Having sleep issues, I set up a Zoom H4N pro inside a 1meter cardboard box to track low frequency (sub base) noise disturbances and was blown away. Tracked many culprits down and still working on a few (need new windows and pushing landlord upon that). But instances of say another flat up in the wee hours banging about, you get a loud thud, you awake and none the wise and with my setup, was not only able to identify that but have evidence to prove that. Even had instance of waking up chocking, which was again due to a short loud thud noise disturbance by another flat.
Equally, noticed changes in flight paths by local airport are seeing some flights use the flight corridor (flying over the country so not originating or departing) at night that also cause resonance in the building.
For my part, I've got insulation, added sound dampening to curtail resonance and some frequencies and sound proofing to best I can. Though low frequency noise is hard to cut out beyond source due to the wavelength and a 100mhz low frequency noise you feel( well I do) and that's a 4 meter long soundwave. So hard to block fully, hence rubber dampening strips to curtail harmonic resonance with the building and in this case, my bedroom which is 4 meters in length.
Sleep is totally very important for physical and mental health and as somebody who is autistic spectrum, it is key to have a routine with sleep playing a huge factor in this.
But I highly recommend recording you night and playing it back and analyzing it with something that you can do spectrum analysis. As seeing a noise trigger you into breathing difficulties, or heart palpitations, or snoring is not good for ones health and being able to identify the issues and address them goes a huge way. Not all issues you can address thru the process's at hand afforded you, but many can and proof is a great asset in progressing that. Not sure if phone best tool to do that as not had great luck myself with those for tracking noise issues, unless blatantly continuous and loud due to microphone's and noise cancelation in such devices as well as varying quality of devices. Equally recording low frequency sounds is not the easiest and in my case, a field recorder inside a box has done the trick nicely, though it is an area of experimentation/learning for myself and still something that may be a better solution. But for me as I had a field recorder, a large cardboard box was a nice cheap modification that did the trick good enough.
There’s sound dampening as a route. Have you tried ear plugs? It won’t block all frequencies, but might be a low investment, high return area. Or adding background noise? I’ve used brown noise before and it seemed to help. No idea how to help with the low frequencies though. At least, not that wouldn’t make your apartment/flat a problem to those around it.
Sleep is a fundamental need for everyone. For me, it’s migraines that I could say I need to focus on sleep to ameliorate. For you, it’s “the spectrum”. It’s really just being a living being that makes sleep fundamental.
I'm a very light sleeper. The two biggest things that wake me are movement and noise. After recognizing those, tackling those two issues over the last few years has made an enormous positive impact on my mood, productivity, and overall quality of life.
Not going to detail my life's story here but if you live/sleep with a partner who tosses and turns all night and believe that their movement and getting out of bed is bothering you, run an experiment and sleep in a separate bed for a week. If your sleep quality improves, consider upgrading your bed to separate memory foam mattresses, or have a spare bed you can crash in for nights when you REALLY need to sleep. If your SO loves you, they will understand.
White noise. We used to run a box fan all night just for the noise but it turns out that those things use a tremendous amount of electricity. We switched to white noise machines which generate pretty much the same sound but use almost no electricity in comparison. The white noise machines are better than a smartphone because they have bigger speakers that can generate the mid-to-low range noise that phones cannot. Years ago we bought the "Lectrofan" machines on Amazon but those are now crazy expensive. (We paid like $15 back in the day, now they are $43-$50.) Your average HNer could probably rig up something just as effective with an old ipod and set of computer desktop speakers for free.
Earplugs, if you can stand them. I like the Howard Leight MAX earplugs. I buy them in bulk and stash them everywhere around the house, garage, and in my car. For sleeping, I reuse one pair for up to a week.
tried, waxes out my ears and more so - don't work against low frequencies due to wavelength and being hyper sensitive, I kinda feel it a bit more than most.
As another commentator mentioned - Deep Sleep and more so a build up of disturbances of that, stack the issue. Things like stress build up then as well, so all a vicious spiral sometimes as stress don't help at all.
But it's getting better and working on a move to some place more suitable as well as making best of what I can and identify, dampen/block best I can.
My custom made earplugs block less noise than the ones stuffed into the ears. And my understanding is that is to be expected.
I plan to have another pair of customs made and possibly see if I can get some custom ones for AirPod Pro tips. Running in the third world can be a kind of hell with the honking, construction, and fireworks.
> Even had instance of waking up chocking, which was again due to a short loud thud noise disturbance by another flat.
Do you mean choking, as in gasping for air? This is a sign of potential obstructive sleep apnea, and it feels that solving the external issues is a (complicated) bandaid for something you might want to have a doctor check through a sleep study. (If you haven’t done so already.)
If you had more deep sleep, all these noises wouldn't be bothering you so much. IANAD, etc.
Yes and would lean towards apnea, though when it is triggered and identified as triggered by sudden loud noises in the night. The worry of it being addressed as a symptom and not the cause is an easy avenue to slip down with doctors. No instances of it without such prior sudden loud thud sound. Things that go bang in the night, well they ain't ghosts in this case.
But making progress, and yes quality sleep and with that as you say getting enough deep sleep is important and is certainly a factor in many aspects, though not a case of it prevents it, though may make me more able to endure the level perhaps.
This sounds like a way to condition yourself to be unable to sleep except in the most perfect of circumstances; noise level +/- 0.1db, air temperature +/- 0.1C, bed temperature +/- 0.1C, light level +/- whatever.
Equally, noticed changes in flight paths by local airport are seeing some flights use the flight corridor (flying over the country so not originating or departing) at night that also cause resonance in the building.
For my part, I've got insulation, added sound dampening to curtail resonance and some frequencies and sound proofing to best I can. Though low frequency noise is hard to cut out beyond source due to the wavelength and a 100mhz low frequency noise you feel( well I do) and that's a 4 meter long soundwave. So hard to block fully, hence rubber dampening strips to curtail harmonic resonance with the building and in this case, my bedroom which is 4 meters in length.
Sleep is totally very important for physical and mental health and as somebody who is autistic spectrum, it is key to have a routine with sleep playing a huge factor in this.
But I highly recommend recording you night and playing it back and analyzing it with something that you can do spectrum analysis. As seeing a noise trigger you into breathing difficulties, or heart palpitations, or snoring is not good for ones health and being able to identify the issues and address them goes a huge way. Not all issues you can address thru the process's at hand afforded you, but many can and proof is a great asset in progressing that. Not sure if phone best tool to do that as not had great luck myself with those for tracking noise issues, unless blatantly continuous and loud due to microphone's and noise cancelation in such devices as well as varying quality of devices. Equally recording low frequency sounds is not the easiest and in my case, a field recorder inside a box has done the trick nicely, though it is an area of experimentation/learning for myself and still something that may be a better solution. But for me as I had a field recorder, a large cardboard box was a nice cheap modification that did the trick good enough.