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Ask Slashdot: Hacking Urban Noise?

b1tbkt writes "I live at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in my city (pop. 350k). Although I've replaced all windows, insulated, and caulked every square inch of the place, the fire trucks and cars with obnoxious stereos still regularly intrude on my home office. Most of the noise comes in through the windows. I'm considering mounting an oblong parabolic reflector in the ceiling above the windows with a steady feed of white or brownian noise directed into it (e.g., via a small speaker placed within the reflector) to create a 'wall' of sound that would act as a buffer to the outside world. Active noise cancellation would be nice, too, but that's probably more than I want to take on. I don't see any products on the market for this sort of thing. Does anyone have any experiences to share with similar homebrew noise remediation efforts?"

474 comments

  1. Move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


    Quit being a downtown hipster and move to a nice house on a quiet street.

    1. Re:Move by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Quit being a downtown hipster and move to a nice house on a quiet street.

      Expense of moving house trumps expense of decent soundproofing.

      (plus soundproofing increases the resale value)

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Move by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 4, Insightful

      (plus soundproofing increases the resale value)

      Unfortunately, I've discovered (to my annoyance) that practical home improvements like insulation, thermal windows, high efficiency HVAC and appliances, etc., etc. just don't impress the average buyer nearly as much as painting all the walls beige and replacing the hardware with something in brushed nickel or, my personal bete noire: "oil-rubbed bronze."

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    3. Re:Move by Nutria · · Score: 1

      +1

      The suburbs are really nice. Except near railroad tracks. Especially when there's a scheduled 4AM train.

      --
      "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
    4. Re:Move by silas_moeckel · · Score: 2

      You mean the 5 bedroom 6.5 bath house with a 30 gallon electric min code water heater and the 30 gallon min code well tank but a few k in stone counter tops has is priorities wrong?

      --
      No sir I dont like it.
    5. Re:move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in a city of about the same population, and I can't move because I don't own a car, and I have to be relatively close to my work. Moving farther out? Yea it'd be great, if I could afford it. In my city, the quieter your property is, the more expensive it is.

      I literally can't afford to move outside the city.

    6. Re:Move by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Buyers are stupid; the main thing they look at is price per square foot, and location, and maybe cosmetic stuff like granite counters.

    7. Re:Move by evilviper · · Score: 1

      practical home improvements like insulation, thermal windows, high efficiency HVAC and appliances, etc., etc. just don't impress the average buyer

      Yes, buyers aren't impressed by things they can't SEE up-front. You can tell them you've got high R-value insulation, but you could be lying. In this case, though, I think the sound-proofing will be obvious enough that it'll attract buyers, if they want to live in a miserable, congested area to begin with.

      painting all the walls beige and replacing the hardware with something in brushed nickel or, my personal bete noire: "oil-rubbed bronze."

      There are a number of small changes you can make, that'll increase home values greatly. My favorite is to put dark-stained (looks like oak) wood paneling about 4ft up the wall, topped with some nice molding... Makes a POS house look damn expensive. It only works if you match the rest of the house, though... Dark stain all the kitchen cabinets, get some fancy-looking crown molding and stain that to match as well. You'll do much better than a big white box house.

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    8. Re:move by White+Flame · · Score: 1

      If you move out of the city center, your cost of housing will almost certainly drop, hopefully by enough to easily afford owning a cheap car. Credit cards can help the shift. It's amazing what one or two hundred dollars extra a month can get you if you don't have much.

      Do not put up with living in a steady-state situation that you do not enjoy; that sort of thing should only be a transitional part of a longer plan.

    9. Re:Move by joocemann · · Score: 1

      Quit being a downtown hipster and move to a nice house on a quiet street.

      QUOTE FOR EFFIN TRUTH!

      You want to live in a noisy area, but not have the noise. Use earplugs? Learn to like what you think you like?

      Or the simple.... move to the environment you seek... move to a quiet place.

      Do you realize that your attempt at a 'solution' is merely a remedy to a symptom? Do you see the parallel in your 'solution' to the drug industry approach to health instead of diet/lifestyle/excercise?

      It sounds to me like soul searching what you really like is the best advice for you. Once you know what you *really* like/want, you should pursue it.

      "Is it too hot in Hell? How can I solve this without moving back to earth? I've bought 200 air conditioners and its still hot?!?!!"

    10. Re:move by afgam28 · · Score: 1

      It depends if he's talking about the population of the city proper, or the entire metropolitan area. For example, Seattle proper only has a population of about 600,000, but the Seattle metropolitan area has about 3.5 million people. Commuting from say Everett into central Seattle every day would be a nightmare.

      There are plenty of reasons to prefer a central city environment to the countryside/suburbs. It's much easier to bring peace and quiet to a city apartment than to bring great food, nightlife, jobs and shops to the countryside or suburbs.

    11. Re:Move by Grizzley9 · · Score: 1

      You mean the 5 bedroom 6.5 bath house with a 30 gallon electric min code water heater and the 30 gallon min code well tank but a few k in stone counter tops has is priorities wrong?

      No, it's much easier and cheaper to upgrade to a 40-50 gallon water heater, or the newer (for US) instant hot water heaters. But upgrading to stone counter tops can be a few thousand.

    12. Re:Move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Buyers buy what they think makes them comfortable. As they should, if they are comfortable paying higher energy costs but the decor is more to their liking, how does that make them stupid?

    13. Re:Move by craigminah · · Score: 1

      And how the crap is this considered "hacking?" Putting up some drapes and foam isn't really hacking it's more along the lines of what MacGyver would do...

    14. Re:Move by icebraining · · Score: 1

      Moving is not any less of a remedy to a symptom. The only real solution would be to eliminate the noise, but that's probably not a realistic option for OP, so he's trying the next best thing - a way to fix his problem without losing all the benefits of living where he does.

      And before you claim there are none, or that they're dwarfed by the drawbacks, guess what: that's subjective.

    15. Re:Move by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Because energy costs, over time, add up to a lot of money. It doesn't cost very much to paint your walls any color you want. Investing in easily-changed cosmetic crap rather than looking at things which cost a lot more money to change is shortsighted and stupid.

    16. Re:Move by onepoint · · Score: 1

      I tell people when they are looking at a house, you are buying the walls and the space, nothing else. Why pay for someone upgrades that most likely are not up to what you want anyway.

      Do I really want to care about your upgrades? Nope.

      I recently looked at a house, it's was completely re-done from roof to first floor. Excellent job, i asked whom the contractor was, got it and the client bought another house down the block and hired the contractor. Client is out of pocket for 5 months on the work, but has a brand new home at the end and 40K cheaper at the end

      moral of the story,
      don't pay for any improvements unless you really want that improvement.

      --
      if you see me, smile and say hello.
    17. Re:move by 1u3hr · · Score: 1

      There are plenty of reasons to prefer a central city environment to the countryside/suburbs. It's much easier to bring peace and quiet to a city apartment than to bring great food, nightlife, jobs and shops to the countryside or suburbs.

      He never said why he is living there. He should weigh up the pros and cons. All we know is that he hates the noise. And air quality above a busy intersection will be bad and unhealthy too. You need a really good reason to put up with all that. He said it was his "home office". So he could presumably work anywhere, unless he needed to have clients visit.

    18. Re:Move by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      And lear the joy of barking and japping dogs.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    19. Re:move by afgam28 · · Score: 1

      I think it's pretty safe to assume that he's living there because he prefers the city to the country, and that moving to the countryside is not an option for him. Why else would he have moved there? No offense but you telling him "maybe you should move to the countryside" isn't insightful, it's a bit patronising IMO.

    20. Re:Move by sir-gold · · Score: 1

      he is looking for high-tech solutions, like noise generators and noise cancellation, he already did the low-tech stuff.

    21. Re:Move by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1

      Buyers buy what they think makes them comfortable. As they should, if they are comfortable paying higher energy costs but the decor is more to their liking, how does that make them stupid?

      Well, if they made the conscious decision to favor decor over energy costs, that would be one thing. I just don't know how they'd be able to do that without at least looking at utility costs, and I've never had a buyer ask. For that matter, I've never even had one that expressed concern over the age of the furnace, which was old enough to buy its own beer. And believe me, stuff they don't like gets passed on to the showing agent. What's a cheap furnace or A/C compressor cost vs. a gallon or five of the finest paint?

      The old kitchen, on the other hand, got much more favorable reviews after I painted right over the wallpaper. "Never paint over wallpaper, buyers can see that," I read. Utter bullshit. As long as it's a popular shade of beige, they're happy.

      Pop quiz: If one house has monthly energy costs $30 cheaper than a competitor, how much more can you pay for the efficient one and break even on monthly bills if interest rates are 4% per anum? 3%?

      --
      I am not a crackpot.
    22. Re:Move by joocemann · · Score: 1

      I loathe slashdot responses that attempt to normalize/equate all points that are not absolutely true or false. The people that do this 'not necessarily' type of crap are usually pretty confident that they won't get a 2-hour response full of carefully considered references and data to prove the grey-area point.... why? Because after 2 hours are spent, no acknowledgement of that effort will surmise. And so you get a pass on your slashdot grey area 'not necessarily' bullshit argument.

      Bye.

  2. Get a Pair of Headphones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I recommend a pair of headphones

    1. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by __aasdno7518 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Headphones don't block noise and turning them up to block noise will damage your hearing. Amazon.com has ear protectors and they will help.

    2. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 2

      Combine them with wax earplugs. I had the same problem there for a couple of years, and it was bliss to be able to just turn off all outside noise. Cheap too! I recommend Quies pure wax.

    3. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by tsa · · Score: 4, Funny

      Headphones don't block noise and turning them up to block noise will damage your hearing.

      So they do help :).

      --

      -- Cheers!

    4. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by Grishnakh · · Score: 3, Informative

      Wrong. Headphones DO block noise, if they look like these.

      No, earbuds don't block noise, but those aren't "headphones".

    5. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by wik · · Score: 1

      Seconded. I bought a pair of the HD-280's 6-7 years ago. They're durable and comfortable with and without music. I still use them 5 days a week at the office.

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      / \
      \ / ASCII ribbon campaign for peace
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    6. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by fa2k · · Score: 1

      I'm not disagreeing about ear protectors, good idea

      As for headphones, my Beyerdynamic DT 770 block a lot of sound, and I have the opposite problem some times. When I listen to "noisy" music at even moderate levels, I can't hear if someone speaks to me. You can also buy ear plugs that block sound, I use them at night and I'd say they reduce noise by about 15-20 dB, maybe not enough for the person who asked.

    7. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by icebike · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Headphones don't block noise and turning them up to block noise will damage your hearing.
        Amazon.com has ear protectors and they will help.

      Actually some headphones do block noise, by having a mic and playing the reverse sound (180 degrees out of phase).
      But in any event, living with headphones on is not an answer.

      The sound is coming thru the windows. Even dual pane windows won't help, they simply act as a drum.
      Three pane windows help some.

      What is needed is a dual pane window where the panes are not parallel. Tipping the top of the outer
      pane outward de-tunes the drum, and reduces sound transmission by quite a bit. The further you can tip it
      the better is works.

      It has the additional effect of cutting insolation, while actually increasing insulation.

      Any good galzier could do this for you and there are starting to be some commercial models available,
      but custom built is the best way to achieve this.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    8. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by robi5 · · Score: 2

      Never heard of this one and while it sounds plausible, I find its effectiveness limited, due to the typically very small angles achievable (if the window should be openable). What I read in a building acoustics book is that that glass panes of different thickness are helpful, because they act as mass-spring-mass systems and their pass-through filter frequency will be different. Ideally there is an air gap between the panes, but multiple panes are useful too. For example, 4mm glass + 10mm air + 2x3mm glass can be a good window choice.

      Also, insulation will be worse with planes that are not parallel; by necessity it means that on average you have a significantly larger air gap between the two planes, and the internal air (or noble gas mixture) is better able to circulate, reducing insulation. There is a reason why windows are the way they are, at least in Europe (I found the prevalence of single-glazed windows in the UK and the US appalling from an acoustic and environmental viewpoint, their insulation capability is a small fraction of that of double-glazed ones, often worsened by gaping holes).

    9. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by icebike · · Score: 1

      The air gap on non-parallel windows is always at LEAST AS GREAT as what you would find in commercial dual pane. They are typically much thicker package than typical dual pane. Some doubt its effeciveness but almost all professional recording studios use windows built this way.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    10. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by robi5 · · Score: 1

      Yes, read it again, that's the point; if the air gap is too large, then the air has an easier way of circulating between the panes, leading to worse insulation.

    11. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by kermidge · · Score: 1

      Well, no. Air circulating 'tween panes still has its own R-value, moving or no. Second, to disturb the boundary layer (worth 0.1 R) air speed would need to exceed something like 5 or 6 mph. Single-weight glass is at best break-even (circa '82, 0.9 R); I don't see where air moving around between the panes is going to appreciably affect over-all R of the window. If you take a window and want to tot up conduction/convection, find and quantify warm spots/cold spots and do measurements, go for it.

    12. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by wisty · · Score: 1

      > Actually some headphones do block noise, by having a mic and playing the reverse sound (180 degrees out of phase).

      There's two types of headphones which can block noise - active and passive ones.

      The active ones are only really good for predictable noise. They tend to be demoed with "airplane engine" noises, which are easy to cancel. They don't work so well on the "crying baby" noise (though really good ones might). Also, they are quite expensive, and often require batteries (or draw lots of power).

      The passive ones are either in-ear, or ear-muffs + headphones. They work better, and are much cheaper, but some people find them uncomfortable.

    13. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by robi5 · · Score: 1

      I don't know where you get your numbers from and of what unit of measure. It's clear that thermal insulation is night and day between parallel panes with a distance in the teens (mm) filled with gas (i.e. standard fare double-pane window) vs. non-parallel pane windows which are filled with air (other gas would escape and would be too expensive at >10x the volume to begin with). Have you ever held your hand near a single-pane window in wintertime, as a more accessible experiment? The air falls down quite fast. Maybe it's not 5-6mph but between non-parallel panes air would rotate at several turns a minute.

      If economical window sound insulation is needed, stick to parallel panes as the main window, filled with gas, and use glasses of unequal thickness, the heavier the better. An ex-relative of mine lives in a very busy city road and their three-pane window (getting more prevalent in Europe) does wonders without exotic things like non-parallel panes that insulate poorly and you can't open them. On a visit, it was quite an eerie feeling when they opened their window at once and all that noise came in.

    14. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by kermidge · · Score: 1

      All numbers from memory of what I gathered from ASHRAE and ASTM manuals, and from various researchers at several universities and government agencies circa '81, gathered when I was under contract to a corporation to set up a retro-fit unit for homes and small businesses. General "R-value" is, or was, a calculated one; it's the inverse of U which represents conduction and is arrived at through standardized lab tests; for a general discussion, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-value_(insulation) - but you may well know all this already.

      Sure, I've done the hand-air thing. That's convection inside the structure, not between two panes of glass. To be sure, I'm not advocating a particular arrangement of panes. Had I druthers I'd go sealed (usually dry nitrogen, if memory serves). With non-sealed glazing condensation can be an issue; with multiple layers of sealed panes it still is. And you're right; in some situations a Euro style of triple window can be useful. From my reading of relevant posts I don't see we have any argument or particular disagreement, other than my pointing out that the air between two panes of glass would have an insulating value - unless that space is wide open to the breezes.

    15. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by drkim · · Score: 1

      Actually some headphones do block noise, by having a mic and playing the reverse sound (180 degrees out of phase).

      Agreed. I use both the Sony "over the ear" and "in the ear" style with active noise cancellation and they work very well. This would be the cheapest solution, although inconvenient.

      What is needed is a dual pane window where the panes are not parallel. Tipping the top of the outer
      pane outward de-tunes the drum, and reduces sound transmission by quite a bit

      Agreed again, although more expensive. If possible use two different thicknesses of glass as well. This way, sounds that resonate one sheet will not resonate the other. As you said, mount them non-parallel, both on the vertical and horizontal axes. Float the glass in a soft mounting (like a silicone) so they won't pass vibration to the frames and frame of the house. Mount the inner glass non-parallel to the facing wall as well.

      Adding baffles to your interior HVAC ducting will keep sound from passing from room to room.

      If there is ventilation to the outside, try to baffle the venting (without blocking the airflow) as it comes into the house.

    16. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by icebike · · Score: 1

      Draw lots of power? Seriously? You jest right?
      One single tripple A cell powers noise cancelation for months.

      An the active ones do not need predictable noise, that is a fallicy. They don't work by predicting the noise.
      They have a microphone and the simplest single chip amp to deliver sounds from the microphone 180 out of phase to the speakers at a level that suppresses the outside sound. They are just as effective with the baby cry and the jet engine, or even random noise like kids practiving drums next door.

      They typically don' cancel 100% of the noise, not because that would be difficult, but because 1) it might be unsafe (might render you unaware of the smoke alarm), and also because 2) all sound that you hear does not enter solely thru the ear canel.

      If you haven't tried a pair of good quality Active Noise Control, noise cancling headphones, you can't imagine who well they really work.
      Cheap ones don't work well.
      Passive ones are hopeless.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    17. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by psydeshow · · Score: 1

      The outer pane could zig-zag, no?

      I have no idea how you'd get a sheet of glass that had an accordion fold to it, but that would (in theory) allow you to get more non-parallelism within the same total package width.

    18. Re:Get a Pair of Headphones by robi5 · · Score: 1

      Just put in a Fresnel lens; will not help with the sound, but fun to clean it.

  3. How about a shrubbery? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think the problem is that you've only focused on the building. It's more effective to stop it before it even gets to the building.

    1. Re:How about a shrubbery? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 1

      I think the problem is that you've only focused on the building. It's more effective to stop it before it even gets to the building.

      Yes. You're doing it wrong.

      http://lmgtfy.com/?q=home+made+EMP+gun

      --
      Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    2. Re:How about a shrubbery? by The+Mysterious+Dr.+X · · Score: 1

      Not sure that's appropriate for a siren.

  4. are the windows.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    double paned?

    1. Re:are the windows.. by Joce640k · · Score: 0

      And what exactly did you do to 'insulate' the place?

      Another hopelessly incomplete "Ask Slashdot" question, film at 11...

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      No sig today...
    2. Re:are the windows.. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 4, Funny

      Unless you can read, in which case he said that most of the sound is coming through the windows. I'm not really surprised, since the vast majority of problems I have ever dealt with are related to windows.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    3. Re:are the windows.. by grub · · Score: 5, Informative


      We put all triple-pane in our house (Winnipeg, Canada) 5 years ago. We noticed the street noise almost disappear. (Not to mention the winter heating bills dropped by ~30%+)
      Cost a pretty penny, about $13K for the whole house, but man was it worth it.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    4. Re:are the windows.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      So you're saying he should try replacing his windows with linux? It might just work, I've certainly seen installations where I couldn't get any sound to come through linux.

    5. Re:are the windows.. by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 1

      You make a good point. It will only work if he is incompetent at installing Linux.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
    6. Re:are the windows.. by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

      double paned?

      x2 there are very effective windows and window technology that block noise. No I'm not an expert but I've experienced it myself.

      Cellulose insulation blocks noise many many times better than fiberglass or anything else, with the benefit of being more fire resistant as well.

      White/brown noise or similar is a very good idea it will block out distractions. Aiming it at the windows or making a sound curtain is a novel idea and will probably help - but the bass will tend to be more omnidirectional...

      Here's an idea OP - if you're trying to create a noiseproof coccoon of your whole house or just your office, it might be simpler to wrap your office with cellulose insulation or other sound deadening material and replace just the window in that room, if any, with something better than what you evidently used first time around.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    7. Re:are the windows.. by element-o.p. · · Score: 1

      Try adding your user account to the "audio" group. Solved the problem on my Dell 820, and I felt like a complete idiot for taking so long to figure it out.

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
    8. Re:are the windows.. by Nimey · · Score: 2

      Did you come from single- or double-pane windows?

      --
      Hail Eris, full of mischief...

      E pluribus sanguinem
    9. Re:are the windows.. by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      In a sort of opposite way, I never had issues with road noise at a location I lived in until the city took out two mature trees and a couple dozen shrubs to repair some sewer line that went through the property I was renting.

      After all that was removed, the road noise was noticeable where it wasn't in the first place. a first we thought it was the construction work fixing the lines but it lasted long after they left. After talking with the land lord and finding he had no intention of replacing the trees or shrubs, we moved to a farm house just outside the city.

      So don't be afraid to look at other things like natural sound deadening plants and stuff outside the house too.

    10. Re:are the windows.. by grub · · Score: 3

      Other than the large living room window which was double pane, everything was the original single pane from 1974.

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      Trolling is a art,
    11. Re:are the windows.. by icebike · · Score: 4, Informative

      Triple pane really doesn't do that much for sound deadening according to the Canadian Building Digest.
      Tripple panes with dissimilar glass thickness works better,

      But having a different type of glass on the inside works much better.

      Typically they use laminated glass for the soundproufing inner pane, with glas laminated to plastic pane which dampens transmitted vibration.
      There are commercial windows available for this. These solutions seldom work where you intend to open the window to let in a breeze.

      If you don't want to buy entirely new windows there are simple and less costly interior add-on panes. This preserves the ability to open the window.

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    12. Re:are the windows.. by grub · · Score: 1

      It made a huge difference here, presumably because we came from almost all single pane.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    13. Re:are the windows.. by icebike · · Score: 1

      It made a huge difference here, presumably because we came from almost all single pane.

      Wow, who the hell would build single pane in Winnipeg? Pre-war Old house I assume?

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      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    14. Re:are the windows.. by Cheech+Wizard · · Score: 2

      I did the same about 5 years ago. Triple pane, xenon(?) gas filled, with UV glass on the outside pane. Luckily I live on a relatively quiet road so noise isn't much of a problem to begin with, but times like now when the temperature is about 70F and I have all the doors and windows open reminds me of how it was before. With doors and windows closed I can rarely hear any outside noise. I did it for insulation reasons, but after it was done I was amazed at how much it eliminated outside noise.

    15. Re:are the windows.. by Cheech+Wizard · · Score: 2

      Gas filled triple panes made a *very* big difference for me. Several friends of mine did their windows and say the same thing. The difference is night and day. No doubt about it.

    16. Re:are the windows.. by grub · · Score: 1

      Heh nope, 1974 house in Charleswood.

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    17. Re:are the windows.. by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      Sounds like he upgraded his windows, so he must now be on version 3.1. No wonder.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    18. Re:are the windows.. by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      Pulse Audio should do the trick. Then he can control the sound level of each window separately.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    19. Re:are the windows.. by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      30% at $300 bill is $100 by 3 winter month = $300 a year. Four quick years.

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    20. Re:are the windows.. by SA_Democrat · · Score: 1
      Sorry to chime in with a me too, but double or triple glazing is the answer.

      When purchasing double glazing for the street side of my home, the glazier asked if it was for noise reduction.

      In my case it wasn't, but ordinary double glazing reduced the street noise a lot. (Two panes 4mm and 6mm from memory).

