Do you really get used to road noise?

[Noodles17]

Hi,

My parents are moving to be closer to family and after a shaky start, think they may have found a house that works for them. Nice, well equipped area, close (but not too close 😉) to me, decent size house and garden, so doesn't feel like a big downsize, which is something they were worried about. Plus it's under budget by quite a bit, which is a huge, unexpected bonus! The only real sticking point is the road noise. The village is just off a very busy main road. Not so close you'd worry about pollution, but close enough to hear a constant whoosh, only in the garden, but a garden is very important to them, as is general peace and quiet and they do sit in their garden a lot.

I think because it ticks so many other boxes, they're wondering if this is something they'd get used to and perhaps not really notice in time - almost like white noise.

If you do live or have lived somewhere near a noisy road, did you get used to it or do you regret it?

TIA

I never did and hate road noise, but plenty of others aren’t bothered

How far from the main road op, this is key.

Lived on a main road in London for 7 years. When I moved back home I couldn’t sleep through the silence/dawn chorus.

Very honestly i didnt and i lived there over 5 years!!!

It was main road with buses and single glazed windows i slept with esr plugs and spent a lot of time out of the house.

Their house is off the main road though so i imagine you could get used to that

I think it can depend - if it's just a constant hum of cars driving at relativly steady speed it should be ok - but my parents live near a set of traffic lights and becasue it's constant slowing down/speeding up, beeping and at least 1 once a month a crash it's get harder to get used to!

I know I never noticed it as a child when I lived by a fairly busy road in a village. We were also quite close to an airport and I never noticed the planes.

I think I have quite a high tolerance for that sort of noise though, sort of constant or low level white noise. Maybe because I grew up with it? I am never annoyed by sounds of wind, washing machines, dryers etc but these things all get on my DP's nerves and I don't think he'd ever get used to them.

Are they generally annoyed by this 'category' of noise?

I lived on a pretty busy road for 10 years. It was a blessing and a curse, because it meant that I was really really close to local shops and excellent transport links, which for me as a young person living alone was a delight. I didn't mind the hubbub and neighbourhood noise.

However, in the summer it was tough because if I had my windows open the first cars / vans in the mornings would wake me up and the air didn't smell that fresh. Also in the winter it seemed louder because of the wet wheels on the roads.

I have moved to a very quiet cul de sac in the countryside to raise my daughter and I do really really appreciate the quiet. I think the previous house suited my lifestyle as a younger person, but as I got older I valued other things like having a quiet garden and being safer away from traffic.

We live rurally, but just down the drive from an A road (60mph), but not a very busy one. Honestly, road noise was a big concern and a lot of our house search was to avoid road and other noise. You can hear the road anywhere on the property (outside, not inside) but you can't see it (there are 2 field between us and the road though the drive turns out on to it). I really thought it would be an issue, but I don't notice it now. That said, it's not a busy road. But it is fast and you can hear cars when they go past. But it's not the M25.

Think of the millions of people who live under flight paths, next to railway lines and within hearing distance of busy roads. Once the brain gets used to a certain type of noise it will filter it out as unimportant and you don't notice it.

Conversely if you attach an emotional importance to a noise (wind chimes or dogs barking for example) the brain will amplify it - that's why some people get so upset about a particular sound.

Just thought of osmething else - I once had a flat near railway lines, and never really noticed the noise...until they but the tree outside the flat down! Then it was like the trains were thundering through the room!

I notice you said a large graden and it well under budget, so if they do find they have issues with noise a few trees do a much better job of blocking noise than I would have expected!

I’ve lived next to the main road through our village for 25 years and I have never got used to it. In fact it’s getting busier each year and the older I get the more I despise it.
I’m desperate to move somewhere quieter. I certainly wouldn’t choose to live next to a busy road the older I get. I crave peace, quiet and a lovely peaceful garden to sit in.

Yes you can . Noise of some sort is largely inescapable and I'd rather a constant hum than intermittent trains where I'd be constantly waiting for the next one

I find consistent road noise soothing, not loud truck or revving cars or that loud motor bike noise but yeah I like it lying in bed going to sleep

Me, no. I cannot cope with background road nice that is constant at all.

For me...no.

I live on a rat run and it still drives me insane 3 years on.

We pretty much now live in the back of the house.

Master bedroom at the front is now our guest room and we barely spend any time in the lounge.

Cant wait to move when we can afford it.

I live parallel to the main road & I've totally adapted to it. Its just like white noise now & doesn't bother me in the slightest. The road was closed recently & the silence was weird. I was glad when it reopened

I used to live parallel to a train line, a couple of minute's walk from the station (so trains were stopping/starting about 150 metres from my window every 20 minutes, all day). The cross-country train also passed through at high speed a few times a day.

I got used to it really quickly, and I'm incredibly noise sensitive (autistic). Clearly DH did too because one day, when we'd lived there for about 7 years, he heard a train passing and asked me what the noise was 😂

I lived on a main road (with buses) for 10 years. The noise didn't bother me, but I did have a back bedroom.

The filth however was something else. I'd never live on a main road again for that reason. Walls became sooty and grey very quickly, and I didn't even have the front windows open all that often.

We are close-ish to a busy road and I don’t notice it but the house I grew up in looked directly on to one and so I don’t really know any different tbh. It is a personal tolerance thing, just how close is the house and how much can you hear in the garden?

I did. As a student, I lived on a very busy B road, often used as a back route for goods vehicles coming across the city towards the motorway network. The house was only single glazed, and when a big lorry went past at speed (which they frequently did overnight), the windows literally rattled.

I didn't sleep a wink for the first 2 nights, and after that, I never noticed it again.

Similarly, I now live close to a major urban A road, under the flight path to a big airport. Lots of transport noise, not an issue for me at all.

Some people are very much more sensitive to noise than me though!

I've lived within earshot of a busy motorway and it wasn't a problem as it was just a steady low noise that was barely noticeable in the house.

I've also lived on a much smaller road that didn't have much traffic at all, but was on a bus route. The first bus of the morning woke me up every time.

We’ve lived in the a38. It is very busy. After awhile we only noticed it if there was an accident - because it was so suddenly quiet. We are now on a busy town street, again we only
notice out of the ordinary noise such as back firing exhaust or racing motorbikes. Everything else is just a background blur, very easy to ignore and totally unheard inside with decent double glazing - ours is a good ten years old and blocks everything.

Used to live 2 doors down from a busy road and it didn't bother me. However when we were selling the house we had so many ppl giving feedback that the road noise was an issue for them. This annoyed me as we weren't even on the main road and plenty of houses that were seemed to be selling fine!

New home is much quieter and I do appreciate hearing birdsong .

They didn't like or couldn't afford the house, and had to make up something to get the EA to leave them alone.

You do get used to regular noise of any sort. I grew up very close to the runway at Filton where Concorde was built and tested... and that was LOUD!