From Andrew Chester
Noisy neighbours can be neutralised by a simpler method than that proposed by Frank Fahy and colleagues (Technology, 29 July). For five years in the 1980s I lived in a small terraced house next door to someone who had fixed high-powered speakers on a joint wall and played bursts of loud music at unpredictable intervals.
I knew of the industrial use of antiphase sound, as proposed by the Southampton team for domestic use, but it was not a practical proposition for me. Better insulation in the walls was also not practical – I could sometimes feel bass notes from next door through my hands when they were in contact with the banisters and through the soles of my feet on the floors.
What I did was to use “pink noise”, a random mix of all frequencies which makes a continuous rushing sound. I recorded this onto both sides of a cassette tape. Using discarded stereo equipment I then projected the pink noise at the joint wall as close to the site of the speakers on the other side as possible. I insulated the backs of the speakers to minimise the projection of the “pink noise” back into my own home.
In this way I got relief from my noisy neighbours almost as soon as I had thought of the idea, at very little cost. Pink noise is unlikely to be perceived as a counter-intrusion, even by the most bullying neighbour. The reason it works seems to be as much psychological as physical: the brain learns to ignore a continuous sound, and if this masks an irritating beat then the result is peace.
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