Noise sensitivity and sleep

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As soon as the cat stops scratching at the door (downstairs, on the opposite side of the house) someone starts up a car and then the radiators start clicking or the boiler makes that buzzing noise that everyone else denies is even there ...

The worst thing is that my partner snores ...

The noises bring me to a half-awake state where my brain is constantly working on some problem that turns out to be absolute nonsense. It seems like I am trying to solve some logical challenge that is just outside my grasp. You could call them astract hallucinations.

My eyes hurt all day and I yawn at work which is a shame - for the first time in my life I have a job that i actually find interesting, yet I look bored.

Medication helps, but is not a long-term solution. Earplugs don't help - I find them uncomfortable and cannot sleep for that reason.

I too have had a lot of trouble sleeping through noise.

I report noisy neighbours to the city council's "Noise Team," who send a guy round with a sound-measuring device....if the noise is above the statutory limit then they send them a letter - it's a "3-strikes-and-you're-in-court" system....I've used it on 3 neighbours now and they've always shut up before it's got to the equipment-confiscation stage. I don't feel good about getting the council to do my dirty work for me, but several times I've tried politely asking the offenders to keep it down, and although they often said they would, they didn't.

But that service does nothing about the immediate problem on the night that it's happening. In that case I'll switch on a fan to drown it out - I have little trouble sleeping through continuous noise; it's sudden bursts of sound that really keep me awake. If I want more precise control over the masking noise, I can create white or pink noise and play them through an amplifier - theoretically, I could analyse the frequency profile of any offending noise and tailor an mp3 to have peaks at the same wavelengths, which ought to increase the efficiency of the masking so that the amp doesn't have to be so loud.

One disturbing thing is that it's very hard to legally stop people playing loud music from cars - amazingly, UK law doesn't prohibit it, even in residential areas, unless it's gone midnight. I did get one such guy stopped by repeatedly calling the police. They eventually sent a community support officer round to ask the guy to stop it, which he did. Technically he could have ignored the police, but he was running what looked like an unofficial car repair enterprise from the street, and I suspect that a closer examination of his business activities would have revealed a lot of anomalies that could have been used to shut him down completely. My guess is that the visit from the police scared him because of that........anyway, it worked.

If "white noise" doesn't bother you, you might try sleeping with a fan turned on in your room. I've found that it covers up noises my teenage son might make at night, dogs barking, cars on the street, etc. Also, the white noise from the fan is very soothing to me and helps me fall asleep.

Oh god the snoring thing is impossible. You'd be better of looking into snoring cures than trying to get used to it. Perhaps a soundproof blanket (very expensive) over your bedroom doorand maybe some double glazing would help with other noises. Otherwise it's earplugs, you can get quite advanced ones nowadays that fit your ear properly and should be easy to get used to, these guys even do custom ear impressions http://www.sensorcom.com/prodtype.asp?PT_ID=271 . When i was in hospital I found some good wax earplugs that mould to the shape of your ear and work well.

Every little noise wakes me. I live in the centre of town, so it is very inconvenient. I couldn't sleep one night at my sister's house because of an incessant ticking, so I opened all of the boxes in her room trying to find the ticking watch. She came in and saw the mess and thought I was nuts. She seemed very upset by it because she couldn't hear any ticking and it looked like I was going crazy.

I always sleep with the fan on, as the sound of that doesn't bother me but does help to make 'external' noises less intrusive. Earplugs don't really work for me, since although the ones I have now aren't uncomfortable, my hearing just becomes hypersensitive after a few minutes of wearing them.

When I was little I kept a hamster in my room and it ran on its wheel all night. Everyone was amazed I could sleep through it. But it was fine. A fan or something like that might work for me actually. If my other half could stand it. He's a heavy sleeper so probably he could.

As for a snoring cure ... we might look into it, but I don't know if any work. You can have an operation, I think. But the poor man only snores very quietly! It wouldn't bother me if I wasn't so sensitive.

Thank you so much for all your advice and sharing your experiences

Have you tried moulded earplugs? standard wax and foam ear plugs are really rubbish and horribly uncomfortable, check out some of the professional plugs, designed for long and regular use (I swear by them, as a producer who spends allot of time whering them in noisey studios and clubs). I feel your pain, I live under the flight path, and a mile away from Heathrow airport, so theres something taking off or landing every 90's, i've resorted to setting my 'bed time' to 4am, which isnt going to help if i get a 9-5 anytime

Melatonin (Seratonin is converted to Melatonin at night natrually in ur body) I have found useful sometimes, makes me grogy enough to pass out, good sleep to! although often only 3 hours, it can feel like a full night, not available OTC in the UK, but is in the US and it often comes up on ebay for the uk

I was going to suggest earplugs but you mention at the end of your post that they don't work.

They are available in wax, silicon and (if you are really brave) FOAM!

I have always been a very light sleeper. I always thought that daylight was the thing that woke me up in the morning but I have recently discovered that it is noise that wakes me up...with earplugs I can sleep until noon at the weekend.

I take earplugs with me everywhere now especially shopping Malls and restaurants (which often have the most excruciatingly painful accoustics).

If earplugs aren't an option for you, in any of the three forms above, how about ear muffs (at least in the winter) unless you are living in the tropics?

You might prefer to play a sound recording of the noise of a fan through an amplifier......that way you can control the volume, and turn it down to the level where it doesn't disturb your partner's sleep but the noises are still masked. Assuming there is such a level, that is.


Partners complicating things again........of course they're worth it on balance.
I believe there's a gizmo that dentists make which is said to stop snoring in many cases. You can also get a sticky pad that the snorer wears on the nose - supposed to open up the nasal cavity a little, which might just work, though it didn't do a thing in my wife's case. There are also herbal remedies, but again our experience was that they don't help. Possibly worth a try though, as they don't cost a lot. Separate bedrooms greatly reduce the problem, but I always think it's sad if it has to come to that.

I was born in philadelphia back in 82 and moved to jersey in 89 so I was used to sleeping with noise so when we moved I NEEDED noise to sleep so I leave either my radio or ipod on all night!

My daughter needs her memory foam earplugs, and my son depends on an air purifier for the white noise in the winter and a fan in the summer. I am okay as long as I am clinging to my husband all night. He's always enjoyed this, so we're good. We both sleep like the dead unless one of the kids wakes us.

I absolutely have to sleep with a fan for backround noise. Silence bothers me. If I am somewhere that doesn't have a fan (such as a hotel), then I either fall asleep while the air conditioner makes noise, or listen to my ipod on low.

I have more trouble with light. I have a hard time sleeping with any light. I panic thinking it's already dawn, and I'm late.

Another fan-user here. The walls in the apt. building where I live are kind of thin, there's things my neighbors get up to that I really don't want to hear at night (use your imagination), not to mention noise from outside (I live in a busy downtown area). Also, those molded wax earplugs do work, I used to live near a bar famous for weekend noise/fights, and I slept just fine with those on.

If there's a noise i'm not used to, it can make it hard to sleep. Once i'm asleep, though, i can sleep through a lot. I slept through a hurricane once.