my neighbours are complaining about noise how do I sound proof my room at an affordable cost

I'm planning to build a vocal practice booth inside my 5 × 6 m room. This won't be used for recording—its only purpose is to let me practice singing without disturbing my neighbors or feeling self-conscious.

I have experience building with drywall, wood framing, and glass installation, so I'm comfortable doing the construction myself. I'm also considering adding a small tempered glass window (around 30 × 25 cm).

My main goal is sound isolation, not acoustic treatment. I want as little sound as possible to escape the booth.

Has anyone here built something similar?

• What wall, floor, and ceiling construction worked best?
• Which materials made the biggest difference in reducing sound leakage?
• What mistakes did you make that you'd avoid next time?
• How did you handle the door, ventilation, and sealing?
• If you were building it again, what would you do differently?

I'd really appreciate advice from people who have actually built a booth or room for this purpose. Thanks!

I recently moved into an apartment with thin walls and I’m trying to reduce how much noise from my apartment leaks into the hallway.
My front door originally had a pretty huge gap underneath it, probably around 3/4”, where you could clearly see light from the hallway. I installed an adhesive door sweep across the bottom and then added wedge-shaped weatherstripping around the door frame to seal the sides/top.
The seal seems much better now. Interestingly, I recently heard my neighbor talking outside my door and she sounded noticeably quieter than she normally does, so it seems like the sealing did *something*.
However, we tested music playing from the TV and went outside the apartment, and it was still surprisingly loud. The weatherstripping didn’t seem to make a dramatic difference with the music.
My main goal is **keeping sound from leaving my apartment**, not necessarily blocking outside noise.
Does this suggest that most of the sound is traveling directly through the door/walls rather than through the gaps? Is the bottom door sweep still worthwhile for reducing speech leakage even if music is easily audible?
I’m renting, so I’m looking for renter-friendly improvements and don’t want to start doing major construction.
I can attach before/after photos of the door gap and weatherstripping.

Hi, we've got a washer and dryer in our loft conversion (we created a bit of a utility space)

It's right against the staircase, and my concern is, the noise will vibrate through the staircase and the whole house

Anyone got any tips on best way to noise dampen?

They're side by side but could be stacked?

I've seen shock absorber pads, some people said use concrete slabs? I'm after any advice, guidance, thoughts please :)

Title. Roommate yells a lot, and I want to try adding a layer of Rockwool behind my bookshelves to dampen the noise. Has anyone done something like this before?

I work in a open office, albeit a small one. My coworker that sits directly across from me has an extremely loud voice and the pitch of it is just... grating. Most of the time it's fine, but if he is on a phone call, I can't hear my own call, or hear myself think for that matter. He's in his late 50s and there really isn't space to move the desks around, nor space for a standing divider between the desks. Are there any *effective* panels you'd recommend that I could either hang from the ceiling (drop tile) or on a wall, something to at least take the edge off of his voice and maybe allow us to both be on the phone at the same time? I sincerely appreciate any help.

My apartment has numerous false fire alarms throughout the day every day. They last a few minutes at a time. I understand how dangerous this is and have contacted the fire marshal and am taking all the proper steps to fix this problem so that in the event of an actual fire the alarm system can work as intended, but until then I need a temporary solution for the health of my cat. The alarm is very loud and she has sensitive hearing.

I have a Cajon (box drum) similar to one I will link to that she likes to crawl inside of and hide in, and I think this may be a great starting point, but Im open to building something from scratch too. I also have a closet which is where she goes already when the fire alarms go off, so perhaps if there is a way to properly insulate the closet or build a box for her there, Im open to that as well. I may just take the best of both worlds, insulate the cajon, amd put it in the closet.

https://youtu.be/xnXG8YAJfJg?is=k_xCAIGuLJrWPrrA

Am one of the middle units in a townhouse, currently dealing with the end unit I'm hooked to being filled with a family who...stomp runs I guess...down their flights of stairs much of the night hard enough to shake my platform bed.

Is there any way I can counteract the vibrations? Have been thinking about subwoofer isolation foam under the legs but would that really do much of anything? Maybe anti-vibration pads for washer/dryer setups? Stacks of acoustic tiling under each leg?

I'm renovating my residential apartment over my commercial space. I need to reduce the impact noise between the second floor and the ground floor. I am removing old engineered hardwood flooring that has cracks and stains. The new flooring will be acacia solid hardwood. We glued the hardwood down (using Bostik Best) on the third floor and the stairs, which were previously carpeted.

What is the best way to reduce impact noise, remove and level the floor, and put down new hardwood, while balancing budget and preference for natural materials? I've been thinking of using ISOLENA acoustic underlayment (https://www.isolena.com/en/acoustic-underlay-insulation/). Can I glue the hardwood down to the paper side of ISOLENA? Or should I use plywood or cork layering? I live in the high desert, so I have very low humidity, which is a concern with the expansion and contraction of the hardwood, which is why we used the flexible Bostik best.

Aware of potentially building a custom Baffle and sticking it in each windowsill cutout, but these windows are pretty large (7ft tall 4ft wide, 3 per room), but as just an attempt at noise reduction, has anyone really tried sticking moving blankets or MLV to completely cover the window cutout and then a set of curtains after the Blanket/MLV?

Currently have a decently thick single curtain that goes from wall to wall to not only cover the 3 windows but extend completely to cover the entire wall. Sound still piercing from mostly peoples kit cars leaving a parking garage… so just thinking of adding more barriers before just going the baffle route entirely.

3rd floor condo. I am installing carpet in both bedrooms and that comes with a 13mm foam pad. Would adding 6mm MLV over the subfloor be overkill? Can’t remove subfloor without HOA red tape and the MLV I am ordering can go over the subfloor and directly under carpet. Don’t need another layer of subfloor unless I am putting in hard flooring.

