Would noise cancelling headphones solve this?
March 14, 2020 3:40 PM Subscribe
Well, it's -18C outside and the next door neighbours have decided it's a good time to play basketball. On their deck. It's going to be a long year! Their deck is adjacent to my bedroom. This is going to drive me nuts! Can noise cancelling headphones cancel out the awful banging of a basketball on a wooden deck?! What type should I get?
I'm not actually sure *why* the sound from the neighbours backyard is travelling so well into my room. I have a window (of course), but there's also a general consensus amongst my coworkers that the houses in the area I live in in this town, weren't built well and are cheap. I've never, ever, had so much noise-pollution coming into a house. It's so bizarre to me. A few months ago, I heard a car door slam that was at least 2 houses away. Something I've NEVER heard anywhere else I've lived!!
I'm just renting a room here until the end of the year and I don't really want to get into it with the neighbours about this. They're allowed to play basketball on their deck if they want! It's just *so* loud. I just hear a constant banging every time they bounce the ball. It's awful!!!!! I can't imagine how it must sound INSIDE their house!!
So, would noise-cancelling headphones be a good investment? Is there a "good" moderately priced brand to look into? A particular pair that you'd recommend? I have a pair of wireless Sennheiser headphones that I use while watching tv at night in my room, but they aren't noise cancelling.
I'm not actually sure *why* the sound from the neighbours backyard is travelling so well into my room. I have a window (of course), but there's also a general consensus amongst my coworkers that the houses in the area I live in in this town, weren't built well and are cheap. I've never, ever, had so much noise-pollution coming into a house. It's so bizarre to me. A few months ago, I heard a car door slam that was at least 2 houses away. Something I've NEVER heard anywhere else I've lived!!
I'm just renting a room here until the end of the year and I don't really want to get into it with the neighbours about this. They're allowed to play basketball on their deck if they want! It's just *so* loud. I just hear a constant banging every time they bounce the ball. It's awful!!!!! I can't imagine how it must sound INSIDE their house!!
So, would noise-cancelling headphones be a good investment? Is there a "good" moderately priced brand to look into? A particular pair that you'd recommend? I have a pair of wireless Sennheiser headphones that I use while watching tv at night in my room, but they aren't noise cancelling.
I don’t know if this would be successful but I have a pair of over ear headphones that I blast various channels from the myNoise app into. At night I use bud type earphones for the same (I can't sleep with the over-ear type). I’m not battling as loud a noise as bouncing ball I think but I’ve been impressed with how effective this method has been for other stuff. The myNoise app has a great free version.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 4:54 PM on March 14, 2020
posted by Tandem Affinity at 4:54 PM on March 14, 2020
Yeah, I think that those frequencies are too low and occurring too unpredictably to effectively be cancelled out, I’m sad to say.
posted by umbú at 4:54 PM on March 14, 2020
posted by umbú at 4:54 PM on March 14, 2020
Heavy sound-deadening curtains might help
posted by dum spiro spero at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by dum spiro spero at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Noise cancelling works on steady, constant sounds. No effect on sudden, intermittent noises. Also no effect on vibrations your body feels.
I don't really want to get into it with the neighbors about this.
DO NOT mention your distress to them. They'll find it amusing, and extend their play just to torment you.
posted by Rash at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
I don't really want to get into it with the neighbors about this.
DO NOT mention your distress to them. They'll find it amusing, and extend their play just to torment you.
posted by Rash at 5:14 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: DO NOT mention your distress to them. They'll find it amusing, and extend their play just to torment you.
Oh, don't worry about that! I wouldn't do that in this town. I think my only hope is for spring to actually arrive and for the neighbour kids to start jumping on their trampoline. They only ended up playing basketball for about an hour.
posted by VirginiaPlain at 5:24 PM on March 14, 2020
Oh, don't worry about that! I wouldn't do that in this town. I think my only hope is for spring to actually arrive and for the neighbour kids to start jumping on their trampoline. They only ended up playing basketball for about an hour.
posted by VirginiaPlain at 5:24 PM on March 14, 2020
I’d consider ear protection for shooting with aux in or Bluetooth. No specific recommendations but it seems worth a try.
posted by hollyholly at 5:48 PM on March 14, 2020
posted by hollyholly at 5:48 PM on March 14, 2020
The only thing that blocked out my stark-raving-mad next door neighbours was foam ear plugs (the kind that you roll up before inserting) Unfortunately, basketball vibrations carry a long way, so YMMV. I also tried wax earplugs but they were expensive and kind of gross.
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:29 PM on March 14, 2020
posted by bonobothegreat at 6:29 PM on March 14, 2020
Heavy sound-deadening curtains might help
Even better if you can hang them to cover the entire wall that faces the deck.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:09 AM on March 15, 2020
Even better if you can hang them to cover the entire wall that faces the deck.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:09 AM on March 15, 2020
I sympathise, I also find noise pollution disturbing. The cheapest solution are ear defenders used for shooters or construction workers, not specially comfortable though.
How about counter measures? There are high pitched frequencies which younger ears can hear but are undetectable to older people. You could broadcast mosquito noise at them, or failing that pick some wonderfully uncool music to play at them.
posted by epo at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2020
How about counter measures? There are high pitched frequencies which younger ears can hear but are undetectable to older people. You could broadcast mosquito noise at them, or failing that pick some wonderfully uncool music to play at them.
posted by epo at 6:13 AM on March 15, 2020
Response by poster: Update: Did a MeFi witch put a curse on my neighbours? It looks like the wind blew their portable basketball hoop over in the middle of the night, and I didn't hear a thing!
posted by VirginiaPlain at 11:52 AM on March 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by VirginiaPlain at 11:52 AM on March 15, 2020 [3 favorites]
When they were running hammer drills upstairs at work, I found that foam earplugs under over the ear headphones playing music worked the best.
posted by advicepig at 12:12 PM on March 15, 2020
posted by advicepig at 12:12 PM on March 15, 2020
This thread is closed to new comments.
I think the best you could hope for is to block the sound. Look to see if your current Sennheisers are open-back or closed-back. Open back has a nicer soundstage but doesn't block out outside sounds nearly as well as closed type headphones.
posted by Wulfhere at 4:30 PM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]