones.

    I've done it and it compares well to most sub $100 noise cancelling headphones.

    --
    If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
  6. This only works for low frequencies by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative
    Noise-cancelling systems have been around for a while. Basically, they work only when the cancelling speaker is within a fraction of a wavelength of the listener. It's a speed of sound limitation. You can cancel 100Hz for several feet, but 1000Hz for only a few inches. That's why noise-cancelling headphones work well, but large-area systems don't.

    You could build a system that cancels for a small target area from a distance, but it's going to produce twice the sound in other places.

  7. Low budget bass removal by dattaway · · Score: 5, Funny

    Eliminating bass can be much simpler than that with just an amplifier, speakers, and a... signal generator: position the speakers against the dorm wall where the source originates. Set the amplifier for test purposes at medium volume. Slowly calibrate the signal generator to achieve resonance of the walls. This is determined when picture frames rattle off the walls. Once this point is determined, maximize amplifier output. The resonant energy building within the walls will then be transparently delivered to the client in what can be described as a non-maskable interrupt.

    What can be described after that is guaranteed to be silence. Except for breakage of items in the host's bookshelves, etc... Slight profanity may be also side effect. Use with caution and deny any knowledge when questioned.