Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Best Way To Block Noise In a Dorm?
First time accepted submitter zmitch32 writes "I live in a dorm, and I have ADHD, so every little noise distracts me. I know this annoyance isn't limited to those with ADHD, so how does everyone else block out the noise? I can't really cover my walls in soundproof foam because I live in a dorm. I can't just listen to music because I find it too interesting and just end up getting distracted by it. I use ear plugs to block out small noises, but they don't block out human voices very well at all. What do you guys/gals recommend?"
With whatever you're doing, silently use your internal somatic voice processing system in your brain to process the audio of counting from one to ten (basically process it as if you were going to say it, just never move your mouth). When it combines with whatever else you're doing, it will use up all that part of your brain's resources and you won't be able to hear/process any sounds around you. It's a technique that I learned very quickly when learning to speed read. It works very, very well.
noise cancellation headphones work well for airplanes, trains, ..., I am not so sure they work very well for voices (or at least I haven't found any that do, usually they make voices even more annoying as they cut the background noise and make the voices stand out even more).
-- the cake is a lie
Good noise canceling headphones are expensive. Another, cheaper, alternative is to get a white noise generator. I know some people who swear by it. Personally I find it distracting, but each to their own.
Yes, this ^^^. There are several guys in my office (we are propeller heads, so it's ok to be weird) who have closed headphones on with white noise playing. It is a well known technique for concentrating because it creates a baseline background noise which your brain tunes out quite quickly but still masks irregular noises.
Some people are mentioning noise cancelling headphones. In my opinion these won't work for your purposes as they are not well suited for cancelling voices. They work great for filtering out constant predictable frequencies.
The best solution: Foam earplugs, the kind you can buy at a drugstore that are rated for 29 decibels (or something similar), that you wad up and stick well into your ear canal. Combined with a decent pair of headphones (ideally wireless) playing the sounds of a rainstorm.
Actually any white-noise-like sound will work, including actual white noise, a radio tuned to static, crashing waves, etc. For a month or two, I used the Fripp/Eno ambient tune "Wind On Water" playing on an endless loop. Watch your decibel levels-- it doesn't need to be played loud to work.
This setup will drown out the fucking zombie apocalypse.
Decades back I sat in a large egg shaped shell with a small opening with a padded interior you could sit in with stereo speakers in it.
Whether it was music or white noise, once you were in the chair almost all the extraneous noise in the room just disappeared.
Even someone speaking right in front of the opening was difficult to hear.
Actually, don't give up on music quite yet. Music with lyrics will distract you--Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, or Lou Reed would take all of your attention. But a lot of techno can actually function as white noise (which is why a lot of coders in a busy office swear by it)--the beat gives you an adrenaline boost while the content vanishes. Bach and other forms of baroque music can also serve the same function; it fades into the background but has a calming effect, and many people consider it the sound of ordered thought.
A lot of dorms are made out of cement, and cement is excellent for attenuating sound. But if your door doesn't close tight, then it won't make much difference.
You want to plug up every crack around the door with the most dense material you can find. Look for rubber gasket type stuff you can put in the doorjamb itself to make a tight seal and rubber "lips" you can put on the bottom to seal the crack underneath. Look for the same kind of door-sealing products meant to save energy by stopping cold air from getting in to your house. Also, If your door has a hole in it - like vents - cover them up with somethin thick and dense.
If your door is a light-weight metal or hollow-core wood door, you can try attaching heavy duty rubber sheets to the door itself. There are even some products mostly sold for automotive sound-proofing that are basically asphalt on a roll - Dynamat is one brand although it is expensive. You might just use tar-paper from the hardware store. Either way density is key, forget about fluffy foam, the more dense you can make your door the less sound will get through. Just make sure whatever you use won't out-gas into your room and give you cancer.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
Unfortunately many university libraries are no longer the quiet places to study that they once were. In an attempt to remain relevant, they're doing all kinds of things that make them less than ideal study environments. But, you can certainly try. You might find a quiet corner somewhere.
A technique of eastern cultural temperment akin to "dont sweat the small stuff". It is a kind of meditation.
If the noise is loud enough to damage hearing, then you need to physically protect your ears.