You are more often than not on your own in this noisy world. As a would-not-be noise receiver you can try to avoid noisy places, and try to shield your immediate environment from external noise sources. You can try to keep down the noise produced in your own home. You can simulate partial deafness by putting things in or over your ears. You can make noise to drown out other noises. And, if all else fails, you can always flee—perhaps even to a quieter spot.
Whenever you might move, you can check for present and future noise-annoyance sources (it won't be easy):
Local, state, and Federal agencies can be queried for current paths of surface, air, and underground transportation. You can check on contemplated road and subway construction, emergency holding patterns, new flight paths for jets and helicopters, new STOLport flight paths, and proposed hovercraft routes. You may even be able to obtain noise contour maps from the responsible agency (if any) and try to get an interpretation of what these various transportation intrusions will mean in terms of known criteria for hearing loss, speech and sleep interference, and annoyance.
Be sure to ask for flight paths under both visual and instrument rules. (Instrument flight may be permitted over your head.) Find out if there are any limitations on aviation in terms of morning starting time limits, and restrictions on evening and Sunday morning flights. If there are no adequate restrictions, and there is no choice of dwelling, make provision with friends or relatives for an occasional restorative weekend sleep-over visit.
Check the distance to the nearest through road. Is it heavily trafficked? What is the percentage of truck traffic? Is it smooth-flow, or is there a stoplight or intersection that spells horn honking, brake squeal, and acceleration roar? Avoid living near a grade, or expect the noise of grinding gears. If there is a parking lot or public garage nearby, does the community exercise any noise control regulations over it? Do the police enforce or ignore them?
Check for future lengthy public works and utility projects, such as new sewers, water mains, underground gas and electric lines, telephone conduits, and so forth.
Prepare a "siren index." Locate the nearest fire and police stations and hospitals. If statistics are available, study the number and localities of fires, crimes, and accidents, and project when and how often siren wails can be expected.
If the site of the dwelling you are investigating is near a river, how do you feel about boat and fog horns? Double-check on present and future plans to use this artery as a flight path for helicopters, STOLs, hovercraft, and hydrofoils.
Check the distance from schools and playgrounds, coffeehouses, nightclubs, bars, and other sources of potentially raucous noise.
Check for proximity to churches and synagogues. Are chimes amplified? What is their schedule? Has central air conditioning been installed, and if so, has it been silenced? Religious activities are generally exempt from noise control regulations, and there have been reported cases where religious administrators have refused to abate mechanical noise nuisance emanating from their premises.
Use your ingenuity to detect or predict other noise sources that could become a problem. It is much easier to avoid noise nuisance by not locating near it, than to get rid of it or to ward it off after you have moved in.
So much for the site. Now for the dwelling itself.
The homeowner who builds to his own specifications can ask for sound-conditioned construction. If he buys a home already built, his problems are similar to those of tenants in a multiple-dwelling unit.
Assuming the dwelling site is acceptable, try to avoid renting an apartment that is subject to undue noise stress because of either interior noise sources or poor isolation from adjacent apartments and service equipment.
Think twice before paying a higher rent to be on a high floor. According to studies made for the Greater London Council, height in itself is not a major factor in reducing average noise levels on either dwellings or office buildings. Exposure to other noise sources in the line of sight may in some circumstances increase the noise level on upper floors. For example, the upper floors may experience aviation noises from which the lower floors are shielded.
Look for an apartment in which at least the bedroom faces the rear of the building and is thus removed from the front line of street noise. As much as a 15-decibel difference may exist between the front and back of a building—assuming the rear apartment's rooms are not above a kitchen, under a flight path, or near an unsilenced exhaust fan or air conditioner. Courtyards are not necessarily quieter, either.
Is the apartment near garage doors? If it is to be your own garage, nylon guides or runners can be installed. If it is a large garage for transient parkers who are invited to honk their horns as the open sesame, inquire about local horn ordinances that may make this an illegal act.
Look for instances of concern about sound control. Are the front doors tight-fitting to screen out hallway noises? Or too short for their frames, indicating that the builder tried to save money by making the common hallway part of the central ventilating system? Don't accept casual statements about good sound insulation. Ask to see the actual wall and floor specifications and field-test results. If you can, ask an architect or acoustical consultant to analyze their adequacy for you. Caveat emptor is the byword for securing a quiet apartment.
Some experienced apartment hunters bring a friend or two with them and try to get them into the adjacent apartment or the one above, where they play a radio, drag a chair across the floor, walk about, jump a couple of times, talk loudly, and observe if the apartment overhead is carpeted, especially the bedroom. It is also wise to see whether appliances are mounted on the common wall.
It is a good idea to try to visit a prospective apartment when the neighbors are home, in the evening or during the weekend.