      Where noise reduction is intended, the manufacturer adds an internal gel-coat which reduces external noise much more.

  5. George Bernard Shaw by Frankie70 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

    1. Re:George Bernard Shaw by jhoegl · · Score: 5, Funny

      My adaption to fart mufflers and loud base was a sound detector and a machine gun. If the passing car got too loud, it would track and fire.
      I havent built it yet, but one day...
      I wouldnt shed a tear for these obnoxious people. They disturb hundreds of people daily, so fuck em.

    2. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      A property owner harms the world far more than a worker ever will.

    3. Re:George Bernard Shaw by fredprado · · Score: 2

      Unfortunately, although it is generally good to the World to have many people attempting to accomplish highly unlikely deeds, because some of them may prevail, to most of the people in question it is an ungrateful road to pain with no rewards.

    4. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Penguinisto · · Score: 0

      The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

      Guess I must've adapted myself then. I solved the whole city noise problem by, err, moving out of the city apartment and into a home in a small coastal town. The only noises I hear most days here are those of nature and the sound of the ocean easily carries to the porch (I live 1/4 mile from the beach).

      OTOH, for the longest time I found myself unable to sleep due to the lack of noises that I had gotten used to in the city (traffic, the occasional stereo thump, fire engine, conversation and thumps from a now-missing adjacent apartment, etc.)

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    5. Re:George Bernard Shaw by rickb928 · · Score: 0

      Since most property us owned by governments or despots, that sort of makes sense.

      --
      deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    6. Re:George Bernard Shaw by blue_teeth · · Score: 2

      In ancient times, there was a king who wanted a carpet rolled out for him wherever he went.  The cities, the jungles, the villages.  His wiseman advised --- wear velvet slippers.

    7. Re:George Bernard Shaw by wisnoskij · · Score: 1

      Only when progress is defined as change.

      --
      Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
    8. Re:George Bernard Shaw by joocemann · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've come to accept the loud bass ---- when you were a teen and you enjoyed it in your own car, or your friends' car, you basically asked for it.

      When I hear the loud annoying bass cars go by, I get frustrated, and then I reflect on the youth, including my youth, and I sympathize with their carelessness and then forgive.

      Reflect on your own foolish crap with honesty. You'll understand that you, too, used to piss off a lot of people doing something you thought was fun. And then maybe some tolerance and understanding can help...

    9. Re:George Bernard Shaw by tmosley · · Score: 1

      Tell that to the people in any worker's republic. lol

    10. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Paracelcus · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I lived in slums for the first twenty five years of my life and as a very quiet person (apparently the only one) in uptown Chicago, I had many altercations with assholes who thought that I wanted to listen to their bullshit music at top volume at one AM and later!

      I tried working two jobs to keep me away from it and finally moved into what should have been a quiet bldg, it wasn't down the hall was a drunk named Julio who owned a stereo with an automatic changer, and one 45 RPM record that he looped all night with his door open!

      The landlord, yelling, nothing helped! One night when Julio was passed out (with his door open) I walked in, oped his window and threw his stereo down six stories to the ally below!

      The best part was nobody saw me, and the little shit accused me and made the mistake of attacking me in front of witnesses! Oh joy! He had to move out after he was released from the hospital!

      I HATE noise makers!

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    11. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boogity boogity boo

      - not george bernard shaw

      dork

    12. Re:George Bernard Shaw by tragedy · · Score: 1

      What people who never considered youth to be a license to be inconsiderate to others even when they were young themselves?

    13. Re:George Bernard Shaw by markdavis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Sorry, I *NEVER* played music so loud it could be heard out of my car, nor at home. So forgive me for not forgiving people that annoy the crap out of me with such noise.

    14. Re:George Bernard Shaw by j_2048 · · Score: 1

      That story is AWESOME!
      What a wonderful feeling of vicarious revenge I have now.

        My Julio was autistic and would wake the neighbourhood at 1 am with his shitty guitar playing. Asking him to stop he would simply say (straight face) "I'm trying to become rock star" - and slam the door in my face. He would crank his music at all hours - smoke too many bongs and fall asleep with Eminem pounding on repeat. Oh the thought of his stereo falling six floors to its demise makes me giddy with happiness.
      And you got away with it. And the obnoxious peace-thief was actually made to pay. Oh, what a beautiful story.
      Oh, how unfortunate such outcomes are so rare.

    15. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be part of the 1%. Must be nice to be so entitled!

    16. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Gryle · · Score: 1

      Does your economical philosophy have any relevant bearing on the conversation? No? Then hush unless you can be helpful.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    17. Re:George Bernard Shaw by markdavis · · Score: 1

      >You must be part of the 1%. Must be nice to be so entitled!

      No, I am part of the 99%. I would estimate that less than 1% of the cars that pass me, ever, have blasting music.

      It might SEEM like it is a much higher percentage and never ending and everywhere, because with so many cars, all it takes is that 1% to ruin it for everyone and create wide-spread disturbances.

      And yes, although not in the 1%, I *AM* entitled to peace and quiet. That is the natural state of the world. Morally (and hopefully legally also) when someone's "right" to blast music that disturbs others is verses someone's "right" to have quiet, the quiet SHOULD win.

    18. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Gryle · · Score: 1

      While that is ideal, given the economic conditions out there most folks don't have the option to just buy a new house, pack up, and move.

      --
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not entirely sure about the universe - Einstein
    19. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I second the other posted, I never played music so loud. In fact my father taught me to crank the window open just a smidge even in winter to be able to hear the environment a bit better.

    20. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wow, well. good thing you didn't murder someone (who also might have had challenges, two jobs, kids) six stories below rather than talking to another human.

    21. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wait, you assaulted him too, and put him in the hospital?

      Your sense of pride over this is pretty disturbing (and likely a sign of an immature mind, and more than likely the product of fiction and bluster).

    22. Re:George Bernard Shaw by redlemming · · Score: 1

      I lost my hearing in one ear as a result of a childhood illness. So I grew up appreciating the hearing I have left (and understand how vulnerable it is) a lot more than most people. I wasn't playing loud music as a teen, or ever, so I've never done anything noise-related that needs forgiveness. Other things, sure, but not this.

      The professor of the course I took on human sensory systems mentioned a study that showed that people in industrial societies have measurable hearing loss compared to people from more primitive societies, even by their teen-age years, and it only gets worse as people age. This hearing loss is due to the kinds of noise that the original poster was complaining about. I can't provide a reference, it's been too long: if someone else is familiar with this study, please respond.

      This is a big problem, because it means anybody likely to be reading slashdot already HAS some hearing loss, and those of us who have suffered a mishap are especially vulnerable to further hearing loss.

      The really nasty thing about hearing loss is that we don't realize it's happening and it never heals. Perhaps some day we will be able to use cloning to replace damaged tissue, but that is likely to be at least 50 years off, could be several centuries off, and would doubtless require surgery.

      My take on the loud noise sometimes generated by various human activities works like this: in a free country, a person is free to wave their fist around until they start trying to put it into someone else's face. Similarly, a person is free to make as much noise as they want until other people have to hear it or until it crosses into other people's space.

      This really needs to be viewed as a fundamental right in any free country. In the USA, as it doesn't appear explictly in the Bill of Rights, it is appropriate to consider this to be the sort of thing James Madison intended to protect by means of the 9th Amendment (rights retained by the people), and the 10th Amendment (rights reserved to the people). It's a right that often doesn't get protected by our government or by our legal professionals, perhaps because the damage occurs over a long time scale and we aren't good as a society at thinking past the next election. Educating people on this issue is also something that seems to be neglected.

      People that are generating avoidable loud or annoying noise, especially noise that can be heard in other people's homes, are probably best viewed as sociopaths -- a sociopath being a person that does not consider other people to be real -- who are violating other people's fundamental rights and causing permanent, irreversible harm to them in the process. In many ways, this sort of thing is worse than if the perpetrators simply walked up to random strangers in the street and punched them in the face -- that damage would at least heal.

      Sometimes generating noise is unavoidable but most of the time it can be avoided or reduced.

      A sound level meter is an inexpensive means for restaurants, clubs, or bands to monitor the sound level the produce or permit: many people in our society are too deaf to have good judgment when it comes to measuring sound levels.

      It is unfortunately quite common for nightclubs (and sometimes restaurants) to permit sound levels vastly in excess of the limits where hearing damage is likely, in my experience (based upon the frequent use of my sound level meter).

      This is a very serious problem, not just for the customer or the person passing by on the street, but also for the owners, managers, band members, DJ's, etc..., all of whom are likely to be considered in violation of state laws regarding assault/battery and/or federal laws concerning generation of noise in a workplace where hearing protection is not being used. The fact that these laws are rarely enforced today is no guarantee that they won't be someday.

      Given the current technology we have in portable electronics, encryption, and GPS systems, there really isn't any reason why devices couldn't be designed

    23. Re:George Bernard Shaw by joocemann · · Score: 1

      I think you missed the "...something you thought was fun..." part of my suggestion to reflect on one's past.

      I highly doubt you were an angel and completely upstanding citizen as a child/teen. It is nearly impossible, and being inconsiderate is a natural product of the natural naivety of youth.

      Let me guess.... now that you're 30 or 40, or whatever, you're projecting your current approach to the world into your past, and thus not reflecting at all... You were perfect back then? Just like now? *whoosh*

    24. Re:George Bernard Shaw by joocemann · · Score: 1

      I think you missed what the Anon Coward was poking at... I see it clearly...

      What the AC was trying to say, as I said in my other reply, is that you seem to think you are perfect in your response to what I had previously said about reflection, understanding, and forgiveness. That you seemed to gloss over your youthful wrongs, or pretend they never happened, and then maintain stringent disgust for the current youthful generation.

      At least that's what I'm taking from the 1% comment...

      (you know.. the 1% connotation derived from OWS... it's not like the AC was trying to show statistics)

    25. Re:George Bernard Shaw by markdavis · · Score: 1

      No, I actually was that boring and "good". Not perfect, but not annoying or bad. I kinda skipped that part of my life. In some ways it is probably sad.

    26. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So, those that can't afford to repair their muffler, you want to kill them?

    27. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You people are such spoiled little twits. You get "annoyed" and feel justified in killing, vandalizing, being generally violent, even passing legislation. Do you even know why pipes and music are loud? Because it's fun. Ever hear of that? No, you haven't. In fact, you hate fun and anyone that has it. And that's why we choose your neighborhoods to cruise around in: because you're a bunch of silver-spooned jerks whose entire lifestyle and outlook directly hurt us, the lower class. We intend to keep you up. We want to harass you. If you want a quieter, more polite environment try not gentrifying, not pushing homeless people into the gutters, not being evil.

    28. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gunfire -- which crosses the threshold of pain -- is significantly louder than car stereos.

    29. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, I *NEVER* played music so loud it could be heard out of my car, nor at home. So forgive me for not forgiving people that annoy the crap out of me with such noise.

      You are missing the point. There is no way to win in this, it is illegal to take simple instant karma revenge on annoying people, so forgiveness is the only way to free yourself from their oppression - they don't actually give a ... if you forgive them or not. For all we know about assholery, they feed on your anger, so there is a slight chance that being phlegmatic could perhaps annoy them in return.

    30. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Paracelcus · · Score: 2

      If you actually had to work, night after night, day after day, with NO PEACE! Moving did NOT HELP, talking DID NOT HELP! I had moved for the LAST TIME! The noisy little rat fuck should be praising god that I did not rip him apart like a boiled chicken!

      When you choose to antagonize the 6'4" 250 lb crazy Vietnam vet with your little skinny ass & take a poke at him IN FRONT OF WITNESSES!
      If I had torn him in half it would have been natural selection!

      If you deprive a WORKING MAN of any quality of life you do so AT YOUR OWN RISK!

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    31. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, can't decide I you're a troll or a loser...

    32. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Stuarticus · · Score: 1

      Maybe you could have thought more carefully about where you lived in the first place instead of entering someone else's home without permission then goading him into attacking you while lying about doing it... I'm afraid to say you don't sound like any kind of hero to me.

      --
      If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
    33. Re:George Bernard Shaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When you choose to antagonize the 6'4" 250 lb crazy Vietnam vet with your little skinny ass & take a poke at him IN FRONT OF WITNESSES!

      Wow yeah, that certainly does excuse your excessively violent reaction to noise. I'm sorry for doubting that you had a legitimate reason for freaking out.

  6. Heavy drape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Have curtains made from the kind of heavy drape they use in studios. Check out how people deal with acoustic treatment in home studio builds. For instance the gearslutz.com "studio building/acoustics" subforum has many threads to geek out on.

    1. Re:Heavy drape by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      Acoustic conditioning isn't the same thing as soundproofing.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Heavy drape by crash123 · · Score: 1

      I imagine there would definitely be some crossover though. Also, studios need to be soundproof too.

    3. Re:Heavy drape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This here was my first thought too. But something somewhat less intrusive in your house might just consist of placing some screens with sound muffling materials against walls/in your room. Tackle the problems with acoustics in your room room first. Some heavy curtains for the windows will work wonders in the evening/night.

      As for during the day, I don't see any reason not to invest either in a nice soundsystem so you can just drown out unwanted noise with music, or spend some serious money on earplugs, It is by far the cheapest and most comfortable solution.

    4. Re:Heavy drape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Acoustic conditioning isn't the same thing as soundproofing.

      If you're building a home studio, you will need to soundproof the room in addition to whatever audio conditioning you're doing inside the recording area. The parent made a perfectly fine suggestion, as those suppliers will usually carry both types of products.

    5. Re:Heavy drape by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      check this product, I believe this could help you without complicating yourself with an active system.
      Empa’s Curtains that quench noise:
      http://www.empa.ch/plugin/template/empa/1256/106420/---/l=2

      Disclamer : I'm not affiliated with the company, nor did I try myself this product.

  7. Whatever you do... by bmo · · Score: 1

    Do not line the walls with ordinary egg-crate foam. Whatever you put on the walls should be fire-rated. Yeah, it's more expensive, but you get what you pay for.

    Egg crate foam has a tendency to burn like gasoline.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire

    --
    BMO

  8. It does not have to be far by RotateLeftByte · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I used to live right on the A10 highway into London. I move about 400 yds away and the traffic noise was a distant hum. I know that for some /. readers 400yds is beyond the pale when it comes to walking but around here parking spaces were like gold dust so people walk to the top of the street and take the bus, another 200yds there was the train station. 5 mins on the bus took you to a Tube Station.
    Many of my neighbours at that time didn't have a car. They didn't need one.

    More fool you for choosing to live where you do.

    --
    I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
    1. Re:It does not have to be far by BenoitRen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      400 yards? More like 365,76 metres.

    2. Re:It does not have to be far by bmo · · Score: 1

      >More like 365,76 metres.

      More like 18 chains and 18.2 links

      --
      BMO

      ps: 1 chain = 100 links = 4 rods

    3. Re:It does not have to be far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      More like 920 of my cock.

    4. Re:It does not have to be far by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      More like 1.818 Furlongs. We're in London, after all.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    5. Re:It does not have to be far by bmo · · Score: 1

      Gee, there must be a reason why 18.18 chains is 1.818 furlongs...

      *snert*
      --
      BMO

    6. Re:It does not have to be far by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

      We're in London, after all.

      Yes, capital of a country which, except for miles and pints, went metric around 1970.

    7. Re:It does not have to be far by tsa · · Score: 1

      I know a country that calls itself civilized that is still using the impirial system, together with Lyberia and Myanmar.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    8. Re:It does not have to be far by citizenr · · Score: 2, Funny

      We're in London, after all.

      Yes, capital of a country which, except for miles and pints, went metric around 1970.

      Dont know about that, they still count money in pounds.

      --
      Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
    9. Re:It does not have to be far by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Calling yourself "civilized" doesn't make it so.

    10. Re:It does not have to be far by Loosifur · · Score: 3, Funny

      Really, cause I know a guy who tries to make pithy jabs at the US but can't manage to spell "imperial" or "Liberia" correctly.

      Oh, and if you love the TSA so much why don't you marry it, etc.

      --
      This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
    11. Re:It does not have to be far by lcreech · · Score: 1

      and stones also.

    12. Re:It does not have to be far by element-o.p. · · Score: 1

      Can't comment on the miles, but sticking to pints...yeah, that makes sense to me. It's a lot more awkward to ask your coworker to join you for "0.473 of a liter" after work than to join you for a pint.

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
    13. Re:It does not have to be far by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since he's in Britain it'll be a real pint - 568 ml, not that rip-off US version. Any way, you wouldn't - you'd just order a half-liter (or even a liter if you're feeling up for it). Or do your fluid intake requirements have such little tolerance that around 10% variation would have such catastrophic consequences?

    14. Re:It does not have to be far by drkim · · Score: 1

      Oh, and if you love the TSA so much why don't you marry it, etc.

      Why buy the cow, when she will strip off your shoes and grope your naked body orifices for free?

    15. Re:It does not have to be far by drkim · · Score: 1

      It's a lot more awkward to ask your coworker to join you for "0.473 of a liter" after work than to join you for a pint.

      Not here in the US.
      Here we ask for "354.882 milliliters of your best, barkeep!"

    16. Re:It does not have to be far by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Is it so hard to say "half a liter" which is equal to pint for all practical drinking purposes?

    17. Re:It does not have to be far by sjames · · Score: 1

      And stone.

  9. Earplugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cheap and works every time. After a few minutes, you'll forget you have them in.

    1. Re:Earplugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've actually wondered about the effect of wearing them long term. My gut tells me it would be bad.

      When I was living at home, I virtually had a server room in my bedroom.. and was getting concerned that I might be damaging my hearing. I actually considered ear plugs.. but then moved out and now keep all my gear in a seperate room.

    2. Re:Earplugs by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      "Cheap and works every time. After a few minutes, you'll forget you have them in."

      I'd suggest the same. I work shifts and needed them to be able to sleep during the day. Now I can't live without them.
      Not only sleeping, but programming, reading and other stuff is great with plugs.

      But you can't forget them after a few minutes in the beginning.
      I tested 2 dozen of them and still I needed 3 weeks until they didn't hurt anymore. If you wear them 8-10 hours, your ears need to adapt.
      It _will_ hurt for some time, but then it's heaven.

    3. Re:Earplugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Which brands to you recommend? i'm in a similar situation. I just find earplugs are good for high frequency sounds, but barely touch low bass sounds.

    4. Re:Earplugs by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      Try one of their sets, which include a wide variety and try them out. It's rather difficult, since after a few days your ears hurt no matter which ones you use. I use QUIET ones, with cords, so if one falls out during the night, I find it by following the cord from the other ear. They come in 3 sizes.
      It's like riding a bike, your ass will be sore for days no matter which saddle.

      http://www.howardleight.com/earplugs/quiet

      PS. Use some cream to avoid micro-abbrasions to your ear while placing them, which can get infected.

    5. Re:Earplugs by Flere+Imsaho · · Score: 1

      Another option is custom in-ear monitors. I wear JH Audio IEMs at work (open plan office, grrr) and play mp3s that are a mix of white noise/surf/rain. They work so well I had to get a desk phone that flashes a light when it rings. As a bonus, if you want to listen to music they have superb sound.
      http://www.jhaudio.com/

      --
      It gripped her hand gently. 'Regret is for humans,' it said.
    6. Re:Earplugs by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      Those cost a bit, I was always to cheap to buy one of those. :-)
      As you mention the flashing phone, since I sleep with plugs, I also got an alarm for hearing-impaired people, which also has flashes, really loud alarms and a vibrating gimmick that you place under the sheet.
      That allows you to awake without your partner noticing when you have different schedules.

  10. Move out of the city. n/t by dtmancom · · Score: 1

    n/t

  11. Move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Move?

  12. Mass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Although there are dozens of vendors selling what sound like promising solutions, there is only one solution that really works: more mass. Think of it as a physics problem.. sound waves energy transmitted through the air that cause parts of the structure (including the structure above and below) and environment (e.g. the air around you) to vibrate at a particular resonance. The only way to stop the noise is to stop the vibration. A popular option is to use double drywall with something like rockwool insulation between the studs. You can get away with either 2 x 1/2" drywall or 2 x 5/8" drywall with a small furring strip in between without sacrificing too much living space. Look into Green Glue as an additional way to dampen vibrations in that setup. You can also go for a detached wall or "room within a room," but that starts to get expensive to do right.

    If you want to look at a "serious" solution ($$$$), you should try to find a sound mitigation contractor in your area. They can survey the room during different times of day and determine what the best solution is for your situation.

    1. Re:Mass by fermion · · Score: 2

      And because the issue appears to be the window, perhaps multipane windows will solve the problem. I have seen this work with friends that live near railroad tracks. This along with acoustic insulation should solve the problem. Of course, is the reason there is so much noise is because the window is open, then nothing is going to solve the problem.

      --
      "She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
    2. Re:Mass by j00r0m4nc3r · · Score: 2

      there is only one solution that really works: more mass

      Except that's not a solution that works. I think you mean, more sound dampening material. I could easily build a 12" thick concrete wall that would transmit sound better than a 4" cavity filled with old jeans. One of them has significantly more mass than the other...

    3. Re:Mass by Shadow+of+Eternity · · Score: 2

      Which would be why one particularly effective soundproofing product is called "Mass Loaded Vinyl". It's not the cheapest thing in the world, and it's heavy, but you can probably just drape it over the window like a blackout curtain and have it seal around the frame for a reasonable attenuation.

      --
      A bullet may have your name on it but splash damage is addressed "To whom it may concern."
    4. Re:Mass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or less mass.... Place your house in a vacuum, that'll do it.

    5. Re:Mass by robi5 · · Score: 1

      Between you and me, I'd pick the 12" concrete wall, or better yet, a 5" concrete wall and a 4" concrete wall with some air in between, or rockwool. The jeans solution didn't say what surrounds the cavity - chickenwire? drywall? And also, the old jeans are uneven; will rot, compact, get wet, catch fire, house mice or smell bad. While a mass-spring-mass system is better than the same mass with no spring between them, I'd argue for the merits of the 12" concrete wall; one could always attach another layer if needed (e.g. some rockwool and drywall that is not fixed to the concrete wall). There are all kinds of weird effects going on; it is possible to worsen the acoustic situation, for example a new mass layer highlights some frequency, or due to the way it is suspended, it conducts vibrations, turning them into giang speakers. Where's an acoustician when we need one?

    6. Re:Mass by KiloByte · · Score: 1

      there is only one solution that really works: more mass

      To the contrary, I know a 0-mass material that's 100% sound proof.

      --
      The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
    7. Re:Mass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He just needs to buy honeycomb blinds. There like $150 each delivered. You guys are wacky.

