Good and quality sleep is one of the factors that will affect your mood the next day. So how does it feel if your sleep is always disturbed by noise coming from outside your room? Be careful, lack of sleep can also cause various health problems such as fatigue, type 2 diabetes, heart problems, and weight gain. Want to still sleep soundly amid the noise? Do not worry; There are several methods you can apply to drown out unwanted noise. Undoubtedly, you will sleep soundly even if a meteor falls right in front of your room!
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Part 1 of 3: Modifying the Bedroom
Step 1. Modify the layout of the furniture in your room
If you share walls with neighbors or a noisy highway, rearranging furniture is a method worth trying. Try adding furniture to your bedroom or rearranging existing furniture to keep your bed away from sources of noise.
- Keep your bed away from noise sources. If you share a bedroom wall with a neighbor's living room wall, try moving your bed across the wall.
- Place a large, thick piece of furniture in front of the wall; Surely, this can reduce the noise that often disturbs your sleep. For example, you can place a tall, large, thick bookshelf in front of the wall and fill it with your collection of books.
Step 2. Cover your walls
To muffle the sound from outside, try lining the walls of the room with a material that can absorb sound well. Acoustic panels are the perfect choice that you should try. To maximize its function, you can buy acoustic panels covered with thick fabric.
- Choose a panel that has an acoustic coefficient of 0.85 or more.
- Try using an acoustic blanket. Acoustic blankets are fabrics that are specially designed to hang on the wall and muffle sounds from outside.
Step 3. Install insulation on the floor and roof of your room
If the noise is coming from under your room, try installing an insulator on the floor of your room. For example, you could install thick carpet or actually install insulator under the tiles.
- Compared to wood, cork has a better ability to muffle sound.
- If you can't put up a wall-to-wall carpet (permanent carpet that covers the entire wall and floor of a room), try placing a carpet that is very thick and will cover your entire floor.
- If the noise is coming from the attic of your house, try installing insulation on the attic floor. Use glass fiber R25 at least 20 cm thick. to seal the gap above your room.
- Use acoustic tiles with a ceiling attenuation class /CAC (amount of sound allowed to pass through the tiles) of 40 and a noise reduction coefficient of /NRC 55. This type of acoustic tile is often used for houses near airports, so it is likely that it will be able to reduce various noises. around your room.
Step 4. Make your windows soundproof
If the source of the noise is the road or your neighbor's house, try making your bedroom windows soundproof. Make sure you also install curtains that match this type of window. This option requires more effort and costs, but has proven to be effective at drowning out outside noise.
- Install windows with double glazing; This type of glass is very effective at maintaining the temperature in the room and muffle the sound from outside.
- Installing thick curtains on your bedroom window can reduce noise from outside a little.
- Check the gap between the window and the wall in your room. The slightest gap can not only deliver air, but also sound into your room. Use an insulator in the form of special foam rubber that can be used to insulate gaps in the doors and windows of your room.
Part 2 of 3: Silencing Outside Sounds
Step 1. Take advantage of white noise
Natural sounds (ambient sound) such as white noise are effective at hiding loud and sharp sounds with sounds that are softer and tolerable for your hearing; mainly because white noise is able to combine sounds of various frequencies.
- White noise is able to disguise the difference between general background noise and sudden noises (such as car horns or door slams) that risk ruining your sleep.
- You can buy a dedicated white noise machine, download a white noise app on your phone, or run the fan on overnight.
Step 2. Turn on something to drown out the noise
If you don't have a fan, take advantage of the household appliances available in your home to drown out outside noise. For example, you can turn on the television or radio all night. But be careful, research shows that turning on the television or radio all night can disrupt a person's natural sleep rhythm. For best results, try setting your radio or television to turn off automatically at certain times.
Step 3. Put on earplugs
Earplugs are an effective tool for drowning out sound while you sleep. In fact, combining white noise with the use of earplugs will actually be much more effective at reducing noise. You can buy good quality earplugs at the nearest pharmacies or from online stores. For those of you who are not used to wearing earplugs, it may feel uncomfortable at first.
- Always wash your hands before wearing earplugs to reduce the risk of infection.
- To remove the earplug, gently twist the earplug while pulling it.
- If the earplugs you bought don't fit properly in your ear canal, don't force them. Each brand has a different shape and size; if one brand doesn't fit, you can always try another brand.
- Know the risks of using earplugs before using them. Removing the earplugs too quickly or pushing them too deep can damage your eardrum. In addition, ear plugs can also be a means of transportation for bad bacteria to enter your ear and cause infection. Some types of earplugs can even prevent you from hearing important sounds like wake-up alarms, fire alarms, or burglars.
Part 3 of 3: Overcoming the Noise Source
Step 1. Identify the source of the noise
Identify the root of the problem before addressing it; the treatment you choose really depends on the root of the problem.
- Often, the source of the noise is your neighbors. Do you have neighbors who always play loud music or have a lot of guests in the middle of the night? Is the house next door filled with couples who always fight when you have to sleep?
- Noise can also come from cafes or restaurants near the house, or transportation traffic centers such as airports, train tracks, and toll roads.
Step 2. Report a complaint to your neighbor
If the noise is actually coming from your neighbor's house, being honest and direct is the best method (though not that easy in practice!). On the one hand, you want to stop all the noise that always disturbs your sleep; but on the other hand, you also don't want to fight with your neighbors. Therefore, try to convey the complaint politely and calmly; Don't be tempted to get angry or yell at your neighbors.
- Don't bang on your neighbor's door. This will only make them angry and defensive. Approach them when the noise has subsided, or wait until the next day.
- Don't immediately report it to the police! Most likely, your report will be ignored because it is taken less seriously; Besides, doing so means raising the war flag to your neighbors. They will even be tempted to take other actions that can irritate you even more afterward. Therefore, as much as possible there is no need to involve law enforcement and communicate your complaint personally.
- Approach your neighbors in a friendly and courteous manner. Explain the problem clearly and keep your tone friendly. Tell them, “Hi! Do you have a few minutes to spare? There's something I want to talk to you about."
- If they are willing to take their time, present your complaint in a logical and detailed manner. For example, you might say, “You play guitar a lot at night, don't you? Actually your guitar playing is cool! But next time, can you play guitar before 11pm? Lately I've been having trouble sleeping because of your guitar sound, even though I had to wake up very early the next day.".
- If everything you're doing doesn't work, try asking a third party for help such as the RT/RW leader in your area. They can help find a middle ground that benefits both parties.
Step 3. Report noise pollution in your environment
If the noise is caused by activities happening in your neighborhood (due to road widening, for example), try reporting it to the government representative in your city. Some regions have a special task force to deal with noise problems. Some areas even provide special officers to receive complaints and take decisive steps regarding noise issues. If your area doesn't have both, try reporting it directly to the city government.