I am already going down to the studs in the master bedroom and installing rockwool insulation, 3mm MLV, and 5/8 drywall. Also replacing the door with a solid core, sealing outlets, doing a door seal, etc. Window is double paned and in good shape so other than checking for gaps I think we are good there too.

The goal is to make the master bedroom as soundproof as possible, for sounds going in and out. Don’t want the floor to be a weak point. But also don’t want to go through the time and expense of doing MLV for nominal gains.

Cannot decouple walls at this point, so I am doing everything else that can be done.

As a first time house buyer, I'm looking for some guidance. We're interested in a house built in 1976 (in Canada); has updated windows and vinyl siding. It's right beside train tracks and the horn is quite audible in the house. First question is: how do we find out what if any kind of sound insulation there is? (During house inspection?) For example what should we ask the inspector to look for? Next question is: if we were to buy the house and make renos to reduce outside sound coming in, what would be the best options? Even if only insulating the main bedroom (triple pane windows, changing siding, safe-and-sound insulation etc.) and potential costs?

Any guidance or help would be much appreciated as we're trying to figure out if we should move forward with this house. Thank you!

I need to install new blackout curtains behind my display. Looking for a dark green velvet/velour. The heavier the better.

Currently considering this option from 3H Linen: https://3hlinen.com/products/emerald-green-velvet-soundproof-curtains-with-multitape?variant=48082472796402

I’m sure that some of you have needed to solve this issue in your own theater rooms. What did you use? What do you recommend?

hello! I have two sources of noise I'm trying to reduce in my bedroom. I am renting and landlords are super anal about wall damage so solutions all need to be somewhat damage free

1: Traffic noise - the local council has removed a bunch of trees and shrubbery down recently and now I get a lot more low frequency noise and vibrations from cars on a nearby road

2: snoring roommate - Adjacent bedrooms, walls are paper thin, I already wear earplugs and use white noise. It's still so loud

I live on a top floor house, have double glazed windows, floors are lino (no hate for this unless it's directed at my cheapskate landlords pls).

My solution so far for number 1 is to use a rug with a felt underlay under my bed. I'm not sure what I can do for number 2?? I can't put too many holes in the wall and I don't have space for a heavy bookshelf - I already have a dresser against the shared wall.

Google mentioned mass loaded vinyl, but I don't understand how to use it and also it is priceeeey - is it worth it?

Any ideas on what else I can do?

Just moved into a house, built in 1995. East coast Canada.

The layout you can run around the house in a full loop and has the main entry two stories high, so all the sound downstairs makes it upstairs and it almost amplifies.

But on top of that, the sound that carries through all the vents and returns is crazy. I can be in the basement and when it's bath night for the kids, I can hear every sound they make. I'm sure I could talk to them from the basement. It's almost like a reverse Aztec site. There is likely only one spot in the house where you can't be heard.

I have to do bracing on all the floors eventually, 16" centers, 2x10, because the floors are bouncy. So when I do that, I will be insulating as I go. But for the duct work, is there anything I can do to dampen the sound in the vents ? Tape every joint or tape around the underside of the vents ?

Duct work is 5" , the returns are just tin nailed to the underside of the joists.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi! I was hoping for some help with soundproofing my room :c, i live very VERY close to a highway and the sound isn't as bad in most rooms but my room is the closest to the road. My desk is right next to my window which just makes things way worse. I can't study/focus because the noise irritates me a lot (I'm a student).

I want to know if there's anything I could do to reduce the sound in there, I went through a few videos and reddit posts and did summarize a small list of things that I could do, but I'd like to know if there's a point for that.

Weatherstripping and rubber seals along any gaps seems like the best thing I can do rn, acoustic caulking could be used as well.

maybe something along the doors? (like the base of it)

Another thing is probably making an insert for the window; either one that completely blocks light (which i don't mind doing cause i never pull the blinds up, just nothing that would be irreversible) or an acrylic glass one with weatherstripping which i could put into the window.

I'm not sure how beneficial that would be either, so if anyone has tried anything similar before, I'd appreciate the advice (or if what i'm planning on doing is helpful).
I know i probably can't get rid of all the sound but if I can significantly reduce it, that's enough. Hopefully a white noise machine would help with the rest.

I hope this doesn't sound farfetched but I'm incredibly desperate rn since I have exams coming up very soon.

Any help/advice would be appreciated a lot. Thank you!

We’re honestly desperate at this point. We’ve tried everything to communicate with our upstairs neighbors and resolve the constant stomping, but nothing has worked. We still have nine months left on our lease, and this is the absolute worst time to try to find a new apartment in San Francisco.

We’re willing to try almost anything that could make the next few months bearable. Has anyone found a specific white-noise machine, speaker setup, soundproofing method, or noise-cancellation trick that actually helps with heavy upstairs footsteps and stomping?

Unfortunately, there’s no realistic solution involving the neighbors changing their behavior. They’re pretty unhinged, and dealing with them directly has only made things worse. We’re just trying to survive this situation until our lease is up.

I just bought 2 moving blankets (40" x 72") but I just realized that I have no idea how to put them up. They dont really have any holes so im just stumped.

I'm a teenager, I usually stay up pretty late talking to my friends and playing games. The problem is that even with my TV having the volume set to 2 it's loud enough to hear down the hallway and into the living room. You can probably imagine the problem that talking has. I've looked into stuff on Amazon but I don't want to buy foam panels just to have them not do what I need. (Money isn't the issue but I just want to be sure it's effective. I also play a saxophone for my schools band, so this is needed.

Any advice?