    8. Re:Mass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      uumm not entirely correct..

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_transmission_class

      Note that doubling the mass of a partition does not double the STC. Doubling the mass (going from two total sheets of drywall to four, for instance) typically adds 5-6 points to the STC. Breaking the vibration paths by decoupling the panels from each other will increase transmission loss much more effectively than simply adding more and more mass to a monolithic wall/floor/ceiling assembly.[citation needed]

      Structurally decoupling the drywall panels from each other (by using resilient channel, steel studs, a staggered-stud wall, or a double stud wall) can yield an STC as high as 63 or more for a double stud wall (see table below), with good low-frequency transmission loss as well. Compared to the baseline wall of STC 33, an STC 63 wall will transmit only 1/1000 as much sound energy, seem 88 percent quieter and will render most frequencies inaudible.[citation needed]

    9. Re:Mass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.quietrock.com/drywall/special-panels/home-theater.html

    10. Re:Mass by izomiac · · Score: 1

      Although there are dozens of vendors selling what sound like promising solutions, there is only one solution that really works: more mass.

      Although it may not be practical, I've often wondered if the opposite approach would work a little better. Have a hermetically sealed space between two layers of wall and a pump on the outside that creates a near vacuum. No matter between the walls means no sound conduction between them, although sound might travel along the edges of the space. This approach might work better for windows, albeit you'd want to check their pressure tolerances before attempting it.

    11. Re:Mass by mellon · · Score: 1

      You can actually get windows with vacuum between the panes. They have fantastic R-values. Unfortunately, the sash will still carry sound.

  13. Perfect solution! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Move.

  14. turn it into music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.technologyreview.com/mitnews/407851/found-music/

  15. Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by elrous0 · · Score: 3

    It's the bass that really pisses me off. It's like legalized assault on my ears.

    --
    SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    1. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by AmazingRuss · · Score: 2

      Dubstep is replacing them slowly...wub wub wub!

    2. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That and the "doodz" who accelerate their bikes like madmen. Fortunately many of them become red smears on the road eventually.

    3. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by Natural+Join · · Score: 2

      Lower sound frequencies penetrate more easily than higher frequencies.

      I've done some studio tests. We built a sound chamber with two foot think CMU walls and ceiling. We embedded speakers with broad frequency response. We pumped 108 dB of pink noise out the speakers, and measured sound outside the chamber. You could just barely tell the sound was on. At higher frequencies, we saw 80 dB of reduction. At 16 Hz, there was *no reduction whatsoever.*

      The good news is that 16 Hz is below what you can hear. But the basic principle is that the lower the frequency, the more sound energy will penetrate a barrier.

    4. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Well, without going through all that, you can just look at radio frequencies. The lower frequencies travel through objects better and carry farther (until you start messing with some fancy antennas and getting into really high dollar stuff)

      That's why you could pick up a local TV or Radio broadcast and get a page on your pager (old school) but your cell phone wouldn't have a signal in some buildings. Sound Frequencies, while they are different, are very similar in this regard.

    5. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not just ears, but sensitive equipment and experiments as well. Over time, even structural integrity is affected. Trucks pass by and I don't notice a thing, but a dickhead with a subwoofer stops to yield for traffic and my petri dish is ruined.

    6. Re:Wait for rap and hip-hop to fall out of favor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's the bass that really pisses me off. It's like legalized assault on my ears.

      Ya, go stand next to the mitre saw my next door neighbor uses almost non-stop between the hours of 8am and 8pm. Then tell me which hurts more- bass or treble. You can hear bass more easily since it travels further and through more types of materials, but the high-end is what actually brings the pain.

      Anyhow, dealing with noise such as stereos, mufflers, kids screaming, neighbors fucking, heavy equipment, construction, etc. is part of living in a big city. As long as it's outside of ordinance-mandated "quiet hours", if you can't deal with it then you need to find somewhere else to live.

  16. More details needed by arth1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    How and what, exactly, have you insulated, and where is your domicile in relation to the street?

    Do you have sound dampening mats on the ceiling? If not, bear in mind that most houses and apartments are above street level, and most of the sound will be reflected off the ceiling. A layer of sound dampening material there should have the largest effect.

    If you live low to the ground, sound insulating the walls that can see the street, rather than just outside walls would have a similar effect.

    A few strategically placed plants or sound dividers - think cubicle walls but far less intrusive - can also help.

    If you must go with a noise generator (which I don't recommend), try pink noise instead of white. The sounds from the street you try to mask out are going to be mostly low frequency, and white noise will mainly add more sound energy in the higher end of the spectrum.

    1. Re:More details needed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Do you have sound dampening mats on the ceiling?

      Pet peeve:

      * damping - removing energy from a system

      * dampening - making wet

    2. Re:More details needed by BoRegardless · · Score: 2

      Indeed good windows and plants can help, but since it is the low frequencies and they are easier to reflect, a reflecting hard angled flange all around a full window width flower box will help bounce sound waves away before reaching the window. This works best assuming you are living on at least the 2nd floor or better, the 3rd floor.

      If a flower box is not allowed, an angled sheet of clear polycarbonate can be safely anchored and used to deflect low frequency sound waves effectively. You can mock it up with duct tape to try it for minimal cost.

    3. Re:More details needed by arth1 · · Score: 1

      Your peeve might be erroneous. From Merriam-Webster:

      dampen
      verb \dam-pn\
      dampened | dampening

      Definition of DAMPEN
      transitive verb
      1: to check or diminish the activity or vigor of : deaden <the heat dampened our spirits>
      2: to make damp <the shower barely dampened the ground>
      3: damp 1c

      The very first definition of dampen is as a synonym to deaden.

    4. Re:More details needed by davegravy · · Score: 5, Informative

      How and what, exactly, have you insulated, and where is your domicile in relation to the street?

      Do you have sound dampening mats on the ceiling? If not, bear in mind that most houses and apartments are above street level, and most of the sound will be reflected off the ceiling. A layer of sound dampening material there should have the largest effect.

      If you live low to the ground, sound insulating the walls that can see the street, rather than just outside walls would have a similar effect.

      There are two components to the noise intrusion - the direct field and the reverberant field. Adding absorptive finishes to the room will help reduce the reverberant field, which in a best case scenario will buy you 3dB (i.e a barely noticeable improvement). Short improving the isolation (i.e windows and exterior partition construction) there isn't anything you can do about the direct field.

      A few strategically placed plants or sound dividers - think cubicle walls but far less intrusive - can also help.

      Massive barriers can help in outdoor noise propagation scenarios. In this type of situation, the outdoor noise is impacting the exterior facade, causing it to vibrate, and is re-radiating sound in the interior of the OP's space. This means that the source of sound is a large area, not a point source. The sound is effectively coming from "everywhere", and so you don't get the same kind of path length difference attenuation from barriers like you do when you have a point source that is far from the receiver. This is exascerbated by the fact that the intrusion is low frequency which diffracts around corners far more than higher frequency sound.

      Plants are not massive enough to be of any significant help. To put things into perspective, a dense forest that's 100m in depth will only attenuate sound 2-3dB, and that's mostly a high frequency reduction.

      If you must go with a noise generator (which I don't recommend), try pink noise instead of white. The sounds from the street you try to mask out are going to be mostly low frequency, and white noise will mainly add more sound energy in the higher end of the spectrum.

      White noise will add equal sound energy across the spectrum. Pink noise will add more energy in the lower frequencies. We don't typically recommend noise masking for low frequency intrusions into offices and other facilities we consult on because the masking is generally perceived to be more annoying than the original problem. It's best used when there is a speech privacy problem in large open offices because there isn't ENOUGH background noise.

      Upgrading your window would typically be recommended, but will only do a little for low frequency. Note that in glazed assemblies, the framing is the weak point. STC 35 is where most frames will top out (even though the glazing will advertise higher STCs into the 50s). If you want a really solid window construction you need an isolated frame assembly which is two frames in series that do not touch each other and which are isolated from the surrounding structure using 3mm thick neoprene gaskets. Each frame supports a separate pane of glass. The inside perimeter should be lined with glass-fibre to prevent standing waves in the cavity.
      Overall thickness of the glazing might be 2-3"

    5. Re:More details needed by kermidge · · Score: 1

      What about going to, say, 4" or so of polycarbonate (Lexan)? That oughta be dense enough for a goodly range of freq and intensity. [been decades since I looked at this stuff; have to hit the ASTM for starters]

    6. Re:More details needed by hankwang · · Score: 1

      "Adding absorptive finishes to the room will help reduce the reverberant field, which in a best case scenario will buy you 3dB"

      I think you are making assumptions here that you don't mention, because those 3 dB are not some fundamental limit. For example, a room with floor/wall/ceiling in concrete and having 95% reflection coefficient. This will amplify the field from sound sources (vacuum cleaner or a small open window) by a factor 20 (i.e. 13 dB). Removing all reverberation would decrease the noise level by 13 dB.

      I used to work in a place where the coffee room was like that. It would hurt my ears if the electric water kettle was on and two conversations were going on. Mounting glass fiber absorber panels onto the ceiling made a tremendous difference.

  17. tackling the wrong problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the problem is where you live. no amount of noise abatement short of 12-24" thick walls with no windows will help.

    1. Re:tackling the wrong problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Generally agree that moving is the best solution.

      However it is possible to mitigate sound problems without going to the extreme. There's a whole industry around it. Multi-paned glass, sound absorbtion materials for the roof (please don't use egg cartons.. ), high density boards (drywall with a slab of lead running through it will deaden a lot of sound...), flexible sealants (acoustic caulking) that can deal with vibration between layers.

      Thing with sound is a very small hole in your system can let a lot of it in. You can't just add "a little soundproofing" .. you hit a point where a little makes a difference, then you need to go all the way to make any more significant progress. Stuff like a wall outlet can negate a lot of your work..

  18. double pane windows, mass-loaded walls by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    soundproofing.org (a retail site despite the .org domain) sells a lot of the stuff for that. Kind of a weird and funky site, fun to browse.

  19. Noise cancellation. by GigaBurglar · · Score: 1, Interesting

    What you need, if you have the technical know-how (if you are up to the challenge - or maybe the tech' already exists), is 1) a microphone that will detect the noise coming in on a particular vector, 2) a uni-directional speaker (parabolic - they are never 100% uni-directional though) 3) software that will receive the sound, process it, and retransmit the 'inverted' sound-wave back at the source - at the same amplitude. you need to also take into account the distance from the microphone, the speed of sound, and the precise nano-second in which to transmit the inverted sound. It's easy in theory but in practice.... This is essentially how noise cancellation technologies work. It's complicated and don't under-estimate the vectors involved - refraction, caused by an improper calculation of 'direction', will cause leakage and may induce sound-waves that are more irritating to handle than 'normal' sound.

    1. Re:Noise cancellation. by Anrego · · Score: 1

      My understanding (which is very limited) of active cancellation is that it works great when you know exactly where the sound is coming from.. but less great when it's kinda everywhere (as is the situation here).

      Would be nice if such a solution existed. I'd love an actively canceled computer (I'm a silent pc freak...)

    2. Re:Noise cancellation. by TheRealHocusLocus · · Score: 1

      Active acoustic cancellation would only really work below 100hz. Either the source needs to be acquired directionally by microphone then inverted and rebroadcast wide field (would not work for traffic) ... OR the source captured outside then inverted and rebroadcast directionally/directly (as is done with cancelling headphones)... you cannot cancel reliably wide angle to wide angle unless there is some delaying directional component in the conduit, such as if your room is at the end of a sound conducting corridor. Try it and you will get strange feedback that curdles milk. You might however be able to create a narrow directional 'cone of silence' within a room however. Things might sound strange at the boundaries of the cone.

      --
      <blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
  20. Obligatory XKCD by whennegan · · Score: 5, Funny
  21. What, specifically, did you do? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 4, Informative

    Although I've replaced all windows, insulated, and caulked every square inch of the place,

    I've been in houses on a busy streets where the street noise stops at the walls and windows. So, possibly, you did not go far enough. For example, there are windows and there are sound-reducing windows.

    Maybe you need to re-evaluate what you did to keep the noise out before you embark upon a project to reduce or mask the noise inside the room.

    1. Re:What, specifically, did you do? by ed1park · · Score: 1

      That's great. Didn't know there were such things as sound proofed windows.

      My idea was to use roxul acoustic fire batts (used to soundproof home theaters) and put them in some custom built cardboard boxes that fit snugly into the window areas to block off sound. Great for sleeping in since they block out light too.

      http://www.amazon.com/Roxul-Acoustical-Batts-Mineral-2-inch/dp/B006FX8ASA

      A simpler way is to use sound reducing window curtains. Of course, the sound proofed windows would be the nicest solution.

      Another idea is to move your bedroom to the interior of the apartment away from the streets since those noises are most annoying when sleeping.

      And if that still doesn't work. Move. :)

    2. Re:What, specifically, did you do? by Gibbs-Duhem · · Score: 1

      I don't know if this is the best solution for everyone, but I just have my computer generate pink noise. It's got roughly the quality of a rain storm, and after a few minutes I don't even notice it anymore. I can use it to sleep through anything, and I live with roomates who are, shall we say, active at night.

    3. Re:What, specifically, did you do? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is your computer generating pink noise? (or for anyone else reading, same question for white noise.) Are you just playing a recording of something in a loop, or is there some handy software or source code for it out there you are using?

      I have a white noise generator and some fans which work great to reduce the pain somewhat, but none of them reach into the bass range. it would be really handy to be able to build my own that does the same thing on a much lower range of frequencies.

  22. You should move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously. The amount of work that you need to do (and the borderline crazy nature of what you're suggesting) makes it sound like its the best option for your long term sanity.

    Either that or just invest in a good pair of noise-cancelling headphones already. It would certainly look better than some insane parabollic noise reflector.

  23. Questions/options by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    • Have you considered noise canceling headphones? They are far cheaper, and work.
    • How have you established that most of the noise comes in through the windows? Could it be coming indirectly, through other rooms, etc.?
    • What are you hoping that the parabolic reflector on your white noise system will accomplish?
    • Have you looked at the room's general acoustics? Bare walls can echo & make external noises seem much sharper/louder?
    • If the purpose of the white noise is to "drown out" the outside noise, you may want to try using a layered loop of many samples of the same outside noises (in the same way that overlaying many voices can turn "overheard conversation" into crowd sounds).
    • You may want to play with using the window itself as a speaker
    • If you decide to play with active cancellation (and you're sure the window is the primary source) attaching a small mirror to the window and using a laser pickup system, then feeding that back through the window-as-a-speaker may be your best bet.

    Good luck,

    -- MarkusQ

  24. Here's your answer: by naturaverl · · Score: 1

    1) Noise cancelling headphones.

    2) If the above doesn't work, then move.

  25. Slayer & A New Stereo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Go buy a decent stereo system and throw on some Slayer- Diabolis In Musica.
    Crank that bitch up and you wont hear shit outside.
    Just the magical screaming from our good buddy, Tom Araya.
    Problem Solved.

  26. Build another wall by microcars · · Score: 4, Informative

    inside with a window that is separated from the "real" outside wall by a few inches.
    You will be surprised at how effective this is while leaving the original "look and feel" of the room.

    --
    I like microcars
    1. Re:Build another wall by bmo · · Score: 2

      This is the actual solution right here.

      Most construction handbooks will recommend a double wall between the sections of a duplex, for example.

      --
      BMO

  27. move by 1u3hr · · Score: 2, Insightful
    "I live at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in my city "

    Why? If you value peace and quiet and fresh air, move to the countryside and you won't have to insulate yourself from your surroundings. A city of 350,000 can't be that big that you would have a long commute when you needed to get into the city.

  28. Or you could go on the offensive... by macraig · · Score: 0

    ... and build a microwave cannon to take out the car stereos. They're the problem, not your hearing nor your windows. It's a massive social ethics problem, aided and abetted by every single car manufacturer, who now preinstall sound systems capable of rattling entire neighborhoods. You might wanna avoid zapping the fire trucks. They have a good reason for making lots of noise. Unless your city has the highest per capita arsonists, you can probably survive the fire trucks once the boom box cars are silent.

  29. Need double-wall construction by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The best solution I can recommend in your case is to move your office to an internal room which you can sound proof. Reconstructing that room to have double-wall construction is probably going to give you the most bang for your buck when it comes to soundproofing. Unless you construct the room with soundproofing in mind ahead of time it's going to be nearly impossible to have a significant soundproofing affect on it after the fact.

    If that's too much hassle, then you're best option is to reconsider the location where you live.

  30. Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by aaaaaaargh! · · Score: 3, Informative

    One of the last things I've ever bought from Sony were their ultra-expensive MDR-NC500D digital noise canceling headphones. I can't speak for other noice canceling headphones, but can definitely not recommend the ones by Sony. Don't get fooled by the advertisements, the actual noise canceling is pretty weak, does not have any effect on car noise, and is only noticable when you listen to music. (You can't use them just for canceling outside noise.) Moreover, they need power all the time in order to work at all. In my opinion, they are definitely not worth the money.

    1. Re:Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find that noise canceling headphones with a pair of foam earplugs does the trick for me...for flights and for fully blocking out room noise. The headphones take care of the low frequencies; but while using only headphones, I can still hear voices and an annoying hiss from the limits on high frequency noise canceling. The foam earplugs get rid of most of what the headphones miss and it feels quiet enough to sleep or concentrate.

    2. Re:Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by SecurityGuy · · Score: 2

      Noise cancelling headphones suck. I have a pair of the Shure SE530s in-ear headphones and find that they're an almost impervious wall against outside sounds. I loooove them. They don't do noise cancellation at all, they're simple a good pair of earplugs with really, really good speakers in them. I've never been remotely impressed with over the ear solutions as far as noise isolation goes.

    3. Re:Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try them from bose, they are quite ok. They don't filter out people talking in a office though, but airplane engine noise is just about eliminated. The ones i have use aaa batteries and have a detachable chord so you can use them for noice cancelling only.

    4. Re:Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by fa2k · · Score: 1

      It sounds like a good physics/hacking project to do software noise cancellation.. Mount some microphones at fixed points, wire them up to PCI/PCIe sound cards, and write some software to produce sound waves in headphones (or even in speakers) to cancel the noise. One problem is that you have to know your head's position at a high precision, about 4 cm to go up to 8 kHz. You'd either need to track your head with a webcam, or maybe it's easier with fixed speakers positioned between you and the window. You're looking at a best case of 2 ms delay in the sound card + the time used to process in software, let's say 10 ms. That gives you 3.4 m min. distance between the mics and the speakers.The speakers would have to be of great quality to cancel loud bass from stereos, but the good news is that bass has a long wavelength, so directionality is not a problem. The bad news is that the time you have for signal processing is of the same order as the frequency of the bass sound, so you can't do any FFTs. Somehow just feed the low-frequency part back with an appropriate delay and inverted phase, and do some more fancy processing for the low frequency sound. If the sound only comes from the window, you could possibly do a lot with simply feeding all the sound back with an inverted phase, without any software. I wouldn't be able to do it, but maybe the original poster is a better hacker than I am.

    5. Re:Can't recommend noise canceling headphones by monkeyhybrid · · Score: 1

      I've never tried noise cancelling headphones but I do have a pair of Samsung in-ear headphones that came with my tablet that are excellent for shutting out outside noise. They came with three different sizes of rubber boot so that you can make a perfect fit with your inner ear and even with no audio playing through them they are just as good as most ear plugs and are much more comfortable. For times when that doesn't quite cut it, like when trying to sleep beside a particularly loud snorer, I use an Android app called Lightning Bug to play a white noise / sea shore soundscape through them that I actually find rather soothing too.

  31. Double paned windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    b1tbkt writes

    "I live at the corner of one of the busiest intersections in my city (pop. 350k). Although I've replaced all windows, insulated, and caulked every square inch of the place, the fire trucks and cars with obnoxious stereos still regularly intrude on my home office. Most of the noise comes in through the windows."

    Did you go with double panes?
    When I moved into my current domicile, I had a real problem with traffic noise. I replaced the single pane windows with double paned and it made a huge difference.

  32. If the windows really are the entry point, by jenningsthecat · · Score: 1

    then you may want to experiment with constrained layer damping

    You'll need to find some clear viscoelastic adhesive in tape or sheet form - something similar to the stuff used to stick credit cards to the paper info sheets they're affixed to when they're mailed out. Then have a sheet of glass cut to the size of a window pane. Cover the window pane with the viscoelastic layer, (complete coverage with no gaps is required), and then apply the sheet of glass.(Clear sheet plastic may also work, but AFAIK optimum results are obtained when the constraining layers have similar properties). You may want to attach pull-tabs of fibreglas tape at the edges of the glass to make it easier to remove them if necessary.

    The experiment shouldn't cost too much to try on one window. It should be immediately obvious whether or not it's worth doing the rest of the windows. After treatment you won't be able to see clearly through the windows, but at least they'll still allow the light in.

    --
    'The Economy' is a giant Ponzi scheme whose most pitiable suckers are the youngest among us and the yet-unborn.
    1. Re:If the windows really are the entry point, by Technician · · Score: 1

      There are a couple of physics items to take into consideration when designing sound suppression. You either need to attenuate the sound by absorbing the energy, or reflect is by preventing transmission.

      Materials that absorb sound yet transmit light are limited.

      To reflect the sound to prevent transmission is a good option. A mass change works well. This is most often used in recording studio windows. Two or more plates of thick heavy glass resist acceleration by the sound pressure wave. A gap between layers of glass provides poor sound coupling between layers of glass.

      --
      The truth shall set you free!
  33. so this is "hacking" now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has "hacking" become the new "troll"?

  34. Noise cancelling won't work by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    You won't be able to cancel out road noise for an entire room. Noise cancelling basically only works with headphones and in certain controlled industrial environments. For a room with road noise coming from different directions from moving sources with a moving listener it just won't work.

    I'm afraid you are basically screwed. The only option is to move.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  35. If some insulation didn't work, you need more by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 1

    Short of moving, the only way you're gonna get the sound level down is more insulation, even though you've already done some. Can't hurt to deaden the surfaces inside to damp the noise that does get in: carpet, soft wall coverings or hangings. Heavy (or heavier) drapes on the windows.

    Of course, all of this will change the aesthetics of your place in other ways, too. And not necessarily to your liking.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.
  36. Better Physics Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    What you need are multiple layers of different acoustical impedance; that is, hard and soft materials layered. Whenever there's an impedance mismatch, radiation gets reflected. An optical analog is a dielectric mirror. However, the really low frequencies are always a problem, and that's where more mass will help.

  37. white noise machine,fans,Optomine 105 ear protecto by __aasdno7518 · · Score: 1

    The above will definitely help...We used to have neighbors who were too rednecky to teach their dogs not to bark, so I ended up with a fan or a white noise machine in every room. One of my house mates had to do the same thing.

  38. Wall of sound won't work by Chalnoth · · Score: 5, Informative

    It will do literally nothing. Sound waves simply add. You can't get rid of sound waves by adding a bunch of random sound waves. The sound waves you don't want will pass right through. Now, if you simply have a white noise generator in your house, so that the ambient volume is higher, that may make it so that your ears have a harder time picking out specific sounds, which will, in turn, make it easier to ignore them.

    Barring that, noise cancelling headphones or double-pane windows, as others have mentioned, are going to be your best bets. And double-pane windows are good for heating/cooling anyway.

