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Comment by xlii | Hacker News Reader

Having sound sensitivity I’ll buy this the moment it comes out.

I’ve lost countless nights of sleep only because neighbors behind the walls had normal meet conversations past 12am. I really try to not be PITA but it’s my wellbeing vs theirs in the end. It’s a rental apartment so some are sympathetic and some are not.

In case you wonder why not ear plugs could help: they don’t work because I can hear my blood flow and heart beat and it’s even worse.

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The best solution for these cases of mild inconvenient noise is to mask it with more noise, ideally a fan or a pink/brown noise generator, or even sounds of rain or a waterfall.

You want the noise to be indistinct enough that your mind won't focus on it. So avoid a bad fan that has a whiny pitch, that will drive you crazy.

Try Mack's silicon earplugs. they are not to be placed inside the ear canal but only to cover the entrance from the outside. so no unpleasant pressure, no heart beating etc. using them for years.

You can also get custom fitted earplugs from an audiologist. They are wonderful. Extremely comfortable and they don't press on your ear canal, so you don't have any pain or hear your heartbeat, etc.

Whoa, they look amazing and could be a game changer. I ordered a box immediately, thanks for sharing!

Just be happy you don't live below someone who stomps around their apartment all day and night. The deep thud of heel strike vibrates your body and because it's very fast attack/low frequency noise, it's very hard to block the sound itself. Ear plugs do nothing. It's like living inside of a drum.

You think this curtain will help ? Article says it vibrates when it's working so that will probably disturb you as well.

How so?

It's give and take, it will help more than bare hard wall.

Heavy curtains are the cheapest/easiest way to "sound deaden" a normal room. Their fabric surface area is greater than the bare wall, and the weight helps isolate vibration. Thinner ones will be less effective. Never effective as foam, and no method is as effective as actual mechanical isolation (IE a room suspended in a room)

Have you looked into the current solutions? MLV sound barriers such as curtains, for example, can help with this.

No I had not. Thanks for the comment, I’ll check those out!

I use bees wax earplugs when I sleep, and they are 5x better than the standard foam earplugs, imho

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