7 ms·

I use Howard Leight’s Max every night during sleep to keep my sanity.

by htk 7y ago

abjKT26nO8 7y ago
As blunte pointed out[1], earplugs make the situation worse. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237273 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237273
- dominotw 7y ago
  what about bose sleepbuds?
- wutbrodo 7y ago
  That's not a general-purpose argument against earplugs, as some people have noise problems in the frequency that they do block out (this was the case for me)
ChuckNorris89 7y ago
I used to sleep with earplugs very nicely until I got an ear infection and the doctor told me to lay off them. So I bought a bluetooth speaker that can play files off a SD card, and loaded it up with a 1 hour rain sounds file and play that in a loop as white noise when I sleep. Feels better as my brain can focus on the soothing sounds of the rain instead of the thoughts that sometimes creep up in the silence of the earplugs.
- i_am_nomad 7y ago
  You should throw away the earplugs every few days. Or, you could use soft silicone putty earplugs, and sterilize them during the day.
  - karakot 7y ago
    how do you sterilize them?
    - gmanley 7y ago
      Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol works.
      - dsego 7y ago
        would peroxide work?
  - ChuckNorris89 7y ago
    I did exchange them often, that's not the problem. The problem is with earpulgs in summer moisture accumulates in your ear canal and with the lack of oxygen bacteria thrives inside.
    - jborichevskiy 7y ago
      Damn, I was worried this might be a thing. No issues yet but coming on two years of daily use... might be time to look for some alternatives.
- tomrod 7y ago
  Check out the ambience apps. It's doing this, but very customizable!
  - jjoonathan 7y ago
    On the other hand, a memory card won't start skipping at 10PM when the kids downstairs start playing with their $10 aliexpress quadcopter that barfs theoretically highly illegal quantities of RF all over 2.4GHz. Ditto for $2 aliexpress chargers and their gaggle of $20 whitelabeled progeny on amazon.
    - tomrod 7y ago
      Fair. I haven't faced that oddly specific situation :).
- zappo2938 7y ago
  I use an air filter for white noise. I breath better too.
- the_pwner224 7y ago
  I use this free software application on my phone at night: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mcxa.softsound/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mcxa.softsound/ F-Droid also has another app called Noice which is more modern and has more features&sounds, but I prefer the sound samples in this one. I just put the phone in the charger in my bedroom and turn up the volume a bit, though I am considering getting speakers since the rain sound doesn't sound 100% perfect through the phone speakers. I use a mix of storm@100%, rain @90%, and wind+fire at 70-80%. I don't have an issue with loud neighbours, but it helps to fall asleep and makes a daily routine which also helps with falling asleep fast.
- vonseel 7y ago
  I grew up sleeping with a humidifier first in my room and then just some kind of noisy fan. Nowadays I use a Marpac sound machine, like you see in doctors offices sometimes. Kind of a quirky habit but silence feels so... deafening.
wozniacki 7y ago
Sometimes the "noise" is not heard but felt due to poor dampening of the structures and inferior - if any in the first place - sound proofing. You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters. With audible noise you can atleast wear earplugs / use noise cancelling devices. With those tremors theres no escaping them. You feel your walls and floors tremble and its a great nuisance. I can't believe there are no laws on the books that require builders to use vibration-dampening, sound-proofing materials / buffers for even newly constructed apartment buildings !! I mean none of this is exactly new. Noisome and insensitive neighbors are dime a dozen.
- techsupporter 7y ago
  > You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters. For the love of Flying Spaghetti Monster so much this. So far as I can tell, my neighbors barely make an audible sound. But the continual slamming doors, closing drawers, heavy walking, rolling of chairs, clomping up and down the building stairs...all of it comes straight into my unit and reverberates like the lowest string of a bass guitar and sets me on edge. I'm slowly getting used to it--mostly by telling myself that they can't hear what they're doing, they're not doing it intentionally, and I'm sure I make the same sounds--but it's super hard because it's very distracting to me.
- rhexs 7y ago
  I've been in numerous poorly built apartments and the only effective way I ever found to mask doors/cabinets slamming, footsteps etc. was with a portable hose AC unit. The compressor was loud and generated a nice masking low frequency tone making it harder to hear that nonsense. It took a week to adjust to the sound, but after that it was quite soothing. Of course this isn't actually solving anything, it's just driving up the noise floor for low frequency and contributing to making everything louder. Unfortunately they're heavy, woefully inefficient, and quite expensive to run. I later moved into a newly built "luxury" apartment where the neighbors garage was directly under my bedroom. I figured as long as I got a decent neighbor it wouldn't be too bad. Struck out and got someone underemployed driving a 2 fast 2 furious civic with custom exhaust. Shook the entire building every night between 12 and 4 AM. No way to mask that. Lesson learned. Top floor always, corner if you can, never directly above or next to a garage. Only exception is if the building is made out of concrete, which is exceptionally rare and will cost more. More expensive place the better -- you have a (slightly) higher chance of getting next to working professionals and quiet families.
quickthrower2 7y ago
They’re great. But the sound of my own heart beat is annoying. And I’m worried about if I’d hear the smoke alarm.
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  "But the sound of my own heart beat is annoying" I just realized how ridiculous that sounds. I am moaning that I am alive!
theboulevardier 7y ago
They are the best earplugs! I have tried loads of other brands and none compare.
telesilla 7y ago
When earplugs are not an option (or insufficient) I've found a pair of sleep headphones have been helpful in combination with a noise app, such as the Cozyphones shown here: (halfway down the page) https://www.audiophileon.com/news/best-headphones-for-sleeping https://www.audiophileon.com/news/best-headphones-for-sleepi...