    As an aside, I'm also rather skeptical that noise cancellation for the entire apartment could ever be practical. The problem is the waveform bouncing off the various walls and other features of the apartment is going to be too complex to accurately measure or cancel. And then what about the sounds you do want to hear?

    1. Re:Wall of sound won't work by The_Revelation · · Score: 1

      I like Chalnoth, he seems to know whats going on. At the very least, I concur with everything hes said. The 'wall of sound' idea seems like a bit of a wives tail constructed on a way to deal with tinitis, which does involve using brown or pink noise to eliminate 'perceived' noise in the ear-drum. In reality, however, if you try mixing an audio track with noise, the output is an audio-track mixed with noise. You might be able to do something more obscuring if you multiplied the carrier wave (street noise) with the white noise track, but that would require a lot more control over your environment than you appear to presently have. I have personally tried this approach by playing really loud music, but I find after the first 6 hours you have only managed to accomplish two things. 1) pissing off the neighbors, and 2) annoying yourself with your own music playing so loud you can't think about anything else.

      Sound waves don't like vacuums and insulation. So, you will need to identify the source of your noise leak - use a sound meter. The description of your house is a little bit rubbish, but if it has wooden walls, your sound is probably haemorrhaging there. I would be looking at something (not specifically) like http://autospeed.com/cms/title_Fitting-Sound-Insulation/A_109796/article.html as its specifically looking at insulation used for shielding against car frequencies. You would need to line the walls with something like this. Roofs are often fairly well insulated, and assuming no audio gets into the room, you shouldn't need to carpet all the walls. Thats more for dealing with internal reflection, although in a worst case it will deaden any echos from audio getting in. Depending on the size of the room, active audio cancellation is very tricky. It works well for audio cancelling earphones where the system knows where your ears will be in relation to incident noise, however synchronizing destructive audio patterns for an audience in an unknown co-ordinate is nearly impossible.... unless you are lucky enough for all the noise you care about to be coming from a single-point source.

  39. Get used to it or move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If it drives you nuts, it will always drive you nuts. Move out. That's the hardest thing to do, but trust me, putting up with noise will drain you physically, emotionally, and mentally. It's worth your health and sanity to find a quieter place to live if the noise is a big problem.

    That said, you may get used to it. I have cop cars zooming by my house every day and it never bothers me. It's different from when I used to live next to a white trash pothead who'd listen to 70's rock at full blast 24 hours a day (no kidding, he never turned it off). Dealing with that shit probably shaved a few years off my life in terms of stress, etc. I should have moved, but was stubborn.

  40. Consult a contractor by lazycam · · Score: 1

    Sounds like you are doing it wrong. Contact a local contractor for an estimate or to simply chat about your options since you are a DIY kinda guy. Just realize the solution will not be cheap (time and/or money wise).

    --
    my mom posts on slashdot.
    1. Re:Consult a contractor by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

      Wax earplugs + headphones, cheap and very effective.

    2. Re:Consult a contractor by robi5 · · Score: 1

      Don't consult acoustics with a constructor. Generally, constructors know how to sell what they can do, and they will happily construct your idea or in the absence of it (or despite of it) their own. But they don't need to live with the consequences that their work is ineffective or suboptimal. Rather, obtain knowledge from an acoustician, from building acoustics books/education or Slashdot, with the obvious tradeoff between accuracy and cost. Use constructors to construct.

  41. sound insulated windows used near airports by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i understand there are sound insulated windows, an example being an airport (can't remember which) which upgraded to allow larger planes, and in exchange had to install sound insulating windows for all the nearby homes

  42. And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My adaption to fart mufflers and loud base was a sound detector and a machine gun. If the passing car got too loud, it would track and fire.

    I havent built it yet, but one day...

    I wouldnt shed a tear for these obnoxious people. They disturb hundreds of people daily, so fuck em.

    And the motorcycles.

    It's all about our narcissistic society. "Hey look at me! I'm special!"

    1. Re:And the motorcycles .... by realityimpaired · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom. With the exception of Harley Davidson bikes, which are deliberately tuned badly to make noise, most of the good bikes (think Honda orr BMW) are actually pretty quiet, and, especially among older motorcycle drivers, they are far and above the most courteous drivers on the road, which seems kind of counter to the notion that they're narcissistic.

    2. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Bill+Dimm · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the motorcycles.

      It's all about our narcissistic society. "Hey look at me! I'm special!"

      Yep. South Park did an episode on it, and nailed it as usual.

    3. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom.

      What?!?

      So, car drivers aren't free?

      I guess the Founding Fathers were all motorcycle riders then.

      So, I should give up voting and just get a bike if I want to be free?

      And I guess we should send motorcycles to North Korea and free the people there?

    4. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course motorcycle drivers tend to be more courteous, just like cyclists who take their mode of transport seriously (i.e., daily commute), or small aircraft pilots, or gun owners in places where getting a license requires training and passing a test.

      The harder it is to do something, the more likely it is that the people involved are going to take it seriously, and therefore, not be jerks about it.

    5. Re:And the motorcycles .... by element-o.p. · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I ride too, and you're full of crap.

      A loud pipe isn't going to keep an idiot driver from cutting you off. I've been cut off by idiot drivers more than once, and generally speaking, it's by a young kid with a ten thousand watt stereo cranked up to 11. Your loud pipe isn't going to phase him in the least, but it will piss off everyone else around you, leading to onerous restrictions about what can and cannot be installed on a bike, where bikes can go, etc. As far as only being excessively loud under extreme acceleration, yeah, I call B.S. on that, too. If you're running a straight pipe with no muffler, it will be loud even at idle. It's only ear-splitting at high manifold pressure settings (i.e., acceleration). Regarding "it is the driver...not the bike itself..." well, yeah, but that's a tautology since the rider is the one who has to remove the stock muffler to install the obnoxious one, it is the rider who has to thumb the starter button, and it's the rider who has to twist the throttle to get the bike to accelerate.

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
    6. Re:And the motorcycles .... by WGFCrafty · · Score: 3, Funny

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom. With the exception of Harley Davidson bikes, which are deliberately tuned badly to make noise, most of the good bikes (think Honda orr BMW) are actually pretty quiet, and, especially among older motorcycle drivers, they are far and above the most courteous drivers on the road, which seems kind of counter to the notion that they're narcissistic.

      If Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is anything to go on, they're not narcissistic, they're philosophers who go insane when they come to the conclusion that quality is synonymous with the Tao.

    7. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I disagree. I ride, and standing next to a harley with loud pipes is crazy. They're ridiculous, such that you can't even talk over them at a stop light. "Hey, you wanna turn left up there or keep going?" has to get done half with hand signals. And yes, the "loud pipes save lives" thing is total bullshit. Anywhere over 25mph, everyone merges into you anyway... they just don't hear you.

      Quick experiment, next time you see a cruiser coming up behind you, certainly keep your eye on them, but turn your stereo off and see if you can hear them. You'll see.

      That said, half mile away, you can only hear squids. I live near two highways, and that awful, high pitched whine they make travels right into your living room. It does not help that those kids travel in packs.

      So if your neighbor has a loud cruiser and regularly comes home at 1am every night, that could be annoying. If you live anywhere near a busy street, you learn to hate sport bike riders. The good part is they ride like morons, so over the course of a riding season it's an ever-diminishing population.

    8. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      Fuck you, I ride harley's and I made them louder to prevent idiot drivers from cutting me off because they failed to look before changing lanes.

      1) The noise cannot be heard by the driver until AFTER the bike is alongside or past the car.

      2) You need to learn how to use an apostrophe correctly, you ignorant idiot.

      3) Harleys are for idiots. Real motorcycle riders know Harleys are overpriced junk.

      I have been riding for 43 years, which is most likely longer than your punk ass has been
      alive and polluting the earth with your lowlife existence. I ride a KTM 950 Super Enduro,
      which is much faster than your open pipe Harley and will kick your ass on any road in this
      world.

      Now take your dickeating lowlife self to the shop and buy some mufflers, Harley fag.

    9. Re:And the motorcycles .... by pspahn · · Score: 2

      rrobbbbllleee rrrrobbbblllleee rrrroobbbbllleeee

      --
      Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
    10. Re:And the motorcycles .... by arth1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I guess the Founding Fathers were all motorcycle riders then.

      I think we can safely assume that most of them rode carts and wagons instead of ponies.
      Much like most people today prefer the freedom from the elements and the freedom to bring a bag or two.

      In the past, there were motorbikes that offered freedom - you could drive them on paths where no car could go. Modern motorbikes, however, tend to demand more of the pavement than cars do.

      By all means, I can see reasons why some people want a motorbike, but freedom is not one of them, no matter how often repeated.

    11. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Seumas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom.

      Bullshit. I don't need to hear your "freedom" in a residential neighborhood at 3am on a Saturday morning from five miles away.

    12. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Seumas · · Score: 1

      You might not get cut off in traffic in this theoretical world of yours, but in the real world you're sure as fuck going to get shot in the face if you ride your little gay-pride-machine down my street again late at night or on a peaceful afternoon. The rumble of a bike is fine, but it shouldn't sound like the whole god damn mother fucking planet is cracking in half.

    13. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Seumas · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I disagree. I ride, and standing next to a harley with loud pipes is crazy. They're ridiculous, such that you can't even talk over them at a stop light.

      Such that you can't even talk over them at a stop light? Dude, you can't even talk over them from a mile away in your own home. These mother fuckers are so god damn fucking loud that, even in the comfort of your own quiet home, you have to pause the conversation for 30+ seconds while they finish arriving from a mile or two away and then get a mile or two away to the other side and out of ear-shot. This shit is so ungodly loud that it should not only be a fucking ticketable (and patrolled-for) offense, but a fucking jailable one.

    14. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      It's precisely leaving all that baggage behind, focusing on going where you're going, that gets you that feeling of freedom. Not access to a dirt road you couldn't manage in your car.

      You're generally alone and responsible for yourself. You're focused on going somewhere, because you have to be. You're not just trapped in a box between work and grocery, listening to the market report drone on in the background, trying to remember if you paid the cable bill.

      Every nerve on your body is actively engaged. You feel the wind pulling on you, you feel road in the seat of your pants, your hands are telling you when the front wheel is tugging a little into a crack in the road, and your eyes are scanning. And yet you're probably pretty relaxed, because you know what you can do and what your ride will do, even if you don't know what's coming a half mile up.

      And yeah, it might rain. You might stop somewhere you've never been, or you might tough it out. You'll worry about it when it comes to that. Either way, you're in that moment because you don't have a choice.

      So yeah, we use, "freedom" as shorthand, but it's about doing something that you enjoy, without the burden of everything else weighing you down (physical or otherwise), because you couldn't afford to have it on board even if you wanted to.

    15. Re:And the motorcycles .... by joocemann · · Score: 1

      He was specifically talking about Harleys.... No other bikes on the road are obnoxious like those... and as far as I know, only Harley is allowed to breach exhaust level laws because it 'impedes capitalism' (based on a court ruling whereby the loud exhaust was a sales feature).

      You're defending against the point you agree with.

    16. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have to rely on stupid loud pipes to avoid idiot car drivers, you need to reevaluate your riding skills, because you have none.

    17. Re:And the motorcycles .... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 1

      He was specifically talking about Harleys.... No other bikes on the road are obnoxious like those... and as far as I know, only Harley is allowed to breach exhaust level laws because it 'impedes capitalism' (based on a court ruling whereby the loud exhaust was a sales feature).

      It's been a while since I've owned a bike, or looked into one. But unless somethings changed, Harleys don't come from the factory with that loud ass exhaust. That's done after the purchase, usually by the dealer, or at the request of the buyer. I can't say I've ever owned one but had a lot of friends who did. But that was during the times when AMF owned them and I wouldn't even consider one after seeing the issues those had. I know they make a better bike now, but even so I can't get the image of a friends bike sitting along the road with a engine that basically split in half and fell off the bike out of my head.

    18. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      freedom...stfu...

    19. Re:And the motorcycles .... by paulatz · · Score: 2

      1) The noise cannot be heard by the driver until AFTER the bike is alongside or past the car.

      Only if you are going faster than the speed of sound

      --
      this post contain no useful information, no need to mod it down
    20. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Sardaukar86 · · Score: 2

      Fuck you, I ride harley's and I made them louder to prevent idiot drivers from cutting me off because they failed to look before changing lanes. The only time when my bikes are excessivly loud is under extreme acceleration. It is the driver of the bike that causes them to be loud, not the bike itself.

      Well done, I congratulate you on a very successful troll. Of course, that's not really something to be proud of...

      --
      ..Mullah or Pope, Preacher or Poet, who was it wrote: "Give any one species too much rope and they'll fuck it up"?
    21. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh. You're just an inconsiderate piece of shit then.

    22. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 2

      I guess the Founding Fathers were all motorcycle riders then.

      I think we can safely assume that most of them rode carts and wagons instead of ponies.
      Much like most people today prefer the freedom from the elements and the freedom to bring a bag or two.

      In the past, there were motorbikes that offered freedom - you could drive them on paths where no car could go. Modern motorbikes, however, tend to demand more of the pavement than cars do.

      By all means, I can see reasons why some people want a motorbike, but freedom is not one of them, no matter how often repeated.

      Get a horse!

    23. Re:And the motorcycles .... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      especially among older motorcycle drivers, they are far and above the most courteous drivers on the road

      My asshole. Motorcycles are among the vehicles least likely to pull over if you're stuck behind them. Harleys are least likely to pull over, but old people on Hondas are barely behind them. As I have regularly been stuck behind sport bikes and occasionally behind super bikes because if they were to push the bikes enough to keep ahead of me on the twisties they would be at great risk due to the potential for road contamination, I have often been stuck behind a motorcyclist in a variety of situations. I don't know precisely why someone perched atop four or five hundred pounds of vehicle would want someone in 3500lb of vehicle behind them, but they often seem to.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    24. Re:And the motorcycles .... by alexander_686 · · Score: 0

      I guess the Founding Fathers were all motorcycle riders then.

      I think we can safely assume that most of them rode carts and wagons instead of ponies.

      Most of the founding fathers could ride. George Washington was know to be a exclenet rider. Jefferson was considered odd because he was a poor rider. Back then having a good seat was a sign of manliness - kind of like riiding a motorcycle today is a sign.

    25. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, FUCK YOU and your loud ass muffler (or LACK of a muffler rather). You should all have your Harleys confiscated and turned into scrap, which is turned into hearing aids.

      Idiots will cut off loud bikes, and quiet ones. Bikes are hard to see. They are dangerous to ride, and disturb everyone in the neighborhood.

      Bet you own a doberman, and think that's ok too right?

    26. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that the Hamburglar on ludes?

    27. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Nikker · · Score: 0

      To be fair to motorcyclists I have to admit I see why they do make their bikes so loud, it's because of oblivious drivers. Loud bikes make themselves known and make encompassing drivers aware of their presence. I have witnessed my self many times a driver in a car changing lanes just to find out half way through their maneuver that there is a motorcycle in the lane. Motorcyclists do have a right to the road as everyone else and if the driver of a car is going to neglect their responsibilities by doing a proper check of the road then I say all the power to them.

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    28. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your freedom to make noise ends where my ears begin. Or else you'll find I express my freedom through smashing up your truck.

    29. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have been riding for 45 years and have never been cutoff by a kid with a loud stereo simply because I will not give them the chance. For me it is almost always some geriatic guy that just does not look before changing lanes.

      I have Long Shots with baffels currently, my last bike I used stock mufflers with the last baffel drilled out. These types of pipes are not very loud unless you pour on the throttle. Louder pipes absolutely help to prevent being cutoff. All it takes is a little blip on the throttle and the person next to you knows you are there. Honking the horn is a far more obnoxious option considering how loud that are.

      Many riders also mount lights all over the bike to help to be noticed.

    30. Re:And the motorcycles .... by QuantumRiff · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I ride, and always hated the "loud Pipes save lives" saying.. Unless you bend the pipes completely around to face forward, they aren't easily heard by people in front of you.

      --

      What are we going to do tonight Brain?
    31. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this the Hamburglar on ludes?

    32. Re:And the motorcycles .... by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      That is why I always preferred my enduro over my street bike. No road where I wanted to go? no problem just cut through the weeds and the mud and keep right on going, just great fun.

      As for TFA it isn't like there aren't plenty of white noise generators out there, or even software that creates nice background sounds. If it were me personally I'd just get a stereo and put in a CD of nice nature sounds and just put the thing on continuous play and be done with it.

      That said the old saying "You get used to it" applies at least for me, i got a nice apt right in the center of town thanks to knowing the owner at the time but one thing they didn't tell me was that even though our town has very little crime our cops just loooove to kick on their sirens and peel out like they are Adam 12 or something, and being within 2 blocks of the station the first month was rather jarring. After that? Don't even notice them, hell now I'm more likely to be woken up by my GF piddling around in the kitchen making breakfast than I am the cops.

      But if it bugs you THAT much? CD player, nature sounds, cheap and easily controllable.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    33. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Cyberax · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That omission should have been fixed long ago. Assholes like you really disturb hundreds of people.

      And actually there ARE laws in most of the states regulating the noise. If your vehicle is too noisy then it can't be certified.

    34. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yea, dont get me started on the tools riding goddamn harleys

      Too late:

      'cause Im a cowboooooy, on a steeeel houuse I ride. Im wanted;
      Dead or aaaliiive

      Seriously, if you ride a hog, you are not a cool as you think you are.

    35. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Cyberax · · Score: 0

      Yes, yes. You've made it absolutely clear that you're a total asshole, so full that shit is inside your brain.

      I wish someones starts to road repair with mechanical picks outside your window at 2am. And does this for 2 months, each night.

    36. Re:And the motorcycles .... by fluffy99 · · Score: 2

      Fuck you, I ride harley's and I made them louder to prevent idiot drivers from cutting me off because they failed to look before changing lanes. The only time when my bikes are excessivly loud is under extreme acceleration. It is the driver of the bike that causes them to be loud, not the bike itself.

      You've obviously missed out on the studies that show Harley riders are more likely to be involved in accidents, despite being generally louder. Although those studies cited the root causes as poor riding skills and a high propensity for riding while under the influence. As for the noise, MCN did a study that showed the bulk of the added noise from straight pipes or louder mufflers was direct behind the motorcycle. It also showed little or no added benefit for people in front of the motorcycle noticing them sooner. The best was to be noticed is to wear bright colors and ride proactively. In my experience though, Harley riders like the image and usually wear a dark leather jacket and tend to be inexperienced weekend riders.

      The #1 accident for motorcyles is having someone turn left in front of you. You can avoid getting cutoff by trying not to be i peoples blind spots. Loud pipes just piss off everyone else, while the rider thinks they sound cool. Just like the twats with loud thumps radios.

    37. Re:And the motorcycles .... by fluffy99 · · Score: 1

      You think that not conforming to your ideal quiet life style is not about freedom?

      It's like saying, yeah, all motorcycles are about freedom except those over there that won't do what we expect of them. Let's make fun of them and say it's because they have small peckers or need attention.

      I put loud exhausts on my cars and trucks because I want to. They sound good and I like the heart thumping sound of raw power. It isn't because I want anyone's approval or attention, it's because I want to do what I want to do and have something that sounds like I like it to sound. If that isn't about freedom in your book, you need to search for a better definition.

      At least you are somewhat honest about the reason most people put loud pipes on their bikes. Most try to justify it by claiming it makes them safer. Many also think others like the sound and like the added attention. Just try to understand that not everyone likes the loud noise. Next time you're in the theater and some asshat is talking during the movie and being distracting, consider maybe that he like the sound of his own voice and what others think really doesn't matter.

    38. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      My house is far enough off the road and insulated well enough I would never hear it. But go ahead and wish.

    39. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Cyberax · · Score: 0

      So we're in agreement that you're a total asshole?

      Good. That's the first step on the road to recovery.

    40. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nope. The cars don't hear us until we're right next to them. The pipes project the sound out behind the bike.

      I ride with all guys on harleys with debaffled pipes. I have debaffled pipes on my smaller triumph cruiser (much quieter). Doesn't matter, all of us could crack the throttle at the same time... cars in front of you don't hear it.

      "Loud Pipes Save Lives" is bullshit, and always has been. Studies have been confirming it for a long time.

    41. Re:And the motorcycles .... by tibman · · Score: 1

      lol, i agree with you on the passing thing. I usually pass them during a dashed yellow though.

      --
      http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
    42. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 0

      People shouldn't have to "justify" putting loud pipes on anything if we are free though. As long as it doesn't violate the law that is. That was the only reason I bothered replying- we are free or we aren't and the GP seems to think freedom is cool as long as you don't do what he doesn't like. The replies I received were less then respectful and the mods are hilarious considering.

      I don't really go around doing pipe shots in town. Although you will hear the exhaust. Most my cruising is actually on back roads away from towns but I have to pass through them for the shear fact that roads actually go places. I love being on the back roads where you can really crack into it and feel the power or let off and soak in the scenery. I also don't drive the loud vehicles if I know I'm going to be out after dark.

      As for the movies, I do not go to the movies except for the drive in and that's about once every 2 or 3 years when some movies just peaks my interest. But I know what you are saying. I mean I go to the grocery store and put up with the kid throwing a tantrum because his mom won't let him get the cereal he wants, I put up with the clown at the gas station who for some reason takes has to crank his stereo while pumping gas even though he's scared someone will steal something so he locks the car up and all you can hear is the bass rumble and all the lose panels on the piece of junk jingling because of it. There is enough inconsideration to go around. Just today I pulled into a fast food joint to make a call on my cell phone and some kids pulled in blaring their stereos causing me to roll my windows up to finish the call. They are free and if I'm in a public space, I have to accept that there are other people in the world who do things that might annoy or inconvenience me. It's not a big deal as far as I'm concerned.

    43. Re:And the motorcycles .... by pepty · · Score: 1

      and then puts very expensive pipes with certain sound characteristics, usually that he can tune, so that it makes people around him aware he is there: you just cannot see someone on a small vehicle like a scooter or motorcycle

      If awareness is the goal, put a fiberglass pole with an orange flag on the back of your bike like dune buggies do. Heck, put two of them up, and a sparkly pinwheel on the front for good measure. Problem solved. All other vehicles use visual cues to get people to pay attention - why not motorcycles?

      Easy solution for that: "I meet your local statute judge, and raise you one interstate commerce clause: you pulled me over in the process of driving to another state, and I think the Feds want to have a word with you." Of course you don't say it that way, but you talk to your lawyer about it. You could make quite a stink about regulations imposed for reasons of others' comfort when it endangers the lives (and infringes their right to safe transport on the roads) of others. See above again, there may be people who make their bikes loud to be "cool", but I know plenty who do it for the right reasons.

      Cite for a study showing louder bikes are safer? Just so you know, it's completely legal for deaf people to drive.

    44. Re:And the motorcycles .... by pepty · · Score: 1

      Like I said, it's legal. and I don't care what other think. If they can turn up their stereo, if they can argue with their spouses at the top of their lungs, of they can yell for their kids instead of going and getting them, if they can hammer something or run an electric saw or anything else that makes a loud noise, so can I.