As you go about the building, check for potential noise from elevator doors and motors and ventilating and air conditioning compressors and blowers.
Within the apartment, scout around. Is shower noise contained within the bathroom? Can you hear neighboring bathroom activity? Is the ventilator in the bathroom sound-conditioned, or does it serve as a two-way megaphone? Are doors between rooms tight? Undercut doors make it difficult to isolate noises made by individual family members. Are the light switches the noiseless type, or do they operate with a click that can shock a nervous system under stress?
Turn on all the "mechanized conveniences" at the same time: dishwasher, garbage disposal unit, range exhaust, and air conditioners. Mentally, add the noise of your own appliances: blender, vacuum, electric can opener, dryer. Will they be isolated from other rooms by solid walls and tight door construction? Imagine listening to your stereo or television while the kitchen appliances are working and the children are playing in their room. Imagine also possible external noises: traffic, aviation, sirens, construction. The total of this is called "maximum acoustical stress," and is of course only theoretical. But unfortunately, most apartments in America would not pass these tests.
Do not chastise yourself if you move into a noise trap despite your attempts to avoid one. Even noise experts get stung. One unfortunate checked his $500-a-month apartment while the building was still under construction, and was satisfied it would be quiet. Once he moved in, he became painfully aware of the heating and air conditioning system directly below his apartment. Only the threat of legal action forced the landlord to install vibration-insulators on the noisy pumps and motors.
If one has the misfortune of leasing a noisy apartment, then what?
The main ingress for exterior noise of traffic is the window. If we could forego visual contact with the outside world, the simplest noise solution would be to seal the windows-ideally with lead or leaded sheets, less effectively, with plywood. Well, one can live without outdoor light or view, but not without fresh air.
Sound-trapped ventilating units, with and without air conditioning, are available. Heavier window panes or commercial double-hung windows are another solution. An inexpensive but relatively effective method is to use tight-fitting storm windows, with neoprene beads if possible. The ventilation problem can be overcome by having the regular window and the storm window open at opposite ends. Remember this acoustic rule of thumb: if a sound wave makes a 45° or greater bend, some of its energy is lost.
Even if you cannot do much about the windows, some of the reverberation from outside noise can be reduced by covering the ceiling and walls with sound-absorbers. Acoustical ceiling tile is available and can also be applied to walls. Acoustical tile minimizes the annoyance of reflected sound. It is not a sound barrier. It is not a noise insulator. (Unknowing or unscrupulous contractors and dealers will sell acoustical tile to noise victims who are seeking relief from impact noises generated by upstairs neighbors. The product is not designed for this purpose, and sales made under these circumstances verge on fraud.) The product itself must be an effective sound absorber, with a minimal thickness as well as absorbent properties. "Acoustical paint" has no significant sound-absorption properties. Check with the Acoustical and Insulating Materials Association for a list of standard absorption coefficients.
Walls can be covered with soft drapes, tapestries, or wall hangings; our castle-dwelling ancestors knew a thing or two about echo control.
Furnish the apartment with upholstered furniture and line the walls with books, both of which absorb sound. If possible, make the "party wall" your bookshelf wall. Or perhaps you can add closets to this wall. If so, keep linen, clothing, and other absorbers in them. For acute problems, a false wall can be added.
Noises coming through a wall adjacent to a neighboring apartment can be a pernicious problem. Sound-absorbing treatment will not keep out this kind of intrusion.
The Noise Abatement Society suggests "fibre insulating board mounted on wooden battens for reducing airborne noises between rooms, such as baby cries and voices." Musicians often treat their practice rooms in this way. Ideally, this type of installation should be made by an acoustical building contractor.
Study your lease, and know what violates its nondisturbance clauses.
Establish contact with your neighbor. Inquire if his television and hi fi could be placed away from the party wall. Try to make an agreement that each of you will keep the volume at a reasonable level, and not emphasize the bass (sound-insulated walls are more effective in keeping out the upper frequencies than the lower ones). Perhaps all tenants can get together and agree to remove their shoes upon entering their apartments, Japanese style. Check your lease for a carpeting clause.
One readily corrected source of impact noise is that created at the interface of a metal ceiling fixture and the ceiling. If this is a problem, have a rubber gasket installed.
Because acoustical slums are to be with us for many decades, and the use of amplified sound sources is proliferating, acoustic consideration dictates the use of headphones as a desired control technique. Their use not only keeps you from annoying neighbors, especially late at night, it improves the enjoyment of listening by screening out the "normal" intrusive sounds that keep one from hearing soft music and the nuances which heighten the sense of "presence." Convince your neighbor of this.
Variety tells us: "Headphones make it possible for a musician to practice an amplified instrument without creating hostile neighbors." Remember this when your community wants to improve its anti-noise laws.