voices

[watersprite]

It bothers me that I cannot ignore the neighbor's voices when they stand outside talking. It's almost painful how the sound seems sharp and abrasive. I don't want their music, engine noise, &/or singing. But it is voices that are the worst.
It's not that I don't like them, I do. They are nice. But my house is "supposed" to be quiet. Unless I fill it with music. I put headphones on, and that works to block noises but I would rather I didn't have to do so.

 

[tree]

kestrel Do you mean you can hear them when you are indoors?
Having to silence/combat sound with more sound makes for a lot of sounds
filling up a person's head.

Summer people come to their cabins/cottage on this road and they make lots
of sounds. One of the strangest is the shrieking, screaming children that sound
like dying animals. Nobody I know who lives in the woods sounds like that.

 

[Mia]

One of my neighbors is the table saw king, he uses his everyday. Makes me crazy, can't relax. He has the loudest voice and is likely partially deaf, whenever he speaks outside I can hear him inside my house with the widows closed. It diverts my attention from what I'm doing, the loud voice.
I think like you Kestrel, voices seem to slightly 'shock' my nervous system. It's too bad that is what we notice, its so distracting. Wear construction ear protection in my home, at times, but I don't think its fair that I should have to.

 

[Judge]

It bothers me that I cannot ignore the neighbor's voices when they stand outside talking. It's almost painful how the sound seems sharp and abrasive. I don't want their music, engine noise, &/or singing. But it is voices that are the worst.
It's not that I don't like them, I do. They are nice. But my house is "supposed" to be quiet. Unless I fill it with music. I put headphones on, and that works to block noises but I would rather I didn't have to do so.

The older I get, the more upsetting outdoor unwanted sounds can be to me. However I do try to maintain perspective given I live in an apartment...where I know from experience that things could be much worse. Still, I think a lot about those noise-cancelling Bo$e headphones!

 

[watersprite]

Judge If I can afford it someday, I will get a pair of those noise-cancelling headphones. Mia and tree I forgot sbout the construction headphones, those would be a good barrier for now.

 

[Judge]

Judge If I can afford it someday, I will get a pair of those noise-cancelling headphones.

You and me both. I've never seen them cheaper than around $260 at Christmas. But that was before they upgraded the last model. I think they're up to the QC-25 now, at $299.99.

One thing for sure, I've looked and listened to a number of them, and this one seems by far the most effective. But yeah...absurdly expensive.

 

[tree]

I am not comfortable blocking out sounds.
I have had animals long enough that I prefer to
be aware of what may be happening to them.

When the summer people bring up the screeching
children, I establish for myself what that nasty sound
is----whether it means a weasel is in the chicken coop...etc
and eventually the downstaters' holiday comes to an end.

 

[watersprite]

tree on my walk yesterday there were those kind of sounds emerging from a yard. I finally decided it was someone's vehicle power steering screeching.
I can't be outside with sound blocked, but inside the house it is okay. I don't feel the necessity to monitor everything as I do when outside. I cannot switch off the 'notice everything' part of my self. But it has been a positive aspect too, many times.
$299.99 is $200 more than I could pay right now.

 

[Progster]

I have a similar problem where I live - I have constant music to block it out, or earplugs. It's not ideal, but there's not a lot else I can do. I often wish I could move house. Noise cancelling headphones or earplugs are the best solution.

 

[Mia]

Kestrel I've tried different pairs of the noise reduction earmuffs. The ones that fit closely to the ears are the most effective. Something like these, they are not too tight, used mainly for target practice, they work well.

 

[23andaspie]

My sensitivity to noise is one area where my ASD overlapes with ADHD so this is an area that I've invested a considerable amount of money and effort to obtain a decent solution.

If you ever have to money to put down for them, these Bose in-ear noise cancelling headphones are really nice. They're just easy to step on/break lol. They seem to be the first of their kind, as I have not really see any competing products yet -- though one can imagine them becoming a little more affordable and even better in a couple years.

For affordable options, there's earplugs of course, but I find them to be uncomfortable especially when wearing them for extended periods of time. It might be worth looking into some in-ear headphones if you don't have them already (maybe spending a little more than the minimum, but not too much) and try playing white noise concurrently. There's are mobile apps, music soundtracks, and computer programs that can generate different background silences -- here's one I like on the Android platform.

I used to use these nice over-ear Bose headphones, but I found that while they helped with auditory sensory issues, they introduced another one.

Good luck.

 

[Wireless]

I use this rain/white noise generator http://rain.simplynoise.com/ to block out outside noises.

 

[Spiller]

I use this rain/white noise generator http://rain.simplynoise.com/ to block out outside noises.

I just got that, it's nice, very soothing.

How about this babbling brook:


.. Unless it makes you want a wee..

 

[Cosmophylla]

A few years ago we had tenants next door who decided that every time they worked in the yard they had to play music out there, really loud. They had a Beatles mix they played over and over and over at full volume and it destroyed those songs for us...

When they were out during the day, their little dog would bark all day long. I had a young child who needed naps, as did I...not a chance with that little beast next door barking at leaves, ants, birds, me.

Then the guy started working in the shed, which is close to the fence and our house, which is on a narrow block, facing them... Using his angle grinder, compressor, gawd knows what else. The he started working on old VW wrecks outside the shed, two metres from our windows (narrow block, facing them...). It was hell. For one whole summer we lived inside with the windows shut. We were miserable...

After one too many nights of the compressor being left on and keeping us awake, my husband wrote them an angry letter. They weren't impressed. The guy tried to dampen the noise by building makeshift doors to close the shed (an old concrete block affair) but the difference was minimal at best. We were going to contact authorities but then they moved.

Yay!

 

[Vinca]

I use this rain/white noise generator http://rain.simplynoise.com/ to block out outside noises.

That looks great Wireless !. I like that it has different settings, such as being able to turn the thunder on, off or set the thunder to 'often' 'few' or 'rare'. I've never seen that before.

 

[Spiller]

A few years ago we had tenants next door who decided that every time they worked in the yard they had to play music out there, really loud. They had a Beatles mix they played over and over and over at full volume and it destroyed those songs for us...

When they were out during the day, their little dog would bark all day long. I had a young child who needed naps, as did I...not a chance with that little beast next door barking at leaves, ants, birds, me.

Then the guy started working in the shed, which is close to the fence and our house, which is on a narrow block, facing them... Using his angle grinder, compressor, gawd knows what else. The he started working on old VW wrecks outside the shed, two metres from our windows (narrow block, facing them...). It was hell. For one whole summer we lived inside with the windows shut. We were miserable...

After one too many nights of the compressor being left on and keeping us awake, my husband wrote them an angry letter. They weren't impressed. The guy tried to dampen the noise by building makeshift doors to close the shed (an old concrete block affair) but the difference was minimal at best. We were going to contact authorities but then they moved.

Yay!

I just can't understand some peoples' lack of consideration - especially when living in close proximity to others..

I'm a DIY enthusiast, but I'm always careful to drill/sand/bang, or whatever, when people aren't around, or when I've warned them.
I certainly wouldn't dream of playing loud music like that either!

In a kind of opposite to Cos's experience, I once had neighbours who complained at the tiniest noise, such as watching TV - I had to put my ear to the wall to hear theirs, so they must have been doing the same and my TV was low as I don't like loud noise.
I had to rehang all the curtain rails when I moved in as the originals kept falling down because they weren't fixed properly. It took me over two years as they'd bang on the wall or come round complaining as soon as I started the drill up.. in the end I used to watch and wait for them to go out and get as much work done as possible then.

Consideration really does work both ways.