      In most places if your neighbors do any of those things at night you can call the police and if they agree that your neighbors are too loud your neighbors will be cited. Heck, in my neighborhood a loud party can cost people $1k or get them evicted.

    45. Re:And the motorcycles .... by infinitelink · · Score: 1

      Why are you still arguing? You gave your opinionated ar. ex exper. and I raised you one: simply put, when you are many hundreds to a thousand pounds less weight than the next class of vehicle, you do whatever you possibly can to be noticed: a little flag works great from the side but not always back or front, and the guys I knew did wear bright bright gear like that to ALSO draw the eye: most on the road aren't deaf either, and your use of them like that is insulting: I start sign language next week as my roommate's mother is deaf due to treatment of illness side effects. Ps they tend to feel the vibrations well enough, they just don't perceive it as sound.

      Reasoning, rather than rationalizing and adding non-answers to the exchange, is appreciated. Your attempt to leverage non-evidence after arguing experience in spite of contrary experience presented as evidence is silly: you can piss about precautions being useless about idiots all you want, and continue to fuss for what appears to be mere dislike of the sound, but there are still plenty who may get enough notice to not change lanes in their truck right into the cyclist.

      And as an aside, defining parameters and 'safer' is quite the can of worms, as well as all the factors and inputs that must be measured and qualitatively assessed to properly understand the numbers, many of which things to be measured and assessed cannot be, or are probably not practically discoverable: I would actually find it fun to go into such a design here and explain, but I am on an Android, it is late, and really it is worthless.

      --
      Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
    46. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Kharny · · Score: 1

      wrong, the pipe is directional....so it pushes most of the sound to the rear, only a fraction of the sound goes allround.

      --
      Make a man a fire and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he will be warm for the rest of his life
    47. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 0

      Sure, whatever makes you feel good.

      See ya at the shrink. Wait, I got something important to do, just tell me what he says.

    48. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Cyberax · · Score: 1

      Important? Riding around on a farting ass-hauler to show how small is your dick is not important.

    49. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 0

      lol.. Do you think you are important enough to me or anyone else that your attempts at insults actually mean something? Like I said, LOL...

      I'm sorry some biker dude broke your heart and now you are obsessed with the size of their dicks and hate them all. But it wasn't me. Find the real person to troll.

    50. Re:And the motorcycles .... by hi-endian · · Score: 1

      wow, that really made my day. that was awesome.

    51. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You don't even have the balls to post your threat under a real name/moniker. I highly doubt you will have the balls to act on any of your threats. But come and try, we will put that internet black belt to use.

      May we take it, then, that "sumdumass" is your real name? (Somehow I'm not terribly surprised.)

    52. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom.

      Bullshit. I don't need to hear your "freedom" in a residential neighborhood at 3am on a Saturday morning from five miles away.

      Oh look, another +5 Insightful for not reading the post which was replied to, and not offering any actual insight into anything.

    53. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The individual cylinder displacement is a bit of an engineering problem. Each piston displaces over a half of a liter, so the correct muffler ends up almost as large as something from an American V-8. Even on a Harley, that's a too-huge piece of equipment, so the stock muffler ends up skimpy and scarcely effective.

    54. Re:And the motorcycles .... by jo42 · · Score: 1

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom.

      Bullcrap. Harleytards are about posing. No more, no less.

    55. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've heard that motorcyclists gut the muffler after buying a bike. Gotta be loud is their mantra.

    56. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those are a handful of idiots, but do not represent the majority. Most motorcycle people are very nice in my experience. In my country bikers and truck drivers are a very welcome sight, they are always willing to help, I don't have as much experience in the US, but that seems to be the case as well, despite the bad rep.

      For what it's worth, I rode a motorcycle twice in my life, I think. I don't like being so close to death, driving a car is enough danger for me.

    57. Re:And the motorcycles .... by TheCarp · · Score: 3, Informative

      I am a rider, and I have been through the MSF course, I recommend it.

      No he is right, loud pipes most certainly do NOT save lives. Read some of the other comments, they are spot on. The majority of sound is heard right next to or behind the bike, not in front. Also, insulated cars and loud stereos, as you point out, can mostly cancel out bike noise.

      Also... the noise is easily loud enough to damage hearing. In fact, motorcycle riders on the highway are advised to wear ear plugs, because even the sound of the wind will damage your ears over time in a full face helmet above 40-50 mph or so (never mind 80 mph :) ... thats loud)

      What a motorcyclist has however is vision. A riders head rides almost as high as an SUV. He is also small. He has a lot of ability to avoid accidents, using his vision, size, and ability to accelerate.

      I mean yes, there is a blind spot.... a good rider stays the fuck out of them and is very mindful of them when it can't be avoided. A good portion of being a good rider in traffic is assuming cars might not see you and riding specifically to increase visibility.

      Good riders learn to use lane position to make sure they are seen and keep cars in their space, and make space for escapes. (sometimes you want to practically hug the lines)

      Then... they practice evasive moves. A bike is a very agile device, but, if you don't intuitively know what to do, you will do the wrong thing. A lot of riders (a stunning number) don't even know that the bike counter-steers.

      The vast majority of motorcycle accidents can be avoided by smart riding and avoiding the situations where a driver not seeing them means they die. That's never a smart bet. Assume they can't see you, make them see you.

      --
      "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
    58. Re:And the motorcycles .... by mrmeval · · Score: 0

      There are some who like loud pipes just to be pricks but the more experienced want them so dipshit drivers don't kill them. Since dipshit drivers refuse to see them they cannot as easily ignore that blatting noise near them. I can't operate a motorcycle but I'd risk noise fines because of what I've seen on the road if I could.

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    59. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I won't have to justify my freedom to blow a trumpet in your ears until they bleed, right?

      Freedom without limits is just a word. But of course self-centered assholes like you never realize that.

    60. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      If you can equate the two, you might have a point. But you simply cannot. Good trolling though- Nothing says fallacy like equating a 60-70db loud exhaust 10 feet away for a brief period of time with a 160db noise next to an ear until if causes physical damage.

    61. Re:And the motorcycles .... by infinitelink · · Score: 1

      I hear you on earplugs!

      --
      Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
    62. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's people like you that make the rest of us grin every time a biker gets his brains spilled.

    63. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, so there is a decibel limit to freedom now?

    64. Re:And the motorcycles .... by blade8086 · · Score: 1

      Fag!

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_F_Word_%28South_Park%29

    65. Re:And the motorcycles .... by mythosaz · · Score: 1

      So you're saying you don't have a flag then, right?

    66. Re:And the motorcycles .... by rhsanborn · · Score: 1

      Not the case. My BMW displaces 550cc per cylinder (similar to the Harley), and they muffle that exceptionally. Harley riders are a bunch of dudes that want big loud bikes.

    67. Re:And the motorcycles .... by rhsanborn · · Score: 1

      In general, it doesn't work worth a darn to get other drivers attention. The exhaust sound goes out behind the bike. You just let everyone you've passed know that they've been passed by a motorcycle. Everyone in front has no idea you're coming.

    68. Re:And the motorcycles .... by TENTH+SHOW+JAM · · Score: 1

      As a motorcycle rider, Thankyou.

      --
      A sig is placed here
      To display how futile
      English Haiku is
    69. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You said they were special. Jealous?

    70. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that's just great! To hell with those poor people. Polluting machines are for rich industry only. I'm sorry to have disturbed your suburban pizza rolls.

    71. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. I was on the highway behind to loud motorcycles many many yards ahead and their pipes were drowning out my car stereo.

    72. Re:And the motorcycles .... by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      Nope, there is a causing physical harm to other people limit to freedom.

      But great job at over looking the obvious.

    73. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Bosconian · · Score: 1

      That's "sum-dum-MAHS."

      --
      Scarce, scared, scarred, sacred... -Col. Bruce Hampton
    74. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The individual cylinder displacement is a bit of an engineering problem. Each piston displaces over a half of a liter, so the correct muffler ends up almost as large as something from an American V-8. Even on a Harley, that's a too-huge piece of equipment, so the stock muffler ends up skimpy and scarcely effective.

      Not sure where you are trying to go here and would hate to accuse you of talking out of your ass. Are you saying only Harley is incapable of designing a bike that is quiet despite being a V-Twin? I ask because most people in the real world realise how quiet most other brands can be even in larger V-Twin designs. And for the record a few of my riding buddies have Harleys that they have not modified, and they are not annoyingly loud from the factory. Just like most of the V-Twins from Japanese manufacturers that have not been modified.

      I have yet to see one with the massive muffler setup you imply needs to be used.

    75. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I ride too and yes exhaust pipes point in the wrong direction but I didn't drive my car onto a roundabout the other day because I heard a bike coming long before I saw him. May have saved his life for all I know. Certainly saved me from becoming a hazard.

    76. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Quirkz · · Score: 2

      They should build bikes with a switch for that shit, then, so that it only activates when they're on the road. I don't need to hear it for an hour while my neighbor is tuning and revving his engine across the street from me before he goes out for a ride.

    77. Re:And the motorcycles .... by highphilosopher · · Score: 1

      So the real problem here is that at 60+ M.P.H. those pipes are whisper quiet to anyone in front of me. Who scares me the most? People in front of me :)
      That being said, My Vulcan 800 has quiet pipes. I don't wear yellow, and I stick with drab colors.
      Rather than expect noise, colors, or flashing lights to protect me, I prefer to watch what the F#$k I'm doing while riding.

      Please watch for motorcycles when you drive. cyclists, please watch for cars too. The scenery may be pretty, but the pavement is not!

    78. Re:And the motorcycles .... by highphilosopher · · Score: 2

      Disclaimer: I ride regularly.

      Riding a motorcycle isn't a sign you're a man. Taking care of your responsibilities is.

    79. Re:And the motorcycles .... by element-o.p. · · Score: 1

      Why is this "5, Insightful": it is one man arguing from experience to absolutely discount another's experience!!!...there is such a thing as a BLIND SPOT you know.

      Fair question, and a good point. This is a bit of an old topic by now, so I apologize for being late back into the game, but I think it's worth replying. I did a Google search for statistics, and you know what? I really couldn't find anything to conclusively back either side of the argument. Apparently, I'm not alone; neither could this guy. There is a bit of a priori reasoning, however, that can help sway the argument. As mentioned in the link above, as well as this one, the Hurt report suggests that 77% of multi-vehicle motorcycle accidents are caused by a driver ahead of the bike; most of the exhaust noise is directed rearward, however. Yes, sound propagates in all directions, but it is more attenuated towards the front of a motorcycle...precisely where it would do the most good, if "loud pipes [really] save[d] lives." Furthermore, the Hurt Report summary makes a number of bullet points drawn from the accident statistics. Points 1, 6, 7, 9, and arguably 13 and 30 support the "loud pipes" argument (mostly, IMHO, by pointing out that conspicuity helps to prevent accidents). However, points 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 33, 34, and 41 support the "loud pipes do *NOT* save lives" argument (again IMHO, mostly by pointing out that rider training/skills and proper safety gear have the greatest correlation to a reduction in accidents and accident severity).

      So...do I have any proof to support my position? Not really. I can make a decent circumstantial case for it, but no, I can't really prove it. I can, however, make a case -- despite your suggestion that the Interstate Commerce Clause is a get-out-of-jail-free card -- that loud pipes result in restrictions to motorcycle activities (see the two links I provided above for examples). I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on /., so I'll decline a legal debate about whether the Interstate Commerce Clause trumps local ordinances, although I will go so far as to state that I suspect you'd better have some solid statistics to bolster the "loud pipes" argument before you attempt to have your lawyer take on a local judge based upon that reasoning.

      Finally, I'll point out one more thing: claiming that you only ride with loud pipes on your bike in the interest of safety is rather disingenuous when the motorcyclist making that claim is riding NATGATT ("Not 'All The Gear, All The Time'" for those unfamiliar with the acronym). You're not wearing a helmet, gloves, etc.? You're going to have a tough time convincing me that safety is what you are really interested in, then. Yes, it gets hot in the summer. That's why manufacturers make mesh gear in colors other than black.

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
    80. Re:And the motorcycles .... by mrmeval · · Score: 1

      I did that when younger with my car. It was nothing more than an expensive all stainless ball valve with integral 12V-24V motor and 0-10V control. A potentiometer was good enough to control the 0-10v and I put a physical stop in not then knowing I could have ran a regulator and some caps for +10 volts. Turn it on and make some noise in a neighborhood with straight pipes, turn it off and it was quieter than factory as it had two Arvin high end mufflers. :)

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    81. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      You, sir, are a saint. Also, that should be standard on all loud vehicles.

    82. Re:And the motorcycles .... by mrmeval · · Score: 1

      If I'm a saint the world is so fucked. I'd go past a couple rednecktopias, you know 50 kin, 10 trailers and .... livestock and entertain them. I love quiet cars but there is nothing more enjoyable than pissing of those that need to be pissed off.

      --
      I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
    83. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Nikker · · Score: 1

      lol wut?

      --
      A loop, by its nature, continues. If that didn't make sense, start reading this sentence again.
    84. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Druegan · · Score: 1

      I agree.. I drive a 17,000lb dump truck.. an old one that's pretty badly maintained... with another full 16,000l lbs of load on it, I have to stomp the accellerator to the floor to take off at a stoplight, and the thing roars so bad in the cab I can feel my teeth rattle.. and half these bikes out there.. not just Harleys, but also similar styled bikes by other makers... when they take off from a light, I can't even hear my obnoxious truck at full roar because their tiny little bikes are producing ear-bleeding levels of obnoxiousness.

      Now, any *car* in this city runs even half that loud, they're pulled over by the police and ticketed. I'm pretty sure that if the guy I work for (who owns the truck) wasn't an ex-cop himself, my truck would be pulled over for violating noise ordinances... So why the hell do all these obnoxious biker pricks get a free pass?

    85. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And your penis replacement causes physical harm by impeding my sleep. Thank you for arguing yourself into a contradiction, you are hoist by your own petard. Go muffle it, you hypocrite.

    86. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      buddy, if any private part on me, snap on or real, is stopping you from sleeping, you need to seek professional help.

      Despite the fact that you wouldn't know what a contradiction was if it plowed into you like a truck, I find it completely interesting that you and so many like you insist the problem is phallic in nature and mine, but you are the ones so damned obsessed with it.

    87. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aw, poor little man, contradicted himself, and can't take it. Face it, you're a hypocrite - you want to make a ton of noise that disrupts everyone else but wouldn't accept others doing the same to you.

      Of course the problem is phallic in nature and yours - you're the one who is so insecure he needs to have a huge LOOK AT ME!!!!!! noise wherever he goes. This clearly indicates that you're compensating for something you're lacking. I'm sorry that the gods have cursed you so, and that society is so unforgiving, but really you're not fooling anyone, so quit acting like a moron and put a proper muffler on your bike. Who knows, maybe some nice girl will take pity on you?

    88. Re:And the motorcycles .... by infinitelink · · Score: 1

      points 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 33, 34, and 41 support the "loud pipes do *NOT* save lives" argument (again IMHO, mostly by pointing out that rider training/skills and proper safety gear have the greatest correlation to a reduction in accidents and accident severity

      Saying "these do not [help] because other factors are even more significant than they are" is quite the disconnect in logic.

      I'll decline a legal debate about whether the Interstate Commerce Clause trumps local ordinances, although I will go so far as to state that I suspect you'd better have some solid statistics to bolster the "loud pipes" argument before you attempt to have your lawyer take on a local judge based upon that reasoning.

      What happened to declining to debate? I know a Constitutional lawyer btw. : )

      I'll point out one more thing: claiming that you only ride with loud pipes on your bike in the interest of safety is rather disingenuous when the motorcyclist making that claim is riding NATGATT ("Not 'All The Gear, All The Time'" for those unfamiliar with the acronym). You're not wearing a helmet, gloves, etc.? You're going to have a tough time convincing me that safety is what you are really interested in, then. Yes, it gets hot in the summer. That's why manufacturers make mesh gear in colors other than black.

      ???

      When did I say any of that? The regular riders I know have full gear PLUS extra (i.e. beyond road gear, they tend to wear racing gear: composites in the jackets to keep above ground, full cover of all limbs with leathers, yada yada). They also tend to wear earplugs due to the noise, just for those worried about their hearing.

      do I have any proof to support my position? Not really.

      Okay.

      Points 1, 6, 7, 9, and arguably 13 and 30 support the "loud pipes" argument (mostly, IMHO, by pointing out that conspicuity helps to prevent accidents).

      Let's cut this down to the essential matter, the one I would have thought would have been evident, inarguable, such that there should be no controversy. The thing which a lawyer from the start would have seen and to argue his case have simply said "res ipsum loquitur":

      conspicuity helps to prevent accidents.

      --
      Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
    89. Re:And the motorcycles .... by BiAthlon · · Score: 1

      So, a switch to activate a device that makes noise in order to draw attention to the source. Hmmm, I think I'll patent that and call it a "Horn". I'll make millions!

    90. Re:And the motorcycles .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Motorcycles aren't about narcissism, they're about freedom. With the exception of Harley Davidson bikes, which are deliberately tuned badly to make noise, most of the good bikes (think Honda orr BMW) are actually pretty quiet, and, especially among older motorcycle drivers, they are far and above the most courteous drivers on the road, which seems kind of counter to the notion that they're narcissistic.

      Harley Davidson is an environmental criminal empire, and the badly 'tuned' assholes who buy and modify their belligerent products are an affront to freedom and decency ... and the same goes for the asshole customers and vendors who produce and spew boombox noise from moving vehicles. Any two-wheeled motorcycle or electronic device like a sub-woofer that intentionally makes more noise than a 12-wheeled truck should be incinerated (along with its owners and manufacturers). They are both outrageous violators of existing environmental law and offenders of common decency, and are prolly closet child molesters and environmental rapists, and I say screw 'em, and deal with them for what they are, PREDATORS.

  43. Make your own noise by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 2

    When I was young I used to drive a car that made an annoying sound. I would simply crank up the radio, and the problem went away!

    --
    Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  44. Use your stero by RNLockwood · · Score: 3, Funny

    Crank up the sound level on your stereo to really high levels and use it constantly to mask street noises. Magically, after a while, you won't need it any more.

    --
    Nate
    1. Re:Use your stero by cdp0 · · Score: 2

      Crank up the sound level on your stereo to really high levels and use it constantly to mask street noises. Magically, after a while, you won't need it any more.

      There is nothing magical about (partial) deafness.

    2. Re:Use your stero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WHAT?!?

    3. Re:Use your stero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Crank up the sound level on your stereo to really high levels and use it constantly to mask street noises. Magically, after a while, you won't need it any more.

      There is nothing magical about (partial) deafness.

      Fucking deafness, how does it work?

    4. Re:Use your stero by RNLockwood · · Score: 1

      Try this alternative. Join the military, shoot a lot different weapons, work in very loud enclosed spaces, don't use effective ear protection (there was none). That's what I did; consequently I don't hear a lot of street noises and what's there is kinda covered up by the constant ringing in my ears. At least I wasn't shot and didn't get malaria so I'm not complaining.

      --
      Nate
  45. Look into Pro Audio by aitikin · · Score: 1

    It won't be cheap, but you can do better. Double paned glass helps. Did you insulate the floor? Did you double wall insulate the rooms? There's about a million things that can be done, but it has to be done right or you won't get anywhere. Look into a book called Home Recording Studio: Build it Like The Pros. It's a little over the top, and not quite 100% applicable to this purpose, but if you follow that, and you still have issues, than you have to move, but I highly doubt that you'll still have issues if you do it right . (An example of "right" in this context is ensuring that you do NOT fasten everything to the studs, because in doing so you are transferring the sound through the studs and basically bypassing any insulation you've created, but this is a very complex setup to achieve, so do your homework well.)

    --
    "Don't meddle in the affairs of a patent dragon, for thou art tasty and good with ketchup." ~ohcrapitssteve
  46. I live at the corner of one of the busiest ... by Tim+Ward · · Score: 1

    Er ... why, if the noise bothers you??

    When I choose somewhere to live, right at the top of my list is that it must be somewhere where nobody will have any reason to drive past unless they live in the same street.

  47. Fred Rogers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Everyone is entitled to peace and quiet.

    -Fred Rogers

    1. Re:Fred Rogers by RobertLTux · · Score: 1

      yeah and a bit of triva is that he actually sued a store for making a spoof tee shirt.
      His lawyers had a very nice chat with the store that went "you will destroy ALL of those shirts and Never Ever even THINK of trying that again. (hint Rev Fred Rogers would never hold an AK47)

      --
      Any person using FTFY or editing my postings agrees to a US$50.00 charge
  48. Its not your window by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've dealt with the problem of obnoxious car stereos for years in my home and believe it or not the low frequency stuff is not coming through your windows, it's your roof. I have double pane windows and they are suprisingly effective at blocking noise in higher frequencies like lawn mowers etc. Their downside is they normally have a narrow gap of frequency they let through, kind of like a bandpass filter. I caulked some drywall over my living room windows to remove that last bit so I couldn't hear my neighbors arguing.

    the bass is the hardest to get rid of. The only effective way is to create some dead air around your office room. This would mean installing some metal runners on your drywall and ceiling that have rubber stoppers on them, attaching new drywall to these runners, and making sure they don't touch the floor or ceiling directly. It's not terribly expensive, a few hundred dollars, but takes a lot of time and work, results in a slightly smaller room, and concessions must be made for your door, electrical outlets, etc. It may be easier to find the source of the loud music and use the police or courts to silence it. You can use the money from suing them to finance your room. If you're in the city that's not going to work though, it's the city, it's loud.

  49. Townhouse next to a busy highway by OffTheWallSoccer · · Score: 1

    I used to live in a townhouse about 50ft from a 6-lane highway, with no protective soundwall. The noise from the highway was a constant buzz coming into the house, with occasional spikes (big rig trucks and straight-pipe Harleys).

    Installing dual-pane windows solved the general problem of the constant higher noise level. Only the truck/Harley noise came through. Note that after a rain, car tires make more noise, and THAT still came through the windows a bit.

    In your case, you need more help. Maximize your dead air space. Dual-pane windows will have have a smaller air gap than your walls, so start with the windows. If you need further noise abatement, hit the exterior walls, next.

    For windows, something like this:
    http://www.soundproofwindows.com/

    For walls:
    http://www.google.com/search?q=sound+absorbing+insulation/

    I later bought a 60-year-old house (which already had dual-pane windows), and during a subsequent remodel we replaced all the half-inch drywall with 5/8th-inch, and added better insulation in the walls.It did a great job of reducing the "garage noise" (power tools, racing engines, etc.) from my neighbor's house.

    We did the same for the interior walls, and replaced all the hollow-core interior doors with solid-core doors. Now any teen-chatter or stereo noise from the kids' rooms is effectively muffled into oblivion.

    1. Re:Townhouse next to a busy highway by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      The heat shrink cellophane window weatherproofing worked pretty well for me-- it will give you a pretty good idea of what higher performance windows can achieve, since it is isolated from the window frame.

