They are driving me CRAZY! If it's not one side with the thumping, banging music, it's the other. It just makes me want to curl up in a ball and cry. My home should be the place where I can get some peace from all of the relentless noises, not the worst of them all!

Just got back from DC, and it seems the reclusive neighbor has gotten a new girlfriend. They seem to enjoy having sex and arguments at the same time, and trying to drown out the whole thing with excessively loud music. My husband just called the police after I asked them politely to turn it down, and while they agreed in a friendly way, it seemed to only get louder. I'm trying to study and do homework, and my brain is mush. The cops seem to have done the trick for now... but how long before the volume creeps up again, or the other side gets in on the act?

It's going to be two years before we can get a place of our own with no shared walls. I feel absolutely sick. This is bad enough for my husband, who ISN'T sound-sensitive. For me, it's unbearable. :(

Hanging heavy drapes, quilts, decorative tapestries and blankets on the walls can cut down noise. So can placing bookshelves and other big furniture pieces against those walls.

Asking the neighbours to make sure speakers are not against the walls or on the floor might work, if they aren't jerks. Give them some thick cardboard or little rugs to put speakers on to cut down on the sound.

Sometimes just inviting a neighbour over to hear for themselves will make them realize how loud the music is.

Good luck!

Inviting them over to hear how loudly sounds come through would be a GREAT idea for the one side... since I do like things quiet, I don't make much sounds myself so they may not be aware. I've gotten to be pretty good friends with the girl after we discovered we're in the same class. They were more often the loud ones up until this weekend, but I guess the guy on the other side is trying to impress his new lady with thumping bass. o_O

It's difficult because I don't want to be the unreasonable one here... but when I want my music loud, I use headphones. The beat coming through the wall tonight from the scary neighbor was making the wine glasses on the kitchen counter clink together, it was vibrating so hard.

Thank you for the suggestions! :)

Ahhhhh the bane of my existence!!! I can play my own loud music all day long. But the second I hear that deep bass shaking my walls from a neighbor or from the park next-door to our apartment complex, I get into kill and/or panic attack mode. I can't deal with feeling our walls shake at all.

Noise issues in shared space were always one of my biggest problems. It won't make them go away, but a big box fan might produce enough white noise for you to sleep.

If you can afford it, you can decorate with a lot of fabric, as RedHairedWitch suggested. If you can't afford it, you can still do it, it just won't look as nice. The more you put up, the quieter the room will be.