Category Archive

noise

Help! My cat won’t stop waking me up stupid EARLY

I have had my cat, Maya, for five years, and I love her to pieces… 23 hours a day. That other hour, though, I want to chuck her across my bedroom and accompany her flight with a loud string of expletives. She used to wake me up around six for breakfast which was fine. But now she starts at 5, or 3, or 1 effing 30 in the morning, picking at whatever might be lying around, and singing the song of her people.

Help! My roommate is SUPER loud while doin’ it

My roommate keeps having loud crazy monkey sex when I’m wide awake and in the next room. One friend of mine said I just need to get better headphones, and another friend of mine said that she is being totally inconsiderate, and that there are rules with the roommate-having while boning. What are the rules? How does everyone else deal with this issue?

How do you approach a neighbor about their dog’s barking?

My husband and I have no relationship with the people in the apartment next to mine, other than smiling at each other on the elevator, and so we’re at a bit of a loss about how to approach them about their dog’s barking. As far as we’ve been told, our building doesn’t allow dogs. How can we bring it up without creating a negative relationship right from the get-go?

My cat won’t stop yowling

My cat howls at night. Every night. Without fail. I’ve tried many things to no avail. I would prefer to just put in earplugs and ignore him, which has been the only somewhat effective method, but my roommate won’t, and my roommate is starting to hate both me and my cat. Please help me!

What would YOUR neighborhood sound like?

This design concept from UK designer Nicola Hume is called “Listen Here,” and would make it so that locals could share the sounds of their hometown. The idea is that you could put wireless microphones around your favorite neighborhood locations, and visitors could listen to them via a public kiosk. The sounds would be mapped — so visitors could listen in, and then head off to go experience the sounds first-hand.

We live above the freeway: how can we cultivate quiet?

My husband and I are about to apply for an apartment. It’s almost perfect! Except for the interstate being a stone’s throw from the balcony. Are there any non-damaging but permanent ways to help keep our apartment relatively quiet and calm?

Make surreal video lemonade of the lemons of noisy neighbors

So this one time, the condo beneath ours was completely gutted and remodeled, with heavy construction for a couple weeks. The construction guys listened to a lot of Russian pop while they worked. Hours and hours of it. At a certain point, it got so ridiculous that I had to capture it. No tape deck, so I used my camera…but then I had to figure out something to fill the screen with while recording the ridiculous music. This very odd video was the result. Obviously, audio is key — and patience doesn’t hurt.

The upstairs neighbors walk so loudly I suspect they may wear concrete shoes. Halp.

Our neighbors upstairs walk REALLY loudly. This isn’t normal. The walking shakes our ceiling, scares our cats, and goes on late into the night.

I don’t think it’s right to try to confront people about walking, when the problem is probably that there isn’t enough insulation between their apartment and ours to mask the noise. Is there anything we can do from down here that can minimize the noise? Or is this worth talking to our neighbors about?