      You might also want to consider replacing drywall with QuietRock, but I think that his mainly for higher frequencies. You can fur out on resilient channels as well, but that eats up pretty much space.

  50. double glazing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulated_glazing

  51. It's not legal by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Informative

    but 30 years of tax cuts and underfunded police departments means the cops have better things to be doing. That's why you don't see these guys in wealthy parts of town.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:It's not legal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Under-funded"?

      You can't possibly be serious. You realize this guy probably lives in the US, right?

      (PS.: A/C to save mods)

    2. Re:It's not legal by Druegan · · Score: 1

      Yeah.. better things to be doing.. like hanging out in donut shops all night, chatting each other up in parking lots behind buildings where a supervisor driving by won't see, and taking 6 cars full of thugs to pull over a 16-year old pimply-faced teenager who weighs 125 lbs soaking wet with boots on.

      I spend probably 12 hours a day driving around in the city where I live.. I see all kinds of things.. daylight drug deals..people packing weapons walking down the street, domestic brawls, even the occasional shooting... what I don't see is cops doing a blessed thing even when obvious serious criminal activity is going down.. they just can't be arsed.

  52. you need more caulk by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

    Put that caulk in all the holes. And you can never have enough caulk. Some people prefer black caulk but that's up to you. Just make sure you get as much caulk as you can. Two caulks, three caulks at a time, the more the merrier. Invite your friends, the pizza boy, the pool cleaner, the plumber etc to join in with your caulk party.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    1. Re:you need more caulk by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      If you wrote that with a Boston accent...

    2. Re:you need more caulk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congratulations, you just explained the joke!

    3. Re:you need more caulk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...kwalk...

  53. Brownian Noise by Zagnar · · Score: 1

    I've had similar trouble. Dreadful downstairs neighbours who thought it was entirely appropriate to play loud music at all hours of the night, I could quite often hear the lyrics through the floor and windows. Brownian noise worked tremendously well but you have to remember that you're only covering the noise up, you have to be okay with noise somewhere between an industrial fan and a jet engine. (If you pretend really hard, it sounds like the ocean,) I used a modest stereo. Perhaps, if you have one laying around that can produce enough sound in the desired frequency, you can give it a test. If you require some source for background noise, I used http://simplynoise.com/ Brownian noise with oscillation.

  54. Tremblers have been made Real by X!0mbarg · · Score: 1

    Have you considered using a Trembler? Any of the "Stick it on a flat surface and turn it into a speaker" stuff out there could work well, and may also keep eavesdropping to a minimum (if privacy might be an issue).
    Over at Thinkgeek.com, they have this little portable option: http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/eaf8/

    Try your Google-Fu, and see what else you get.

    Good Luck!

  55. I vote for a 2nd False wall by SternisheFan · · Score: 1
    The 2nd 'false' wall is the best idea I've read here. Over-insulate it, before sheetrocking staple a layer of thick plastic. Put 2 layers of sheetrock for extra soundproofing. The window is a weak point, it needs to be triple layer glass. And, if you build the stud wall a few inches away from the wall, this would allow for extra insulating material. And since it will be sealed between walls, you could use that egg carton foam or any sound deadening material, such as thick house siding foam boards. They come in 2' X 8' or 4' X 8' sheets.

    Sound will still come through from the floor/ceiling if not insulated.

    1. Re:I vote for a 2nd False wall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The layer of thick plastic is a horrid idea. It will act as a moisture barrier and the moisture barrier should always go on the warm side of a wall. Sandwiching it somewhere in the middle is asking for mildew and mold.

    2. Re:I vote for a 2nd False wall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Costs a rocket, but lead foil is good for sound-damping a wall. We used it on a false wall in my friend's recording studio. It even weakens the kick drum sound.

  56. True story by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    A guy I knew in college had this problem in his dorm. His roommate was a music major, and he had some PA equipment that he used for shows. Just a half stack probably, it was a dorm after all, but it was more than enough to blast this louder than any dorm room stereo could hope to keep up with.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:True story by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Heh. I had a music blaster next door to me in the dorm. Unfortunately for him I was a ham radio operator, and I found I could put a VHF antenna against the wall between us, hook it up to a 100W amp, and every time I keyed up his THUMPING speakers began emitting a horrible BUZZZZ!!!

      He'd immediately turn it way down, then over time slowly inch it back up. When it got obnoxious again, BUZZZZ!

      Worked great - for a while he didn't know what was going on. Then I happened to do it with some others in the room. Everyone started laughing so hard he heard and came out to find out what was up. He got mad, went back to his room, and started throwing beer bottles against the wall...!

  57. Felt your pain by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I spent 2 weeks in Beunos Aires, Argentina near the corner of Libertad and Av Sante Fe in a high end apartment. Never got a good night of sleep except the one night I traveled to Iguazu Falls.

    I tried earplugs and listening to white noise with Shure in-ear headphones. Then moved from the beautiful bedroom near the front of the building to the maids room way at the center/back. It helped a little, but the trucks and buses were like little earthquakes.

    This was a high-end apartment on the 3rd floor. Besides the noise, it was nicer than my home (McMansion) back in the Atlanta suburbs.

    My business partner was sharing the 5 bdrm apartment and didn't have any issue at all sleeping. He's from NYC. To him, all the horns, trucks, garbage trucks, buses and assorted other noises were like the chirps of crickets.

    When I got home, that first night of sleep was fantastic. The cricket chirps were welcome. I've learned to ask about noise suppression before traveling to big cities again. A also ask about smells when going to places near water.

    BTW, I've lived in 11 different metro areas and 9 different states. I've traveled to 22 countries and many large cities around the world. This was the first place that prevented a good sleep at night.

  58. ANR works by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ANR works. Wicked heavy curtains work very well.

  59. Add weight by hackertourist · · Score: 2

    Basically, all soundproofing is about weight. More weight=less noise gets through. To reduce the noise coming in through the windows you need to increase the thickness of the panes or their number. Double or triple glazing, or even two double-glazed panes in series with an air gap of ~15 cm in between. You'll also need to look at the window frames. Old steel or aluminium frames are excellent sound conductors.

    You can go pretty far with this; my father did some consulting on a housing project near an air force base. They managed to get sufficient soundproofing that living next to F-16s taking off wasn't aggravating any more, but they spent as much on the soundproofing as the houses had cost to build.

    1. Re:Add weight by doesnothingwell · · Score: 1

      Yes, a room inside the room not firmly attached to the main structure. Any windows should be 3ft radiation proof like and leaded. Maybe a windows made of multiple sealed panes filled with sulfur hexafluoride, also very thick. The window will be a real money pit, you should consider losing them.

      --
      They can have my command prompt when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
    2. Re:Add weight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah that's why I insulate my walls with depleted uranium. Works great. The faint blue glow is nice too.

      - megol

    3. Re:Add weight by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Basically, all soundproofing is about weight.

      No, all soundproofing is about absorbing vibration. One way of doing that is by increasing the mass involved. There are others, such as changing the frequency response of the structure(s) transmitting the noise.
       
      (Ex-submariner - and reducing sound transmission was a *big* deal for us.)

  60. If Windows are still the problem add Storm windows by sys_mast · · Score: 2

    A friend lived near the airport. His house was upgraded from double pane with storms to some better double/triple pane without storms. The new windows where supposed to be better at blocking the sound of the planes.

    Summary of the story, the new "better" windows didn't work as good as the old windows with storm windows at blocking noise.

    So if' you've already upgraded the windows, add storms to the outside. It's an easy thing to install, and they typically are under $100 a window. Install can be as easy as hold it up, and put a few screws in.

    Added bonus, it can help reduce heating/cooling costs. (not enough savings to pay for them, but it won't hurt!)

    If windows aren't the problem add more/better insulation, there aren't any limits if you don't need to see through it.

    --
    Those who can, do.
  61. Try plexiglass? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I lived on a loud corner in SF a few years back. The walls were fine, but most noise was coming past the windows (which weren't cheap). I sourced 1/4 acrylic sheets, had them cut to my specs at the distributor (TAP Plastic in SF) and affixed them to the window frames with double-sided sticky foam tape. (Also put a rip cord if I needed to remove them fast).

    It worked great. Cost somewhere above $50 per window. But I did have to sacrifice fresh air :(

  62. Remove the windows by davidorourke · · Score: 1

    My remedy may not be what you want but all the noises from outside reverberate in the glass......so remove the windows. Paint a window in a few places and make it look like you have windows so you have that windowed feel without feeling shut off completely. That's a remedy you may want to think about. David O'Rourke

  63. Disclose, Disclose, Disclose by LifesABeach · · Score: 2

    Did you buy the place?
    Did you know it was noisy?
    Are we a little sensitive?
    Is this your homework assignment?
    Why do you find yourself living at that place?
    Have you considered other places?
    With a population of 350K,(try 5M people for noise), what city is it?

    Do you know of the personal impact of living in an area under constant noise generation?

  64. Active noise cancellation appartment size! by dieu1979 · · Score: 1

    Maybe a good project to start , you will get no luck for low frequency but for the rest i think it's something possible

  65. You need specialized insulation types by Burz · · Score: 1

    to insulate against sound. Googling "sound insulation" will bring up relevant products and services.

    Try putting soundproofing on your ceiling and then get some sound proof blinds like these: http://www.blindschalet.com/aqq-1580-soundproof-blinds.html

    Installed carpet with substantial padding underneath also helps.

    Alternatively, you could buy some large vertical blinds and glue soundproofing material to the back. If the home soundproofing material isn't thin enough for blinds, the automobile sound insulation will be. If you need to hide the appearance of materials, glue on loosely woven fabric, not paper or other sound-reflecting materials.

    Someone else suggested using a sound dampening room divider, and that's a good idea if your room is big enough. That will add sound-dampening surface area to your space.

  66. Destroy the main local industry in the city by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    It did wonders for the noise on Detroit's streets.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
    1. Re:Destroy the main local industry in the city by toddestan · · Score: 1

      In that case, you've just replaced the noise from trucks and trans with small arms fire.

  67. Add an extra window by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I once stayed in a hotel in Hamburg Germany where my room had a large window towards a busy street. The hotel had 2 sets of thermo windows (2x2 or 2x3 layers of glass). The thermo windows had a 10cm gap in between. The room was dead silent - I could see the traffic on the street but no sound went though. This video shows something similar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QCJM9tqvvI

    1. Re:Add an extra window by Man+Eating+Duck · · Score: 1

      This video shows something similar http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QCJM9tqvvI

      As does this one.

      --
      Are you a grammar Nazi? I'm trying to improve my English; please correct my errors! :)
  68. Vacuum by cffrost · · Score: 1

    Suck all the air out of your place and wear a spacesuit. You can probably pick up a spacesuit and vacuum pump for not too much at a GSA auction.

    --
    Thank you, Edward Snowden.

    "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
  69. Soundproof drywall by Charliemopps · · Score: 2

    Soundproof drywall - 1 sheet is equal to between 8 and 16 sheets of regular drywall. Put it up, 2 sheets thick and no noise will come through your walls at all. Then build yourself a picture frame larger than your window. Back it with the soundproof drywall, put some random picture you like in it, and hang it over the window. If you want to move it to see out the window on occasion, hang it from tracks so it can slide back and forth, or put it on hinges.

    Sirens and the like, are specifically designed to pierce through background noise. White noise works when blocking out conversations and other ambient noise... but sirens are a whole other animal.

  70. Costly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You say you replaced all your windows, with what though? The most effective window insulation is going to be thick double panes with a decent amount of space between them, it will result in very good noise reduction, although they can be expensive. In extreme situation you can double up walls, but realistically things are always going to get through like obnoxious unmuffled motorcycles, engine braking, etc. On the cheap you can just use some extra drywall panels. There is ample information on this just google.

  71. Pink noise, but please, do your own research... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Google "Pink noise generator". There are commercial systems to do this out there already, a ton of crappy apps and all sorts of kit.
    Its piped into cubicles to increase productivity.
    You can reinvent the wheel if you like, but the science and hardware has long since been sorted.

  72. right about the windows - use clear roof panels by technosaurus · · Score: 1

    Windows transmit percussive noise quite well even if they are insulated. The best solution I have come up with was to use translucent corrugated roofing panels (such as http://www.wolfleader.com/products/brand/sequentia/ ) on the outsides of the windows. The currugation serves to both deflect noise away and to redirect the percussive waves so that they aren't in sync when they hit the glass (and thus don't transmit as well). Add some black-out curtains (the kind with the rubberized backing) for when the noise outweighs your need for sunlight or use some more expensive translucent sound absorbing curtains (such as http://www.gizmag.com/empa-translucent-sound-absorbing-curtain/18556/ ). There are commercial/industrial solutions that use similar techniques, but nothing I found was translucent and all of it was extremely expensive compared to the commodity items available at your local hardware store.

  73. This a good solution I came up with... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... to deal with living in a densely populated area filled with various lower lifeforms:

    Get some ear muffs (the things you see people wearing at shooting ranges) with at least a 30dB noise reduction rating. Test out a few different pairs for extended wear comfort. These alone will cut out the majority of the noise/chaos you're experiencing. To cut out the remainder of more severe bass noise which will seem inescapable unless you move to an upscale area you couldn't afford to live in or a rural area without the convenient modern thrills of the population centers, add in some comfortable in-ear buds inside of the ear muffs either with your favorite tunes piped in or just for additional isolation.

    Personally I always found the noise reducing foam ear inserts extremely uncomfortable for extended wear so the above solution is what I came up with and it "just works". The only downside is that... you will no longer hear things.. meaning someone could be kicking your door in, breaking into your car, and/or screaming bloody murder about something or other and you will not hear it unless it's in the vicinity of ~10 feet from where you are. It's basically total isolation.

  74. Do a measurement first!!! by ctrl-alt-canc · · Score: 4, Informative

    First you must measure how many decibel of attenuation you need. For this you need a sound level meter: If you don't have one at hand, a microphone + PC sound card + Audacity can be used as well (many apps for Android/Ipad are also available for this). Measure two sound spectra at your location: the first one with traffic noise present, the second one when you feel that background noise level is comfortable for you. The difference between the two spectra will tell you how much attenuation you need, and which frequencies need to be attenuated more.

    Next compare the attenuation offered by each possible solutions (noise attenuationg windows, wall insulation, etc.) against the attenuation you need to achieve. If it isn't enough, move away, otherwise try installing the best solution you can afford.

    Noise should be stopped before it enters the walls of your home: Once it is there, it can follow unsuspected paths to reach your ears (pipes, wall joints, etc.). The best way to stop it is to increase the acoustic impedance of external walls and windows.

    Attenuation could be increased using viscoelastic materials like rubber: however they are best for attenuating high frequencies.

  75. Re:That's nice by sycodon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You don't get $$$ by being lucky unless you inherit it or you hit the lottery.

    People are free to move and live where they want. I suppose you want them to stay and suffer the festering blight of poverty and crime? As far as "solving the problems", name one city that has ever solved the problem. You can't solve stupid and the people causing these problems are Stupid incarnate.

    I live outside a city and pay no city taxes. I pay county taxes for fire and police (County Sheriff), and a Hospital District and we have our own water district. I take no resources from the cities nearby, but I do spend my money there. When we pay off the bonds on our district, the city plans on annexing my neighborhood. So then I'll get to pay city taxes and get bum fucking nothing in return except a library card. That's when I move further away.

    You people who want everyone to live crammed together in some kind of supposed utopia of harmony and efficiency are nuts. City living has it's advantages and its drawbacks and people are free to choose city, suburban or county lifestyles. Who the hell are you to say anything about their choice?

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  76. A few quick gunshots out the window... by AmazingRuss · · Score: 2

    ...might quiet things down out there.

    1. Re:A few quick gunshots out the window... by element-o.p. · · Score: 1

      IME, that tends to lead to additional sirens, which, of course, is part of the noise problem the submitter was complaining about.

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
  77. Maybe by J'raxis · · Score: 1

    Maybe if you're that sensitive to noise getting an apartment on the busiest intersection in a major city was a bad idea.

    You can move, you know.

  78. Re:That's nice by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    See, the lucky ones with all the $$$ leave, and leave behind a festering blight of poverty and crime instead of solving the problems.

    I'm sorry, I don't see how it's possible to solve the problem of urban noise any time soon, not without some serious active noise cancellation technology (which is bound not to work well as you walk around your urban apartment). The biggest problem is cars and trucks. If we switched to something like SkyTran and most people gave up their cars as a result, then that'd cut down noise a lot, but there doesn't seem to be very much movement towards any public transit these days. Electric cars will help a fair amount, but a lot of noise is not from engines, but from tires, and it looks like it might be quite a while until everyone's driving an EV. There's nothing you can do about loud stereos. And the Harley riders will never give up their muffler-less gas-burning contraptions. And there's also nothing you can do about horn honking.

    Cities are noisy by nature, so if noise is a problem, leaving it behind in a "festering blight of poverty and crime" is the only solution, though I don't see how noise and crime are linked. Manhattan is noisy as heck (people seem to honk their horns there more than any other American city), yet it's probably the most crime-free large city district in the country.

  79. Assymetric glass by spectrokid · · Score: 1

    Double (or triple) glazing where the winow panes have a different thickness prevents resonance. Filling up the space between the panes with helium works well too, and no id doesn't diffuse, not through several mills of glass. For the roof, consider a fake ceiling of sound absorbing material. Have a look at www.rockfon.com.

    --

    10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then

  80. Double glazing by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

    ...and if double glazing doesn't work, quadruple glazing and if that doesn't work, brick the front windows up...

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
  81. Green Glue by bziman · · Score: 1

    Someone else already mentioned Sound Proof Windows, but in my house 90% of the noise comes through the walls, rather than the windows. I discovered this after upgrading my windows, of course.

    If I were building from scratch using stick construction, I'd consider using staggered studs.

    If I were really motivated, but not building new, I'd use Green Glue and just add that between the existing wall and an additional layer of new drywall.

    There's plenty you can do on existing construction, but most of it is expensive, and a pain in the butt. The insulation and caulking you've added probably won't help much, since the exterior is attached directly to studs, to which the interior is also directly attached. It transmits vibrations easily, without regard for your insulation. The staggered studs and the green glue are the best ways I know of for dampening residential noise.

    1. Re:Green Glue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Soundproof drywall (search Quietrock) will cut transmission even with single-studded walls. Their are thick grades made for recording studios, see Quietrock 545.

  82. I used to live on the A41 by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I moved 110 miles away and the loudest noise was the surf on the beach. But most of the neighbors were near death...Too quiet. I now live a mere 120 miles from that apartment on the A41, in a village, and the loudest noise is the sparrows in the hedge that separates our drive from our neighbors. One day I might shoot the noisy little bastards.

    Back OT, however, the answer is triple glazing and lining the outside wall with Noisekiller - which is a polymer foam/lead/foam composite which can silence the sound of a marine Diesel engine in a steel enclosure.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
    1. Re:I used to live on the A41 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lead as in children eating paint chips? Your point about noise absorbing material is a good one, but I wouldn't expect to be allowed to use any coatings or coverings that contain lead on a residential building.

  83. If shaw said that, shaw in an idiot by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    The reasonable man wants to fly, so rather then to expect the world to change and give him wings, he creates the airplane.

    The unreasonable man wants to fly, he goes on the internet to find an anti-gravity device.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  84. Pounds were metricated by Kupfernigk · · Score: 2

    The effort I had to put in at school in the 1950s learning to add, multiple and divide pounds, shillings and pence was totally wasted. We actually had a maths teacher who thought metrication was a Bad Thing because it would reduce the ability to do mental arithmetic. What he didn't see was that you only really need the ability to do mental arithmetic if you have to use a dysfunctional system of weights and measures.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  85. Move mutherfucker, move by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously. To block sound you have to build a room within a room. To do that you will need to do without windows. Just move.

  86. Arthur C Clarke: 'Silence Please' by t_ban · · Score: 2
    --
    First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. -Gandhi
  87. Not to beat a dead horse, but... by Loosifur · · Score: 2

    I mean, obviously, moving is your best option. Cities are loud places. Although a city with 350k is pretty small, if you're living in the center of the place, you're going to have to deal with noise. If you haven't gotten used to it yet (which is kind of surprising, really), your long-term solution is to save up some money until you can afford to move to the 'burbs, or out to the country. Or to a smaller town.

    That said, I lived in a bigger city (600k or so) in a bad neighborhood (so there were cars and sirens all night) for a little while. Heavy drapes help, with the added benefit that people can't see in your windows. Sirens are made to be heard, so you might have a hard time really insulating yourself from them, but as for just general road noise and city sounds, I'd move your office into an internal room, i.e. one that doesn't have any windows, and that preferably has rooms with doors between it and the outside. As others have said, you could certainly install double- or triple-pane windows, but at that point you're better off spending the money on a down payment on a house or condo somewhere other than the busiest part of the city. Plants, bookshelves, basically stuff to get in the way and create more surfaces between the windows and you seem to be somewhat effective in reducing sound. Also, since you won't be able to get rid of the sound, you might try doing stuff like leaving the tv or radio on in the background, just as a low-cost "white-noise" alternative.

    But, really, the core issue here is not how thick your windows need to be to live in the middle of an urban area and not hear anything. It's why you would locate yourself somewhere that you're not going to be able to work, or, the way it sounds, live comfortably. I don't know what you do for a living, but, if cost is an issue, a long-term solution might be to relocate to a cheaper area nearby, where you're still close enough to meet with clients in the city if need be, but you're not in a noisy area. Based on where you're posting and what you're posting, I'm assuming you're not a glass blower or a mime or anything, so I'd also point out that the wonder of telecommuting is that you can do it from quite far away...

    --
    This unbiased moderation brought to you by the Porcine Aviation Group!
  88. fight noise with noise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is really not the noise that disturbs, people, it's the sudden change in the ambient sound (or lack of sound) in our environment which disturbs is. It sounds paradoxical, but it's true. This page explains it all: http://yopnik.com/noise/

  89. Accoustics by zmooc · · Score: 1

    One thing you most certainly wouldn't want to do, is to add more noise; it will only make you tired. I'm pretty sure you should be able to fix the problem with proper insulation. In fact, that's the only way to stop sound from coming in. Once it's in, there's basically only one thing you could do to make it less annoying, and that's to improve the acoustics of your rooms. Think things like carpets, acoustic panels, smart furniture placement, removing or covering up reflective surfaces, possibly even bass traps. Goal is to stop standing waves that amplify certain frequencies (the "room modes") and to lower reverberation.

    This will get you two things: the sound coming in is amplified less by your rooms and the sound that originates indoors will be much clearer, standing out from the outdoor noise much more. If you are serious about solving this problem, I suggest you have an acoustics expert look at the problem and do some measurements. Often some very simple cheap measures can improve the situation tremendously.)

