One downside of urban living is the noise. I seem to have bad luck in this regard…
- In Rio I lived next to an elementary school. The yelling and screaming started at 9am.
- In Medellin I lived next to a road where noisy buses would constantly rumble through.
- In Riga I lived next to a nightclub. I could feel the bass in bed.
- In Tartu I lived next door to an apartment undergoing renovation.
- In Zagreb I lived below an apartment that was undergoing heavy re-construction. They used a jackhammer to break up the concrete starting at 8am.
- In Poland I lived next to a full-blown construction site with a crane.
In Rio I noticed that a good countermeasure to the noise was to turn on my fans to full blast. Even though the noise of the fan was loud, it would dilute the children noises and I could sleep. In Tartu I would leave on the kitchen fan above the stove to great effect. Then one day, in my curiosity about “white noise,” I found a web site that would change my life: Simply Noise.
Simply Noise is a white noise generator that blasts through your speakers, providing even more noise dilution than fans. If I wake up to the noise of construction, I just punch in Simply Noise on my browser and select the “brown noise” option. I jack up the volume and, even though it’s technically loud, I can go back to sleep as construction takes place right next door. I estimate I’ve saved at least 100 hour of sleep because of this technique.
There’s also a Simply Rain site (Rainy Mood is another option), something I use for naps because of its soothing qualities. I roll with maximum thunder because it makes my nap feel like I’m resting in a protective cocoon. I also use rain noises to troll my guests into thinking it’s raining outside.
The only noise that Simply Noise can’t beat is a nearby jackhammer. If you got jackhammering going in the floor above you, you’re shit out of a luck and have to wait until they’re done. But other than that, thank you Simply Noise for making my life a little bit better.
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Great post Roosh, I’m really diggin’ this kind of articles as well.
I also found very helpful to take into account the circadian rhythm, at the begingin was very helpful to use a “calculator” for that (http://sleepyti.me/ e.g.) but after a while you start to know the how much your cycles last… Also, there are very useful tips about this on Tim Ferriss’ 4HB in the Perfecting Sleep chapter.
Ear plugs or Ear Muffs are a better alternative. Save your hearing this way. Adding “white noise” just increases the amount of decibels your ear drums are exposed to causing more damage.
Earplugs can be wonderful to help you sleep through anything. I suggest either Macks or Flents. (Flents fit a little better but are difficult to find in stores outsides the Midwest U.S., so usually you have to get them online.)
Going with silicone earplugs means that you don’t have to insert the earplugs deep into your ear canal, like with the typical cylindrical plugs. That means less chance of irritating your ear canals and reflexively pulling out the plugs in the middle of the night.
If the noise you are trying to avoid is low frequency (like larger dogs barking, construction banging, bass drums etc.), earplugs makes things worse, by quieting higher pitched background noise. Brown noise, by desensitizing you to sounds across the entire spectrum, is much preferred.
In addition, earplugs, by sealing your ear canal, prevents moisture from escaping, which can lead to fungus growth or infections over time.
If the noise irritating you is loud enough to cause hearing damage, you are better off with earplugs, though. Trying to sleep in the speaker horns at an AC/DC concert by overpowering the PA with brown noise doesn’t sound like the best one can do for one’s hearing. But for sounds that are merely irritating, brown noise is great.
Simplynoise also has an Iphone/Ipod app. Just plug your phone into a decent Ipod stereo, and go to sleep.
Good advice yes? My roommate dog barking drive me crazy to the point of maybe making a little”accident”
You just saved a life, my good sir.
http://www.sensorcom.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=316
…Job done.
I so needed this on my years of traveling. I must have missed a thousands hours of sleep because of loud noises. I usually used earplugs or put soft reggae music on my earphones to fall asleep. Heavy drinking also always helps to get some shut eye.
Thanks for the tip.
I use either wine or masterbation, sometimes both…
Thanks for the link. A lot of noise in my neighborhood.
In SE Asia you will notice there are two men who follow you wherever you go : the electric grinding wheel man and the hammer man. They grind and bang on crap all day long while you are trying to get a little peace.
I went there for a month to stay in my wife’s apt thinking I would get some work done. For three weeks two guys with hammers and chisels broke up the tile in the apt below. We went to the beach. Checked into a five-star hotel. A crew of guys started demolishing the room next door. We went to a hotel when we got back. A wrecking ball went to work on the building next to us. Every time the ball hit, a car alarm went off.
If you travel there, better get used to it because you cannot escape it.
some white noise machines are cheap(20 bucks), small and surprisingly loud. its key for places you dont have access to internet for the sites above.
Simplynoise has an iphone/ipod app, that doesn’t need connectivity. Just a stereo/boombox/speaker with an ipod socket. It works just like the web site. Absolutely spectacular!
Roosh, the rain site is fantastic, thanks. It goes perfect with my lamp with an adjustable dimmer to create a nice mood for my room. Add some wine, and we’ve got a superb mood-setting combo. Great post.
Finally! I’ve been stuck using a crappy mini desk fan for years.
This post came at the perfect time. I already got to use this to mute out an annoying hipster wimp with a lispy voice who was screaming some idiotic noise about his life into his iPhone. He basically evaporated, and my work proceeded as planned.
lol Tuthmosis
Be careful as to how loud you set the volume, with time your hearing sensitivity increases exponentially especially after 8 hours (@90dB specifically) making you vulnerable to hearing damage. But since you’re actually falling asleep I doubt it’s at a level that’s worth worrying about.
I tried some “brown noise” last night (it seems the most soothing out of white, blue, pink or purple) – it actually worked pretty well. Normally, as I try to fall asleep, strings of unbidden thoughts flash through my consciousness, but with the brown noise playing, my mental focus was drawn back to the sound within a split second.
My brain attempted to find repeating patterns within the noise (a problem I have when listening to the “crackling fire” or “rain on a car” sound loops – I always end up spotting the loop, and then waiting for it to repeat), but being unable to do so, merely slid around the edges, and I fell asleep quickly.
And despite it being brown noise, I didn’t even soil myself once.
That’s the beauty of Simplynoise. It is either a true brownian motion generator, or the loop is long enough to prevent at least me from picking it up. And I’ve been using it nightly for 3+ years.
What drives me nuts is being in a grocery store and getting blasted by the chorus of screaming black chicks, inevitably to be followed by Kenny Rogers.
Then there’s the imbeciles and their mega-audio who turn it on at traffic lights for no apparent purpose other than banging their food tray on the high-chair. I just blast them with some Scott Joplin or Bix Beiderbecke, which really shames them.
haha kicking it REAL old skool.
That’s funny, I use the same website and another one very similar. I hate pure silence so even if there’s no noise to drown out, I use this. (It’s why I don’t like the trend toward “silent” fans.)
If you have a dishwasher, run it before bed. Another great white noise maker.
If only I had known this when living next to an elementary school for three years, and a railroad for another three years!
TBH this makes no sense. You can’t avoid noise by making even more noise.
You know nothing.
That’s true, I use this website to keep focus on my work because there is so much distracting noises around me all day in my office. Unfortunately I don’t have any separate room for work & my work is related to designing so I need a real-time focus on it.
A waterfall can be suiting. But this white noise is just awful. There are so many great sounds on youtube. Hours and hours of rainforests, wind, crickets in the night, Buddhist Bells etc. All better than just noise.