Sleeping in a noisy environment

Question

I recently moved into a shared house with 3 other roommates (4 if you count the couple as 2 people) on the main floor. It's also close to a busy street. At night the noise sometimes disturbs me. Sources of noise:

1. cars and trucks going by
2. music from roommates (especially with loud base)
3. roommates opening and closing doors
4. people using the bathroom (my bedroom is right beside it)

Things I've tried:

1. closing window
2. ear plugs (I find they fall out while I sleep)
3. turning on air purifier (makes noise similar to fan)
4. app on my phone for white noise
5. going to bed earlier

My roommates have approximately the same schedule, but one ends work at midnight. There's only one who plays music with speakers and I should probably talk to him about it but I don't want to upset him when I just moved in. Even on the lowest volume, trance music is still very difficult to sleep with.

I'm open to suggestions for sources of white noise, for example I've been using an app on my phone but I find that the sound has too much variation and that I prefer very constant sound e.g. if it's rain noises it disturbs me if every 30 or 60 seconds they throw in thunder.

Answer 1

I found standard cylindrical earplugs are prone to falling out because they are too long: they protrude from the ear, so every time you move your head on the pillow, the earplugs are pushed sideways.
I solved this by cutting them in half, making 2 short cylinders.

Note: this works well in my case. If you roll up the earplug and insert it completely into the ear canal, it may be fiddly to remove (although tweezers should be sufficient).

My ear canals are on the small side, so I can't insert a rolled-up earplug.
Instead, I wedge a cut-in-half earplug into the opening of the ear canal. This creates a good seal without the need to roll up the earplug, and it leaves the tip of the earplug sticking out far enough to easily remove it.

Answer 2

There are some silicone putty earplugs that stay in much better. The brand I'm familiar with is called bio ears. They mould into your ear giving them some of the advantages of the custom fitted ones, as well as being more comfortable than effective foam earplugs.

Answer 3

I would recommend the app SimplyNoise (iOS link, Android link).

You mention that you tried "white noise" apps that "don't have a constant" sound. Actual white noise is completely constant, like static from a TV or radio not tuned to a channel or station.

So, if the app you used delivered rain/thunder sound, it was not a white noise app - just a "noise", or "background noise" app.

To expand more on the topic: white noite has a precise mathematical definition, which is "a random signal with a constant power spectral density". This means that it has all frequencies in equal amounts contained in it.

Although this kind of noise is a bit hard to get used to, you can leverage its property of having all frequencies: this means that it will "mask" noises of all frequencies equally, no matter if it is a small dog barking loud (high frequency) or a bass drum from a trance song.

Try to get used to this noise for a few nights. Maybe start at a low volume and increase it gradually. After you get used to it, you just kind of stop noticing it a few minutes after you put it on - it just "fades into the background".

If you really can't get used to it, try pink and Brownian ("brown") noise, which SimplyNoise also supports. They are stronger in the lower frequencies and weaker on the higher ones, which makes them sound less "harsh" to the ear.

Naturally, this also means they will be less effective at masking higher-frequency noises (some telephones ringing, some breeds of dogs barking, maybe wood squeaking), but really any of them is good enough.

Below is a picture of the power spectrum (that is, how much of each frequency the signal has) of white, pink and Brownian noise.

I personally like Brownian noise. Very rarely a noise is able to slip past it in my context. To me, it sounds like heavy rain (just perfectly constant and with no thunder), or an airplane's engine, which I find relaxing.

Answer 4

When used as designed, ear plugs will not fall out. Ear plugs should be rolled between your fingers to make them thinner, then inserted fully into the ear. You will feel it expand into place and you will hear noise greatly reduce. I encourage you to watch some videos on the use of ear plugs for more information.

Also worth noting is that ear plugs are designed to be single-use. Repeated removal and insertion will cause them to fit more poorly and reduce their effectiveness. In the environment you describe, you can probably get away with multiple uses.

http://lifehacker.com/5275516/properly-insert-earplugs-for-better-protection

Answer 5

Have you tried asking your housemates to be more considerate about music and how they move about the house at night?

In the end you need to peacefully share the space you're in, and if they don't know there's a problem, they can't fix it.

If they continue to behave in a way which is disturbing your sleep, you could try the "life hack" of finding somewhere else to live.

Answer 6

Well, you already found out about white noise, how long did you try it and what did you think about it? Either way, if earplugs are not your thing ambient noise generators are by far the next best option. I find brown noise the easiest to get used to personally and it's perfect for trying to fall asleep (don't need it anymore, but used it for awhile). It takes about two or three days before you stop hearing it (just like a fan) and if you start at a low volume and slowly increase the volume it can easily overcome a lot of outside noise. The only downside is that I have heard about people having trouble falling asleep when they were without it (e.g. when sleeping over and it would disrupt the others in the room).

Not all apps have brown and pink noise generators, but if you throw it into Google there are a lot of sites that are capable of generating it. Which reminds me of one other option: Soundscapes. Only used them sometimes when I had trouble falling asleep. They are recordings of things like rain¹, nature or other ambient sounds. In principle that should work just as well.

¹ Small disadvantage of rain: prepare to feel far colder... perfect in summer, but not in winter xD .

Answer 7

You could try sleep restriction if this is a long term problem. Limit yourself to a strict 6 hours sleep a night at fixed times (0100 - 0700 for example). Make sure you are only in your room between those hours, so your body gets used to the cycle. The first week of doing this is horrible, but after a while you'll find it's much easier to get to sleep. I used to get pretty bad insomnia and this is the only thing that worked for me.

Answer 8

I have a different approach: noise cancelling speakers. You have heard of noise cancelling headphones... There are several available at different price points, although I have not used them personally I have read that they can work quite well. Here is one example:http://mobile.extremetech.com/electronics/6-sono-a-noise-cancelation-and-isolation-device-that-sticks-on-your-window .

Answer 9

View enduring noise at night as a form of self-improvement.

The best long term solution is to learn to sleep in a noisy environment. This is a requirement for anyone who has moved from the suburbs/countryside to a densely populated urban environment.

It takes about 3 weeks - you will be tired during this time - but after this you will adjust to the new environment. I personally now have difficulty sleeping in a quiet environment after years of living in cities!

Answer 10

Solution (not a hack): Love 'em or leave 'em.

Answer 11

If trance boy turns down his bass, or disconnects his subwoofer, you will no longer hear it through the walls, and he might not even notice the difference.

Failing that, my goto noise app (iOS) is Storm Sim. You can set the thunder as soft (or none) as you want. Dozens of rain noises to mix together to give you a custom mix. I think it costs money nowadays but it has a lot more binaural-wide-angle-stereo-sounding rain than most of the other free apps. Note - all of the built-in mixes have thunder. You will want to ignore those and create your own mix.