    Slightly relevant TED video claiming that such noise can actually kill you: http://www.ted.com/talks/julian_treasure_why_architects_need_to_use_their_ears.html

    --
    0x or or snor perron?!
  90. Soundsoak by Ultracrepidarian · · Score: 1

    We lined a computer room with Soundsoak panels from Armstrong with the intent of keeping the noise in. It was very effective. Before the hardware was installed the effect was downright eerie. The room was so quiet it was almost painful. It was as though your ears were confused, and straining to detect some sound. http://www.armstrong.com/commceilingsna/article66317.html

  91. one word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    hedgerow

    http://www.arborday.org/trees/privacyhedge/#panel-1

  92. /Hacking/ Urban Noise by corychristison · · Score: 1

    Stick a microphone out the window, plug it unto your computers Aux or Mic in. Use /dev/mic as a random number generator.

  93. No parallel windows by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 2

    Broadcast studios always have double windows, but the panes are at an angle to each other. Placing them parallel to each other makes them more likely to resonate with each other.

  94. buffering wall of sound by Onymous+Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm considering mounting an oblong parabolic reflector in the ceiling above the windows with a steady feed of white or brownian noise directed into it (e.g., via a small speaker placed within the reflector) to create a 'wall' of sound that would act as a buffer to the outside world.

    Wait... would that actually do anything?

    Are you saying that a curtain of sound (perhaps not even directed so that you can hear it) inhibits the passage of other sounds through it? I don't know anything about acoustics, but this seems untrue.

    1. Re:buffering wall of sound by ArmaanRoshani · · Score: 1

      You're correct - it's untrue. He'd have to build a room-sized, omnidirectional noise canceling rig which is well beyond the scope of current technology.

    2. Re:buffering wall of sound by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sounds like a good idea to me! Analogously, maybe I should think about replacing my old-school fabric curtains with 'photon curtains' to keep out that early morning light ...

    3. Re:buffering wall of sound by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Wait... would that actually do anything?

      Are you saying that a curtain of sound (perhaps not even directed so that you can hear it) inhibits the passage of other sounds through it? I don't know anything about acoustics, but this seems untrue.

      The idea is basically you mask the distracting traffic noise by pumping out some less distracting random "white" noise a volume high enough that you can't hear the traffic anymore. It's basically the same thing as turning on a box fan or a noisy AC unit. In my opinion, it's a poor solution as I find the white noise itself distracting, especially since it generally has to be turned up to annoying levels to effectively mask something like traffic. There's one in my workplace and I hate it, as it basically sounds like the HVAC system going full blast without stopping for the entire workday.

    4. Re:buffering wall of sound by Onymous+Coward · · Score: 1

      A white noise cover-up system is a more reasonable expectation for what he's trying to do (whether such a thing is a good idea at all), but specific things he said suggest he has in mind this other idea:

      I'm considering mounting an oblong parabolic reflector in the ceiling above the windows with a steady feed of white or brownian noise directed into it (e.g., via a small speaker placed within the reflector) to create a 'wall' of sound that would act as a buffer to the outside world.

      I can't quite tell for sure. *shrug*

  95. Re:That's nice by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    But maybe subby doesn't have $300k lying around for a nice new house by the coast.

    Neither did I. I live on the Oregon Coast, which is nothing like an east-coast cost-of-living, let alone the likes of Martha's Vineyard or Palm Beach. The houses I'm looking at purchasing cost an average of $85k-$150k, and yet are within blocks of the surf. Unless you count summer tourists, the town I live in has a population of less than 1200.

    Sorry if you got confused *shrug*.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  96. City noise defeated by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Waterfall on a switch... New of a friend who lived by the freeway.
    He had a rock hillside that went into the lake. When he wanted to mask the road noise
    he turned on a pump and had a beautiful cascading waterfall and the noise just disappeared.
    Of course you'll have to go pee more often.
    So make yourself a waterfall.

  97. Re:That's nice by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    PS: about the other bad assumptions you made, to wit:

    My favorite part about this phenomenon is the people who leave usually re-incorporate outside the city so they don't have to pay taxes, often relying on government services (education, housing, etc) while they got 'bootstrapped' enough to move to a suburb just outside the reach of the taxes they relied on.

    I live 85 miles away from the nearest metro area (Portland). I sincerely doubt that PDX or its bedroom communities are going to grow over the Coastal Range and reach all the way out here. I pay taxes into and rely on the services provided by my wee town and by Tillamook County - not Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, or whatever. The towns out here were incorporated back in the late 19th-early 20th century.

    Trust me - no one lives out here to leech off of Portland's gov't services; the tourist dollars that flow from it are quite sufficient. ;)

    To sum it all up? Maybe you should, like, you know... ask before making assumptions next time?

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  98. Own or rent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2
    See, that's the thing with "owning". You own nothing except a pile of notarized papers and the right to pay taxes, essentially it owns you.

    I rent. Quiet street, no traffic. If I so choose, a 1 minute walk gets me to the nearest intersection, where I can listen to cars and radios, if I so choose.

    I rent. If I want, a simple phone call to one person ends my relationship and I can move. If you own, now what? Agents and notaries and taxes and blah blah blah... What a waste of time and energy.

    Also, architecturally, I've seen some buildings on busy streets in Montreal that have angled windows. I suspect that having two parallel rows of straight facades on either side of a street creates an echo chamber as sound reflects back and forth between two buildings.

    Look at this.

    1. Re:Own or rent? by robi5 · · Score: 1

      | I rent. If I want, a simple phone call to one person ends my relationship and I can move.

      In the US it was customary to lease for a minimum of one year, and upon renewal, it typically needs to be renewed for one year. Now the problem is, if you rent, it is usually because you have a relatively mobile lifestyle in that you always move where there is a good job opportunity. Now it is statistically unlikely that your wish to move for a job will coincide with the lease cycle, unless you swim in job offers or have children and need to adhere to a school year. Though I'd be OK with a minimum lease term, it is a rip-off to have to renew for another year as it either adds a constraint to your life or adds cost when you violate that constraint.

      Or did the rental market become more reasonable since the mortgage crisis?

  99. Headphones (nice ones) & good tunes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cheap, easy solution above, enjoy... hope it fits your requirements & restrictions list (didn't see your constraints), since I live in an inner urban environs that's always got some crap going on that's loud!

    Put it this way - I just heard in a 30 second sample example:

    ---

    1.) Dogs barking
    2.) People fighting (some fool yelling @ some other one)
    3.) A nice V-8 Engine (souped up exhaust nothing like V8)
    4.) What sounded like a shot going off @ roughly 4 p.m. (happens around here, last weekend for example, 2 blocks away down the hill @ a local tavern a cop was shoved to the ground by the drunken dolts @ the place, & next thing you know, 100 cops are there & now the place shuts down @ 9 p.m. on weekends now from what I heard from neighbors to it yesterday... lol, yes, that's how it is SOMETIMES - especially with young drinkers @ taverns/clubs etc. I've noticed... lol!).

    ---

    Anyhow/anyways: Mostly annoying shit (except for the motor... love that!) from the 'inner urban sampleset' I just gave you (that I mostly tune out anyhow by subconscious efffort):

    Anyhow/anyways:

    What I suggested will work, on the fly cheap "ghetto-style" (lol), & effective.

    DISCLAIMER: I don't use it myself, I like to be appraised of my surroundings & I am lucky (big woods I own IN THE CITY no less, shields a load out)... but, if I was about tuning it out?

    Use tunes...

    APK

    P.S.=> Here's a suggestion - PLAY IT LOUD (not good any other way, but do this tune & those headphones (get good ones, they're worth it): I nearly guarantee you won't hear "$heet")

    MEGADETH - SYMPHONY OF DESTRUCTION:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfpgpf6QVnI&ob=av2n

    ... apk

  100. Yes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anyone have any experiences to share with similar homebrew noise remediation efforts?"

    Yes.

  101. concrete by Maow · · Score: 1

    My thought would be to build a concrete planter as high as is allowed around the outer edge of the property. This ought to be effective in reflecting a lot of the noise that comes from tires, engines, or is reflected off the road surface back toward the road.

    Then possibly install a fence on top of that (or behind it); mount the fence panels on both the outside and inside of the posts for maximum sound reflection / damping. Make sure the fence panels are as rigid as possible (i.e. 3/4" plywood or glass blocks).

    A bushy hedge planted in the concrete planter might help, not as much as the fencing but it should be cheap.

    I've considered mounting a plexiglass sheet outside windows, some distance from the house wall, allowing window to be opened for air if necessary but acting as a separate shield. Be sure to try to eliminate sound waves from bouncing off house wall, hitting inside of plexiglass, then hitting window. Nicely crafted mounting brackets could make it acceptably attractive instead of hideously ugly.

    Re-evaluate the windows that you've already replaced: properly done they ought to be stopping most sound, glass being so rigid as to reflect sound waves quite well. Maybe try triple-glazed in your office window(s).

    Finally, like others have said, bring in a specialist for their advice.

    Good luck!

  102. Sound machines work for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are several companies that sell Sound Machines. I have a 'HoMedics SoundSpa Portable Sound Machine' ($20) that does ok for what I need. I used to have to drive and sleep at truck stops in a big rig from time to time. The sound machine above keep me asleep quite well. The biggest problem was when a refer truck would park next to you. The refer would start and stop all through the night and it wake you up every time. By using the white noise setting, I could mask the noise so that I didn't hear it. I now use it nightly to mask the neighbor's dogs barking throughout the night. A mockingbird sometimes roost in a tree outside of my window and wakes me up when it starts singing as they usually do at midnight. (Another tip: tie a Walmart plastic snake in an obvious place in a tree and the birds won't roost there. Stopped them from fouling up my car that way also.)
        The oldest and supposedly best (loudest) sound machine is the 'Dohm-SS by Marpac' ($45). Sound machines are not meant to completely cover annoying noise, but are supposed to be set to just mask to noise so that the offending noise doesn't dominate. Go to Walmart.com and search 'all departments' / 'sound machines'. They have a nice list.
        One other idea is to run some white noise out of your computer. Here is a free white noise generator:
    http://etfacoustic.com/whiterain/whiterain.html

    It works best through external speakers.

  103. Re:That's nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While I agree that city living is mostly horrible, it sure sounds like you've got something to say about others' choices.

    Look people, it's pretty simple. If you want to live in a city, do it when you're young. The one benefit is that there's always something different going on within a mile of where you live. When you're an adult and you want to live like a civilized human being, you move.

    It's not brain surgery.

  104. Concrete block wall by White+Flame · · Score: 1

    Here in Phoenix, most houses are surrounded with concrete block walls. They're great for privacy as well as sound deflection. They're usually 5-7 feet tall, and make life very pleasant.

  105. 6 free tips! by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 1

    1 - From the moment you wake up, and every hour after that, fire a blank from a firearm of choice 3 inches away from each ear. It goes without saying that it should be fired at a safe spot, not your forehead.
    2 - Reverse the noise frequency's so it cancels out the noise.
    3 - try meditating, if you go to a Vipanassa retreat and learn how to do some correct meditation you will be able to shut it that way.
    4 - Go and live in New Delhi, Calcutta or Cairo for a year. After that your city will sound like an oasis of peaceful tranquillity (those cities have made it obligatory to have cruisecontroll... on the horns)
    5 - combine 1, 2, 3 and 4
    6 - if this doesn't work maybe moving to a quiet forest is an option, but mind the animals, they can be quite loud as well when mating season is about to start

    --
    rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
  106. Scatter and muffle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    With quality double paned windows there should be not much problem with sound even for sirens. So I would guess your replacement were not good. Ask a specialist what went wrong. Otherwise there are carpets, ceilings cassetts and window outdoor insulation which add layers including an air cussion like the 3M stuff that will help to reduce sound energy and thus volume.
    Basically make sure your room is not acting up with reflective surfaces, scater the sound by whatever decoration or furniture you have, the softer the better.
    I doubt that your "white noise" will do anything good, noise cancelling only works if you have a precise anti-interference sound pattern timed right. Raising the basic noise in your office so outside noise won't be registered so much anymore seems counterintuitive to me. You could simply do music for the same reason if that is what you like. But adding a reflective surface will not help.

  107. Fighting fire with fire by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Set up a mike, with a low-pass filter to get the bass that annoys you. Now feed that to 1 input of a ring modulator, the other input gets a recording of something scratching on glass (or similar annoying noise). Amplify the hell out of the output, & shoot it straight back. It will exactly track their "music" in volume, tempo &c. Hopefully they'll think there's something wrong with their rig, & turn it down. Of course your response will turn down with it.

  108. Brown Note? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I read that the submitter sought to fill his apartment with "brownian noise", the only thing I could think of was the brown note. I LOL'ed.

    That's one way to take your mind off the outside noise.

  109. Re:The motorcycles are for lazy people by tmosley · · Score: 0

    You go ahead and ride a bicycle across country. I'll see you on the other side when you get there in three years.

  110. Lobby to have some tickets issued by Phoinix · · Score: 1

    There are detailed laws for the sound level from cars. If you have the connections a cop can issue some tickets on that specific corner; otherwise, you can lobby for an automated system similar to speed cameras. It will bring lots of money to the municipality and improve the neighborhood. You will not be able to do anything about ambulances, police cars and firetrucks.

  111. Sound proofing a room. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Try installing a 1/64" thick layer of lead sheeting under a layer of 3/4" thick plywood or paneling.

  112. Pay an expert by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After all, it seems you are already rich.

  113. Small Peckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Admit it - You put loud exhausts on your cars and trucks because you have to compensate for your tiny penis. Why else? Or is it just that you like to annoy people? You want "raw power"? Try flying a military jet. As to "freedom", how about your understanding that others lose their freedom to peace and quiet because you're an asshole. You want loud noise? Put a stereo on your bike (undoubtedly a Harley piece of crap) and some ear phones. You get the "loud" you want without annoying other people.

    1. Re:Small Peckers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I went to Yellowstone Park a few years back, for the first time--I will never go back.

      From 6AM, when all the retirees woke up, the steady thunder of Harley-Davidson motorcycles (specifically the obnoxiously tuned exhaust models) would begin and not subside until 9PM when they all went to sleep. In no single place in the entire park was I able to escape this sound during these times. These idiots took the freedom of two wheels and used it to get their bikes right up to bears so their fat-assed wives wouldn't have to get off the bike to take a picture. If you happened to be walking along the road, they feel compelled to nail the throttle when they pass you. They felt compelled to do this to mister bear too, when they grew bored of him and drove off. I target retirees in this comment because 90% of them were over 60 years of age--many were too old to even ride a normal Harley as they were driving the three-wheel versions that are built for people to weak to lift a fallen bike.

      Harley-Davidson motorcycles are the new wheelchair--with a twist. Ego.

      Yes, it is "Look at me". Fuck you, and fuck your ego.

      What ever happened to cops sticking night-sticks up exhaust pipes to check for baffles? Noise abatement laws? The elderly are now exempt?

  114. RPG? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Though the consequences may be extreme

  115. Re: Sound-reducing windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Roger that. I was astonished how my room in the Chicago O'Hare Hilton looked right down on the runway, yet I could scarcely hear the jets taking off at my eye level. I actually had a fine sleep than night. Later, a glass-installer friend told me that's the effect of double-pane glass where one pane is thicker than the other. Believe me, it works!

  116. Re:The motorcycles are for lazy people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_Across_America

    Less than two weeks, fat ass.

  117. alcohol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    or barbiturates AND alcohol

  118. Re:That's nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    They're called externalities. Suburbia is unsustainable, period. Until your heating, electric, and transportation bills include a tax for the carbon output, I call bullshit.

    You also, as you admit, use the city regularly. In fact, the reason you live NEAR the city, and not in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, is that you depend on the city, but are too selfish to pay your fair share.

    Meanwhile, at least here in the United States, the average city dweller pays more in taxes than they get in benefits, while rural and suburban dwellers leech off of their funds.

    I'm a fellow suburbanite too. I just don't act like I'm not screwing the world by choosing a selfish lifestyle

  119. Re:The motorcycles are for lazy people by djdavetrouble · · Score: 1

    Actually 8 days and some hours is closer to one week than two! Took me 9 to drive because I stopped in chicago and was drunk for 3 days.

    --
    music lover since 1969
  120. EXTERMINATE ALL LEAF BLOWER OWNERS by gelfling · · Score: 1

    There's an idiot I see who leaf blows his pool. Not around the pool, THE pool. I say gas every last one of them.

  121. Re:That's nice by infinitelink · · Score: 1

    What's your jurisdiction? I may know solutions for the annexation problem.

    --
    Intelligent idiots are we. | Evil men do not understand justice.
  122. Laminated glass. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Special order, heavy, but good for another 10db. Retrofit kits can fit inside existing windows for an additional pane.

  123. Cheapest solution by okmijnuhb · · Score: 1

    Get some earplugs.

  124. With all due respect.. by rsilvergun · · Score: 0

    You really really don't know how the world works, do you?

    As for no resources, I don't suppose you've stop to think about where the people who make your (non food) goods live, where the hospital you'll drive to for care as you age will be, where the doctor who prescribes your medicine will get his education, etc, etc. You depend heavily on the productive output of cities. Furthermore unless you're paying the big bucks for Satellite or one of those fancy long range tight beams then the reason you have internet is gov't subsidies paid for by city dwellers.

    Oh, and there's lots of cities in Europe that are doing just fine, thank you.

    But hey, don't let reality get in the way of a good 'ole libertarian rant.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:With all due respect.. by sycodon · · Score: 1

      Non-food goods are made in China, Mexico, and various other third world countries.

      My food comes from farms in the country, most outside of city limits.

      We have a hospital close by which is also not in the City. They pay fewer taxes than the city hospitals.

      I have AT&T for internet and they have nothing to do with the local city.

      The bottom line is we could do just fine with big cities around us. But of course, without all those farms in the country side, the city dwellers would die of starvation.

      --
      When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  125. Sound-Scaping is possible... by dirkmitt · · Score: 1

    Of course your best approach would be to attenuate the noise. Next, whether you can mask it with PINK noise, depends on how high a noise level you're left with. You can also mask it with more complex, soothing sounds. But the idea of parabolic sound reflectors sounds impractical to me. If the noise level is deafening, forget about trying to mask it. What I once read, many, many years ago, was an Ad for "Transducers" that could be glued to window panes, and which used their own mass for inertia, as a counter-balance to the sound waves they send through the glass. Transducers are not usually designed for the mass consumer, however commonplace they are in Science. This one Ad I once saw, bragged about how hard their glue actually was, so that good sound quality would be preserved. But the idea in the 1990s was, to position this transducer in a corner of the window where it won't obtrude visually, and to feed it with an externally-amplified pair of wires. Your window should play whichever Beethoven symphony your amp will feed it. AND, if that project because 'uninteresting or something', you simply disconnect the little transducer from its signal. You don't try to pry it off again.

  126. Re:That's nice by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    City living is shitty right up until you get rid of the cars. Take SF for example, turn 2 streets out of 3 into parks with bike paths and use the rest of the streets for public transportation, and it might actually work. But that's the kind of thing that we won't do until it's well past time.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  127. Re:That's nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I take no resources from the cities nearby, but I do spend my money there.

    You take advantage of the cheap commercial products available in the nearby cities, which are supported by the services that those cities provide to their residents. Without their local police, public transport, etc., those cities wouldn't be as well-developed, and you'd have to travel farther afield when you needed a doctor, an obscure item, etc.

  128. Storm Windows or City Ordnance by Tempestas · · Score: 1

    If you don't have storm windows try adding them to one or two windows. The Extra air space and material will greatly cut down on the transmission of some sounds. However, nothing is going to keep out the low bass sounds Only thing to do about that is work on a city ordnance, but that will not win you any friends.

  129. BOSE makes this! by jshipp · · Score: 1

    http://www.bose.com/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/quietcomfort_15/index.jsp i can't believe i'm the first to mention it! maybe i can finally get some respect with the mod points now?

  130. Sorry, but your solution doesn't translate by tlambert · · Score: 1

    Below a certain population density, mass transit doesn't really scale. Take a look at these maps, and you'll be able to tell the places where it makes sense, and where it doesn't: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_density

    Most of Europe is pretty dense, and large swaths of Asia, but unless you live in an urban megaples in the U.S., it generally doesn't work so well.

    Oh, and the original poster should just buy some soundproof windows; a rating of 45 will yield a 95% reduction in the sound comin through the windows, so long as they are kept closed.

  131. white, pink, & brown noise MP3 files by jetcityorange · · Score: 1

    OP, You may want to try white noise (www.JetCityOrange.com/white-noise/), pink noise (www.JetCityOrange.com/pink-noise/), and (my favorite) brown noise (www.JetCityOrange.com/brown-noise/) as well as things like waterfalls, surf, hail storms, etc. Then again, you may wanna just move to a quiet street. I grew up on a main drag with 4 lanes of traffic and a light rail down the middle a block and a half from the police & fire stations. Guess what? As an adult I *insist* on quiet neighborhoods. I've lived next door to 2 cemeteries. Best neighbors I ever had.

  132. Acoustic soundproofing panels FWIW by nbauman · · Score: 1

    Somebody asked me the same question when some Con Ed workers were drilling up the street in front of her window, and this was the answer I gave her (although I like the noise-cancelling idea):

    I used to work in a factory in the Bronx that made acoustic soundproofing panels for radio stations, music studios, etc.

    These panels were about 8 feet wide, 4 feet wide, and 5 inches thick. They were made like a sandwich. The filling was 3/4-inch sheetrock glued to a layer of about 4 inches of fiberglass. On the outside of the filling, they had 3/16-inch aluminum panels. The outside aluminum panels were normal aluminum sheet. The inside aluminum panels were punched with lots of tiny holes to absorb sound better. They were spot-welded together, which was a lot of fun.

    They were very effective. The factory was very noisy, with grinders, pneumatic drills and stuff. If you stood the panels up into a little closet on 3 sides of you, the sound would be dramatically reduced. They were pretty heavy -- it took 2 guys to move them onto a truck, and I'd guess they weighed 150 pounds apiece.

    You know how the walls of a normal apartment is made of sheetrock (wallboard) panels. To make a recording studio, they would install these acoustic panels instead.

    As I write this I am sitting on 43rd St. and 10th Ave. 10th Ave. is a heavily-trafficked main route for fire engines, and drivers love to blow their horns. Con Edison has jackhammers in the street all the time. If I leave my window open (as I like to do), it's pretty noisy. If I close the double-glass panel window, it's a lot quieter (although it's stuffier and I have to turn on the air conditioner).

    If the noise were continuous, and it were really bothering me, I would consider making my own acoustic panels. Instead of aluminum and sheetrock, I'd make them out of cardboard and fiberglass. Fiberglass is used for heat insulation, so you can easily find it in Home Depot or local lumber yards. It comes in standard sizes, either in rolls or panels. I'd make the panels 4 feet wide and just high enough to clear my ceiling. The thicker the better -- I'd make them 4 or 6 inches thick.