I use Howard Leight’s Max every night during sleep to keep my sanity.

by htk 7y ago

I use Howard Leight’s Max every night during sleep to keep my sanity.

As blunte pointed out[1], earplugs make the situation worse. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237273 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21237273

dominotw 7y ago
what about bose sleepbuds?
wutbrodo 7y ago
That's not a general-purpose argument against earplugs, as some people have noise problems in the frequency that they do block out (this was the case for me)

ChuckNorris89 7y ago

I used to sleep with earplugs very nicely until I got an ear infection and the doctor told me to lay off them. So I bought a bluetooth speaker that can play files off a SD card, and loaded it up with a 1 hour rain sounds file and play that in a loop as white noise when I sleep. Feels better as my brain can focus on the soothing sounds of the rain instead of the thoughts that sometimes creep up in the silence of the earplugs.

i_am_nomad 7y ago
You should throw away the earplugs every few days. Or, you could use soft silicone putty earplugs, and sterilize them during the day.
- karakot 7y ago
  how do you sterilize them?
  - gmanley 7y ago
    Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol works.
    - dsego 7y ago
      would peroxide work?
- ChuckNorris89 7y ago
  I did exchange them often, that's not the problem. The problem is with earpulgs in summer moisture accumulates in your ear canal and with the lack of oxygen bacteria thrives inside.
  - jborichevskiy 7y ago
    Damn, I was worried this might be a thing. No issues yet but coming on two years of daily use... might be time to look for some alternatives.
tomrod 7y ago
Check out the ambience apps. It's doing this, but very customizable!
- jjoonathan 7y ago
  On the other hand, a memory card won't start skipping at 10PM when the kids downstairs start playing with their $10 aliexpress quadcopter that barfs theoretically highly illegal quantities of RF all over 2.4GHz. Ditto for $2 aliexpress chargers and their gaggle of $20 whitelabeled progeny on amazon.
  - tomrod 7y ago
    Fair. I haven't faced that oddly specific situation :).
zappo2938 7y ago
I use an air filter for white noise. I breath better too.
the_pwner224 7y ago
I use this free software application on my phone at night: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mcxa.softsound/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.mcxa.softsound/ F-Droid also has another app called Noice which is more modern and has more features&sounds, but I prefer the sound samples in this one. I just put the phone in the charger in my bedroom and turn up the volume a bit, though I am considering getting speakers since the rain sound doesn't sound 100% perfect through the phone speakers. I use a mix of storm@100%, rain @90%, and wind+fire at 70-80%. I don't have an issue with loud neighbours, but it helps to fall asleep and makes a daily routine which also helps with falling asleep fast.
vonseel 7y ago
I grew up sleeping with a humidifier first in my room and then just some kind of noisy fan. Nowadays I use a Marpac sound machine, like you see in doctors offices sometimes. Kind of a quirky habit but silence feels so... deafening.

wozniacki 7y ago

Sometimes the "noise" is not heard but felt due to poor dampening of the structures and inferior - if any in the first place - sound proofing. You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters. With audible noise you can atleast wear earplugs / use noise cancelling devices. With those tremors theres no escaping them. You feel your walls and floors tremble and its a great nuisance. I can't believe there are no laws on the books that require builders to use vibration-dampening, sound-proofing materials / buffers for even newly constructed apartment buildings !! I mean none of this is exactly new. Noisome and insensitive neighbors are dime a dozen.

techsupporter 7y ago
> You feel the sharp slamming of the doors, stairway exits and other household "noise" - as the tremors travel along the length and breadth of the structure - all the way in your living quarters. For the love of Flying Spaghetti Monster so much this. So far as I can tell, my neighbors barely make an audible sound. But the continual slamming doors, closing drawers, heavy walking, rolling of chairs, clomping up and down the building stairs...all of it comes straight into my unit and reverberates like the lowest string of a bass guitar and sets me on edge. I'm slowly getting used to it--mostly by telling myself that they can't hear what they're doing, they're not doing it intentionally, and I'm sure I make the same sounds--but it's super hard because it's very distracting to me.
rhexs 7y ago
I've been in numerous poorly built apartments and the only effective way I ever found to mask doors/cabinets slamming, footsteps etc. was with a portable hose AC unit. The compressor was loud and generated a nice masking low frequency tone making it harder to hear that nonsense. It took a week to adjust to the sound, but after that it was quite soothing. Of course this isn't actually solving anything, it's just driving up the noise floor for low frequency and contributing to making everything louder. Unfortunately they're heavy, woefully inefficient, and quite expensive to run. I later moved into a newly built "luxury" apartment where the neighbors garage was directly under my bedroom. I figured as long as I got a decent neighbor it wouldn't be too bad. Struck out and got someone underemployed driving a 2 fast 2 furious civic with custom exhaust. Shook the entire building every night between 12 and 4 AM. No way to mask that. Lesson learned. Top floor always, corner if you can, never directly above or next to a garage. Only exception is if the building is made out of concrete, which is exceptionally rare and will cost more. More expensive place the better -- you have a (slightly) higher chance of getting next to working professionals and quiet families.

quickthrower2 7y ago

They’re great. But the sound of my own heart beat is annoying. And I’m worried about if I’d hear the smoke alarm.

quickthrower2 7y ago
"But the sound of my own heart beat is annoying" I just realized how ridiculous that sounds. I am moaning that I am alive!

theboulevardier 7y ago

They are the best earplugs! I have tried loads of other brands and none compare.

telesilla 7y ago

When earplugs are not an option (or insufficient) I've found a pair of sleep headphones have been helpful in combination with a noise app, such as the Cozyphones shown here: (halfway down the page) https://www.audiophileon.com/news/best-headphones-for-sleeping https://www.audiophileon.com/news/best-headphones-for-sleepi...