Hi All, I have lived in PCW for about 5 years now. My backyard faces dessau which has a brick wall (which is a topic of its own.) along dessau. The last year or so the traffic noise has increased so much that i'm losing sleep. Is there any one else in the neighborhood having the same problem with the noise? I know I made the mistake by buying a home along a busy street but when I first looked at the property the traffic was not as bad as it is today.
KC
Wow, sorry to hear about your dilemma. (O.K. I'm sorry, no more puns...) Well, I was going to suggest Active Noise Cancelling, but while the technology appears abundant for headphones, I didn't see much on the web for whole house or even whole room. Then I thought about suggesting trees or shrubs outside to help break up or block the noise, but I read that landscaping is not very effective (unless it is 100' thick and very dense...probably not enough backyard for that). Most of what I did find seemed to center on the windows. Doublepane windows, a second interior window, or a very thick and heavy curtain/drape seemed to be be common suggestions. I've seen theaters use the heavy drapes on the walls between rooms to act as sound baffles, but I'm not sure how you would feel about a wall of drapes (seems like they would catch lots of dust and then you couldn't sleep for sneezing all night). There is a lot of companies selling products for sound panels and 'decoupled walls', but these sound as though they could get pricey. Beyond that, there was the option for masking the noise with 'white noise generators' or natural sounds like waterfalls, but even if the noise is more soothing than the traffic noise, it is still more noise. I hope you can find something that helps!