    The best way to make them would be to find cardboard cartons that somebody had thrown out that were just the right size -- say, 4 feet by 7 feet. They ship mattresses in cartons like that. I'd check in the mattress stores, or maybe hotels, that get mattresses delivered in boxes like that and throw them out. Or you can find big sheets of cardboard that you can cut and fold to size. (It's not hard to cut and fold cardboard. I learned how to do that in fourth grade). You can use glue and tape to hold the cardboard together after you fold it. The best heavy-duty cardboard is from the boxes that refrigerators come in. Some apartment buildings regularly replace refrigerators so they'd have a lot of boxes.

    So you make for example 4 cardboard boxes, each about 4 feet by 8 feet by 5 inches (inside measurement -- that's important, so the fiberglass will fit). Fold the boxes. Place the 4 foot by 8 foot by 5 inch fiberglass batting into the boxes. Seal the edges of the boxes around the fiberglass with glue and/or packing tape to keep the fiberglass inside and prevent it from spilling out. Put those panels in a line in front of your windows and they should dramatically reduce the sound.

    (Fiberglass can be messy, so you have to be careful, maybe working outdoors, wearing old clothes, etc., but people use it all the time. You can get instructions on the Internet.)

    One minor problem is that the cardboard reflects sound. You preferably want absorbent material on the side towards you (which is why we used perforated aluminum sheet).

    One of the best absorbent materials is egg crates. (This is not styrofoam egg crates, but fluffy cardboard, which has much better acoustics.) People have actually made sound studios using egg crates on the walls and ceiling for sound absorption. You used to be able to get egg crates from big restaurants that used lots of eggs. (These are not t

    1. Re:Acoustic soundproofing panels FWIW by Verdatum · · Score: 1
      Long way to scroll for a serious answer. Wow.

      Adding to this, there is a wide variety of acoustic soundproofing panels. Modern professional soundproofing panels are often made from melamine foam, cut to different shapes to best absorb different waveforms and frequencies. For the hacker, you can make these yourself by cutting up bits of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

      I had similar problems with my recently purchased house. I found that a lot of the noise was actually due to amplification from echoes in my house. If you find that acoustic foam isn't the decor you wish, you can also benefit quite a bit from putting up fabric tapestries. Quilts also do a fine job.

      Beyond that, your mind eventually starts to tune out the noise. So long as you aren't trying to record audio, this does a surprisingly good job.

  133. Impedance Mismatch by jIyajbe · · Score: 1

    You need to install a multi-layer object made of two (or more) materials that transmit sound waves by very different amounts; this is known as an impedance mismatch. It Can Be Shown that the incident sound waves will be strongly reflected at the mismatched boundary. In this context, double-paned windows (thus layers of glass and air) will provide the mismatch you need.

    And, as another poster mentioned, this will provide good thermal insulation, as a bonus.

    --
    "Don't blame the log for the fire." --Andrew Ratshin
  134. My god... can none of you answer the question? by Killer99 · · Score: 1

    OK being an EE... here is my suggestion... 1. I know you can use window glass and convert it into a speaker... I do not have the method right here, but I have seen it done several times... next buy a cheap set of active headphones... and put a small Mic out side the window... then attach the output to the inside window/ speaker... this should cancel out the noise... and you then have the option of hooking a stereo to the windows/speakers and can enjoy the music...

  135. Music by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Death Metal makes for a pretty efficient covering of outside noises.

    You should try it.

  136. Waterfall by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I remember staying in a camping site in West London, not far from Windsor, where a waterfall on River Thames (less than 1 metre high) totally annihilated the roar of hovering jets (Heathrow, etc). Unbelievable quietness!
    It might be feasible to fine tune a domestic waterfall for your needs... Either that or redirect River Thames...

  137. Inverse Wave to Cancel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wonder if you could put a microphone outside your house, and amplify the inverse of its waveform inside to cancel it out?

  138. Re:That's nice by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    American houses are generally built with VERY sound-conducting walls. Which also have approximately zero thermal insulation effectiveness.

    I've lived in Russia where all houses have thick walls (because of these pesky -40C winters) and are much quieter. You can't block all the noise (especially low-frequency road noise), of course.

    And you also need to get rid of assholes.

  139. Re:That's nice by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    Where was your doctor educated? Maybe by the dolphins in the Ocean Educatorium near your beach? Do you think he'll be able to perform a heart surgery if you need it?

  140. Same tech as recording studio windows. by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    Do a google search with the four words: designing studio windows soundproof and you'll get a bunch of instructional articles and videos.

    It's not expensive: Essentially two or more windows "in series" at slightly different tilt angles, sealed very tightly (an air leak is a sound leak) with attention to how it's mounted. If you can build a window frame and a window you can build a soundproof window.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
  141. Re:That's nice by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

    American houses are generally built with VERY sound-conducting walls. Which also have approximately zero thermal insulation effectiveness.

    Newer houses, made of timer framing (preferably 2x6, for thicker walls) and high R-value insulation, actually do quite well, along with double- or triple-pane windows. Many of these are also rather quiet inside, since the properties for thermal and acoustical insulation overlap a lot. Unfortunately, a lot of older houses (only a few decades old in fact) are much more poorly made as far as insulating value; back in the 60s and before, they didn't have any real insulation at all, and windows were just cheap single-pane windows with little or no insulating ability or weatherproofing. People laud the craftsmanship of much older houses (100+ years), and in fact those houses were made well, but they didn't know the first thing about making a house energy-efficient back in those days so these days they have to be extensively renovated to be livable.

    I've lived in Russia where all houses have thick walls (because of these pesky -40C winters)

    We have temperatures that cold too, in the midwest/central states like Minnesota and North Dakota.

    You can't block all the noise (especially low-frequency road noise), of course.

    Yep, so no matter what you do, big diesel trucks are still going to be annoying.

    And you also need to get rid of assholes.

    How are we supposed to do that? The term "ugly American" exists for a reason.

  142. Noise sources by onemorechip · · Score: 1

    You could mask it with this noise.

    or maybe this one.

    --
    But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
  143. Re:That's nice by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    We have temperatures that cold too, in the midwest/central states like Minnesota and North Dakota.

    Also in Alaska. Everyone always forgets about Alaska! I've been in Minnesota and Alaska, and houses there are much better than the average US ones.

    Yep, so no matter what you do, big diesel trucks are still going to be annoying.

    Still, they're much less annoying than a high-pitched motorcycle whine.

    How are we supposed to do that? The term "ugly American" exists for a reason.

    Well, there are all those lax US gun control laws...

  144. Re:That's nice by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

    Where was your doctor educated?

    Not by the PDX city government, dumbass.

    --
    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  145. Use white noise! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.whitenoisecd.com/white_noise_benefits.htm

  146. Re:That's nice by Cyberax · · Score: 1

    Still, they were probably educated in a university in or near some other city.

  147. Shutters? by cardpuncher · · Score: 2

    Although they're less effective against things like engine noise, I found shutters helpful for reducing the nighttime intrusion of city centre noise. If you've got some reasonably dense timber board, try covering your window openings with it (inside or outside depending on which is more suitable) and see what difference it makes (you get an additional air gap before the glazing plus the sound absorbency of the board). I don't suggest you board up your windows for good (though, this being Slashdot, I don't discount it as an option), but if it makes a substantial difference you can install something more permanently that hinges and folds to give you access to daylight when required.

    Also, if you live on the top floor, noise may be coming in through the roof so insulation above the ceiling may help.

  148. Don't use "active cancelling" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't waste your time with "active cancelling" technologies. If you've ever had active noise-cancelling headphones and used them for long periods of time you've probably noticed you have a higher incidence of headaches. This is because active noise-cancelling causes higher pressure levels in your ear canals due to the noise they're putting out to try to nullify ambient noise. Generally they do a pretty good job, but it's a trade-off and there's a price to pay. You're probably better off with a combination of passive technologies.

    Plant tall, dense shrubs along your fence lines. Dense shrubs are very good at breaking up and reflecting sounds randomly, diffusing it tremendously before it hits your home.

    Behind the shrubs, consider baffled fences, i.e. a series of panels oriented at 90 degrees to each other but 45 degrees to your fence line.
    - S - S - S - S - Street - S - S - S - S -
    - F - F - F - F - F - Fence - F - F - F - F -
    - S - S - S - Shrubs - S - S - S - S - S -
    \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Baffles \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
    You'd put these behind your shrubs partly to hide them - most local authorities would get upset if you had them on or just behind your fence line, declaring them an eyesore.

    Double- or triple-pane windows make a huge difference, at a cost.

    etc., etc., etc..

  149. Re:The motorcycles are for lazy people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am a bit of a fatass, but I reckon it'd take me two to three months to pedal the Prairie Scooter across North America.

  150. Re:Noisekiller by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was gonna suggest lead sheeting, kinda old school but it does attenuate sound quite effectively, though not so good for window openings.

  151. Looking at the wrong solutions by Vrtigo1 · · Score: 1

    Either move or get a set of noise cancelling headphones.

  152. Where's the hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're not "hacking" anything. You're countering it. Stop proliferating the ignorant use of language.

  153. apart from moving ... by Skal+Tura · · Score: 1

    Double windows, like in BMW luxury cars, 7-series has been doing a long time. Thick windows too, custom made. Not that expensive really.
    That is if you must have natural light coming in still, which you obviously want.

    Active noise cancellation is not that expensive anymore, i recall seeing headphones for 100€ or so with active noise cancellation!
    You could hack from that set a cheap active noise cancellation system! :)
    A little bit of experimenting is required with the location of the receiver microphone to get the timing right, and the distance of the reflector if reflector is required.

    As for other surfaces:
    Look at car acoustics, there is many types of noise insulations! Some are cheap, some a little bit less cheap. Common in everything: Comes in easy to apply format, "mattress" or "paint".
    The "paint" type is usually very massive and to be applied thick, often just bitumen which is very cheap. Will not "dry" ever completely necessary. Thickest form needs to be applied with heat.
    The "mattress" types are usually for specific types of noise, the bitumen type usually is best used to stop vibrations etc. in cars, and functions for all types of noise. The mattress types are usually lightweight and thus usually effective only for certain bands.
    Often the mattress types also include heat shielding & insulation.
    The cost per m2 ranges from couple euros to 30 euros with these, but i'm sure you can get them in big quantities far cheaper than that.
    Downside is that these are only suitable for inner structures, so if you live in brick / concrete building you'd need to build separate inner walls too, thus most likely not suitable to your application.

    Active noise cancellation might be the best bet here.

  154. Re:That's nice by Kijori · · Score: 1

    You don't get $$$ by being lucky unless you inherit it or you hit the lottery.

    Except that you sort of do. Even discounting the factors that you have no control over that shape you - intelligence, parents, school, place of birth - there's still a lot of luck in making significant money. You can apply for a job and be the perfect candidate but be rejected, or you can be a mediocre candidate but get the job. Likewise you can start a business and run it perfectly but go insolvent, or make mistake after mistake but have huge success.

    Hard work, intelligence, tenacity and so on all make it more likely that you will succeed, but it would be hopelessly naive to think that everybody with those attributes makes it or that every self-made man succeeded on his own merit.

  155. Re:That's nice by sycodon · · Score: 1

    Interesting that you use the word bullshit and carbon tax together because that's what it is. I pay for my heating, electric, and transportation just like the city dwellers do, but to different people.

    I call bullshit on you.

    What s my fair share for "using a city"? When a city dweller goes to another city, do they have to pay their fair share? I have 4 incorporated cities around me, which do I owe my fair share to? When I "use a city" I pay sales tax as well as contributing to their tax base by sustaining the local businesses. It's no different than someone from City A going to City B.

    I pay a home owners association. The board is filled with idiots, tyrants, and morons...just like a city council. A City is nothing more than than, but with tons of extra crap they saddle themselves with and boat loads of oppressive regulations.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  156. Re:That's nice by sycodon · · Score: 1

    So...turn it into a Disneyland?

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  157. Re:That's nice by sycodon · · Score: 1

    I take advantage of cheap commercial products manufactured overseas. No manufacturing plants in most cities these days

    I have a hospital almost withing walking distance...also not in the city limits.

    Cities are great. I can go there to buy stuff and do things. I pay for that when I do. But I see no reason to live there and put up with all their crap though. If you want to live there, go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you. Open a shop there and I'll buy stuff from you. I don't really see why you have a problem with people who don't live in the city.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  158. Re:That's nice by sycodon · · Score: 1

    I think every understands that becoming wealthy involves a little of luck, otherwise known as catching a break.

    But as they say success = Opportunity + Preparation. And there are plenty of people who made the opportunity themselves too.

    But to just say that you can't become wealthy with just your own determination, hard work and insight is pure bullshit. It flies in the face of hundreds of years of success in America and all over the world.

    But if that's what you believe, then my friend, you will never become wealthy.

    --
    When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
  159. First Real Hacker Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=197172&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D197172
    With some hardware, you can have up to 28 dB attenuation of noise in your room.

  160. Re:That's nice by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    It already is, it would just be a nicer, cleaner one. It's already just as expensive and well on its way to being as controlled, though they control an overlapping yet still different set of things.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  161. Because the suburbs are quiet? by gumpish · · Score: 1

    Actually the constant drone of traffic (not the submitter's complaint, I know) is less detrimental to sleep and concentration (as well as being easier to mitigate) than barking dogs.

    I moved to an ex-burb with one of the features being less noise, and although it is quieter 99% of the time, the 1% of the time that the dogs of the people in my neighborhood are barking has been a nightmare - actually it would be an improvement if it was a nightmare because that would mean I was actually getting REM sleep. Yes, there are nuisance laws but a dog doesn't have to bark for 30 minutes at a time to ruin your sleep. Just a few barks an hour or two before when you wanted to wake up will wreck your day. Yes, I wear 30 dB earplugs, yes I run a white noise app on my phone - the bark breaks through all of it. My next technocal step is sleepphones, which all reviews indicate are uncomfortably hot when it's not winter... I'll see if I can get my responsible neighbors to join me in complaining and just maybe the jerks will pull their heads from their asses.

    I'm now looking into options for dog-free communities or at least a living arrangement where my ability to sleep for 7-8 hours doesn't hinge on the machinations of the canine brain. Since I can't seem to find any HOAs which prohibit dog ownership I'm thinking of a high-rise condo. Probably for the best anyway since living under an HOA would mean having to groom my lawn religiously, and I'm not a fan of yard work.

    I don't enjoy the thought of sharing walls with other people, but I'm hoping to find that well-constructed condos (which are typically of better build quality than rental apartments) have good sound mitigation baked in.

    In my ideal world I'd be able to buy enough property that my nearest neighbor would be so far away that they could have a pack of howling dogs and I wouldn't even notice, but in addition to the expense (including ongoing property taxes) the commute would be insane. A shorter commute would be a definite perk of downtown living.

    1. Re:Because the suburbs are quiet? by redlemming · · Score: 1

      I agree completely: noise made by dogs barking (and sometimes noise made by other animals) is a huge problem that our society does not competently deal with, and is often worse than other noise sources.

      This really needs to be handled in terms of fundamental rights being violated, not just nuisance laws, and technology for measuring the noise for evidence purposes is well within our current capabilities and needs to be readily available. This sort of technology would also help with the original poster's noise problems: we don't have to have people driving around with stereos blaring.

      Unfortunately, most dog owners do not fully understand that owning a dog carries with it responsibility. In addition to the noise problem, I often see dogs not on leashes assaulting people in parks where I live, even though the signs clearly require leashes. I am using assault in the technical legal sense: moving into a human's personal space or making unwanted physical contact with them. In most jurisdictions this is considered indistinguishable from the owner committing the assault, but the dog owners don't seem to care, and the dog owners rarely even apologize.

      One of the strengths proponents of HOAs claim is an ability to deal with noise issues. Perhaps things are different where you are. Unfortunately, HOAs also interfere with a number of fundamental rights, effectively create an extra level of government, involve excessive bureaucracy, and generally force people to harm the environment as a result of the lawn regulations. A green, well-trimmed lawn carries an environmental cost in terms of gasoline wasted, noise pollution from the mower, chemical pollution from the fertilizer, often wasted water, and so forth, but that's another thing people don't seem to care about.

      A person's home should be his or her castle, provided he or she doesn't make noise or have pets that make noise audible by others, and HOAs routinely interfere with this right.

      Another big problem is living in an apartment with dogs upstairs: they can run around for hours on end, and if the sound insulation between floors is poor -- it usually is -- you'll hear rumbling sounds for hours at a time.

    2. Re:Because the suburbs are quiet? by Quirkz · · Score: 1

      Probably for the best anyway since living under an HOA would mean having to groom my lawn religiously, and I'm not a fan of yard work.

      Or find an HOA that does the yard work for you. Of course you'll pay for it, but it's certainly convenient.

  162. Insulation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had the same way so went to the extreme end of insulation.
    1. Ripped everything to the base of the 2x4's
    2. Purchased 1.5 2 sided Radiant board.
    3. Cut boards to fit tight.
    4. Sprayed foam on the exterior side corners beads installed boards sealed interior side
    5. Thickened walls from 2x4 construction to 2x6 by adding wood frame to all exterior walls.
    6. Install r19 insulation
    7. Installed 5/8 sheet rock
    8. Installed r13 in all interior walls
    9. Ceiling first floor r38
    10. Roof r38 two layers with blow in added for good measure.
    I now have a pg&e bill that in summer and winter months ran 250.00 to 700.00 dependant on weather, my highest pg&e bill for 11 months of the years runs about 105.00 to 145.00 and that’s with a pool.
    The sound quality in my home is commented on by everyone and I live near a freeway and am the main outlet from a four lane intersection and school
    The only month that I have a high bill is at Christmas due to my decorations can be seen at www.mightybluetuna.com

  163. Re:Move or Not by epSos-de · · Score: 1

    Actually a good advice. It is better to spend 3 month on searching for a good place, instead of suffering for 3 years. Anyway, ad some vibration absorbing stickers to the center of the window. This will reduce vibrations. Do the same for doors too, if you can. The stickers are probably only available for industrial purposes, since I have seen them only in industrial places. Otherwise consider a heavy curtains on the sides of the window and one in the center. The best would be, if you could build a small hill between the road and the house and plant some bushes on top of it. This is how considerate cities do it for their inhabitants. Imagine a line of little green hills that are separating roads from buildings. Dresden did it a while ago and it worked like magic.

  164. My solution by ppii · · Score: 1

    Just solved similar problem for myself. Windows should be absolutely sealed. You make tenth-millimeter gap and noise insreases considerebly. Frames should have labirinth profile. Tightly installed. Glass of different kind, 2 or 3, all different width, different gap between the windows. The bigger gap is the better. You can find actual research results on which configuration gives which noise improvement level. The idea is that different frequencies penetrate different materials more or less. Interesting is that some tests show that there are window configurations that actually increase noise on some frequencies because of the resonance effect. Different gaps reduce that effect. Make sure you've got proper ventilation system. Absolutely no point to buy expensive windows and then keep them open! Floor, wall and ceiling are basically same idea. More layers of different material, better disconnected from each other - the better. For me mostly windows did the trick. I can only hear the street when something really heavy passes by and the vibration goes through the soil and building structure. Otherwise problem is gone.

  165. Street noise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you insulated the attic. That can make a big difference in street noise.

  166. KISS: Try a fan by jbgeek · · Score: 2

    Keep It Simple Stupid :-)

    I'm fairly sensitive to outside noise, and my solution for years has been a simple electric fan. It generates plenty of local white noise which drowns out all the noise from outside.

    Works great with no need for parabolic reflectors or active noise cancellation or anything else that might require a DARPA research project. :-)

  167. active noise cancellation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Honda odyssey, pilot and accord all have a ANC module. Go to the junk yard, as they are about $350 new. Hook it to a 12 inch subwoofer. Feed it a Mic and a 12volt power source. The pin out diagram for the wire connectors is available online so you know which wires to hook up. Let us know how it works out. Sorry if someone else posted this, when I got to this post it already had 400 responses.

  168. Re:The motorcycles are for lazy people by tmosley · · Score: 0

    I guess Formula one is the same as a commuter car.

    You sound like a caricature of a 1%er. "The elite can do it, why can't you? You are just lazy if you don't do X stupid, inefficient, undesirable thing."

  169. Line with Lead (Pb) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although lead-lined sheet rock and plywood is often assumed to be for radiation shielding, it's also good for sound-proofing as well.

  170. QuietWave by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I saw this on "The New Inventors": http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s2423228.htm QuietWave QuietWave uses a 100% organic rubberised material to dampen the transfer of sound through a wall, floor, ceiling or door. For more information about QuietWave, contact the following: www.acoustica.com.au/

  171. Get used to it or move by gshegosh · · Score: 1

    If noise prevents you from working and you are unable to get used to it -- move to a quiter environment. I stopped noticing church bells, police sirens, etc. at all after 2 or 3 months of living where I live now. That's a nice thing about human mind -- it adapts to constant stimuli levels.

  172. Place reflectors. by pupitetris · · Score: 1

    If you live in an appartment and you are above the 1st floor and your city regulations allow it, you could try hanging sound reflectors around your windows, so that sound coming from below may bounce back to the street. Lateral view: Window --> |/ -- Reflector. Play with the position angle to get the best compromise between view of the outside and level of attenuation. Different materials and thicknesses will work best for different frequencies, being bass the most difficult to reduce.

  173. Oblig XKCD by LanMan04 · · Score: 1
    --
    With the first link, the chain is forged.
  174. Soundproofing by cerebralpc · · Score: 1

    I'm an audio engineer. Many audio engineers would see a 'cool' building like an unused church and think that would be a great place for a studio. Usually we 'find' these buildings because they are in busy places which we are going past on our day to day. Disused churches or utility buildings are actually terrible places to build a studio because of the amount of money that needs to be spent to keep noise out. As an audio engineer you want to spend your money on high quality audio equipment and making the working space comfortable (good seat, lighting, painting etc) - after all you will working here 10-12 hour days for 7 days a week. If you have to spend major dollars on sound proofing 'outside' noise then you are taking money away from the important stuff. The other problem will studios in 'busy' environments is the different types of noises. The deep bass rumble from a bus stopping and starting is very hard to eleminate, it's possible but expensive. The only way to stop it is using thick concrete. But....Here is an interesting idea - if you spend a lot of money keeping the outside noise 'out' - you also get the problem of 'inside' noise reflecting back...it's a little bit hard to think through but if a loud guitar sound is made inside a well sound proofed studio the noise will be absorbed (yes) by the expensive soundproofing but will also be 'reflected' back into the studio! Cheaper than thick concrete (and eleminates the sound reflection problem) is the bass trap. The only problem with a bass trap is that is doesn't stop the noise from the drunken people who are waiting for the bus....right when your trying to capture an Emmy winning performance on mic. There isn't a perfect place to setup a studio - but right on a main street isn't a good place to start.

  175. LSD by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Dont know about that, they still count money in pounds.

    Ah but those are metric pounds which are far better than the pounds-shilling-pence system that preceded it and used to be referred to as the 'LSD' system which, as far as I can tell, if probably what you would need to take in order before it made sense.

  176. Litre! by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    Since he's in Britain it'll be a real pint - 568 ml, not that rip-off US version. Any way, you wouldn't - you'd just order a half-liter

    Actually in the UK that would be 0.5 litres.

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