Has a noise complaint been made against you?
Noise is transmitted in two main ways; auditory -
passing through the air from one to another like from the speakers
of amplifying equipment to your ear when watching television
or listening to music. The other is structural – passing
from equipment or a door frame for example, on into
the structure of the building and being received by
others.
You can control the auditory noise by turning down the volume or
managing the time when you produce it. The control of structural
noise is more difficult. The concept is to provide ‘pathway breaks’
to the transmission of the noise.
Reducing noise from electrical equipment
Under equipment like speakers, television, etc place a non-noise
transmitting material such as fabric, cork mat, carpet underlay,
insulation board. When cut to the size of the base of the
equipment, it is hardly visible. If equipment is against a
wall, place a sound-absorbing board behind it. Sound comes out the
back of equipment such as speakers as well as the front. You can
use a plug-in timer or the inbuilt timer on equipment to
set a latest cut-off time so if someone is watching television
and falls asleep, the TV will cut off and not be emitting noise
during the quiet hours of the night.
Reducing noise from doors
Children generally do not close doors quietly. Doors have
two bangs but in rapid succession that sounds like one bang.
To reduce the noise doors make when being shut a self-adhesive
draught-excluder strip or self-adhesive felt pads, can be cut to
size and inserted into the door frame rebate. It needs to be fitted
where the door hits the frame first, and again by the lock catch.
If you close the door slowly and stand frame side, you will see
where the door touches the frame first. Remove dust from the frame
rebate and put a strip at that point; then again at the catch.
Close the door again to see if it knocks anywhere else and repeat
the process. In the end, you should get a silent door close. Repeat
for all frequently used doors.
Felt pads or self adhesive draft excluder can also be used
on your kitchen cupboards, especially any cupboards
you use frequently, where you keep your tea and coffee
for example.
Reducing noise from other household activities
When filling the kettle with water, some people do have a
tendency to thump it down before switching on. Place a tray under
the kettle or kettle stand and then put strips or sound absorbing
material under the tray to prevent the transmission of the
thump.
In a house with lots of occupants, naturally there are many
people who need to use the toilet. Sometimes this can be during the
quiet of the night; so put a piece of strip or a pad where the
toilet seat lid hits the cistern or cistern box. This should
prevent this staccato bang each time someone uses the loo.