Neighbour next door causing vibrations in my flat and making me feel unwell. Has anyone experienced this?

[Parsnip74]

Has anyone experienced this? I feel like I'm going insane.

I've lived in my flat for the last 8 years. No issues. It's a one bed flat on first floor. There's an identical flat next door and 2 below us. No one above. Oldish building, timber floors.

Last December new neighbours moved in next door. Shortly after I started getting vibrations into my flat that cause:

-Motion sickness
-Funny feeling in my ears
-Dizziness
-Almost like a seasick feeling
-Heavy chest

It's not neurological as it stops when I step outside. It's definitely tied to their activity. It stops when they're out. I lived with the neighbours below for years and there's no change in their flats so I don't think it's them. Not internal either as I turned off electricity to test, my carbon monoxide detector works fine etc.

2 friends confirmed they feel it too when they're around. I had a chat with the next door and they don't know what might be causing it. They don't seem to have anything unusual in their flat that might cause this.

Has anyone experienced anything like this at all?! What might be causing this?

tumble dryer i bet

Could be tv. Is their tv attached to their wall? I had this issue in old flat - neighbours tv vibrated up wall. Horrible bass noise. Pre them getting it in wall i never cared how loud it was. But the vibration noise was awful. Nothing drowned it out.

Thanks all. I'll get an electrician to take a look. We will turn on appliances one by one as someone suggested. Great idea. The electrician might have other ideas/experience with a similar thing.

I can't get them a new TV but can get them an anti vibration mat. Although not sure whether it would resolve the issue, if it's what's causing it at all! Has anyone used these mats? I'm genuinely thinking about moving out...

I've just had a google and it looks like it's definitely a 'thing' with tv sound bars.

Yes, I got the most horrendous headaches any time this hum noise was on. Took me ages to figure out the trigger. It was the flat above gaming computer. I didn't sleep in my own bedroom for months as he'd game into early hours (didn't hear a peep from him doing it) but the vibrations I felt. It's low frequency noise. There's laws in Germany to prevent it such as putting a something that can cause the vibrations on to a neighbours wall such as a heat pump.

Depending how receptive he is he could also turn down the bass in his tv.

Yep I agree with others that it’s probably a sound bar thing. My dh had one when we first moved in together and I used to feel sick when he watched tv with it on. I ended up throwing it out. My ex also had one that was absolutely ridiculous, it was a big box thing. His pride and joy. He used to turn it up and increase the base. I am convinced it killed my guinea pig who I kept in the room above. I never felt comfortable in that house. Glad he’s an ex. I will never have a sound addition to my tv due to these experiences

You can get an app that will enable you to use your phone as an oscilloscope. I assume many are just set to cover frequencies that humans can hear but I expect there are apps to pick up sound waves that are too high or low a frequency for a humans which is what you need.
This appears to be a free online one (I haven't tried it!)
https://academo.org/demos/virtual-oscilloscope/

It's good that the neighbour sounds willing to help you investigate what the problem might be, but I'm not sure there's much you can do about it even if you pinpoint the problem. They are not doing anything that would be covered by noise or nuisance complaints and it might not ever be detectable or proven that an appliance of theirs is the issue, and they have the right to use it for the intended purpose in their own home.

I read that it can be classed as statutory nuisance, although I can imagine it would be quite hard to measure/prove for the Environmental Health

That isn't a real oscilloscope as there is no transducer/probe to get the signal into the phone.

It's just a software simulation of a scope with simulated input signals.

I would be surprised if it were a sound bar causing the problems. The reason is they don't have great bass. Normally if you want strong bass you use a sub woofer with the soundbar which is a separate speaker specifically designed to generate high bass levels.

You can attenuate the vibrations coupling into the floor by placing the subwoofer on an acoustic mat.

One thing you might try is to search for discoverable bluetooth devices with your phone. Often subwoofers and soundbars link into the TV/each other via bluetooth, and it is possible you could "discover" what devices are present by searching for them if you get close to them with your phone on your side of the party wall.

google :

acoustic dampening mat for subwoofer

A small mat under the subwoofer might be enough, and might even improve the bass performance for them.

Maybe a 3d printer/a few printers? My son has one and it at certain speeds it causes vibrations. I told him he cant use overnight as I can hear it and neighbour might. Usually its pretty quiet not too vibrating but if they have a bigger one or many it could cause it

I had this with a neighbour, turned out it was a positive pressure extractor fan in their loft! They turned it on for showers etc but left it running for hours! Though I was going mad!! It was like a woooop woooop wooooop continuously that I felt inside my ears and made me dizzy and sick. The company refitted it on acoustic matting which has reduced it to a bareable level.

I had a DVD player years ago that would make a vibrating noise when it was left on standby. Even over household noise etc I could always feel and sense that the DVD player was switched on. It would drive me insane and I had to always make sure it was switched off at the mains.

Do they have a heat pump?

I have had unexplained dizziness for the last 5 years. Anything that vibrates sets me off even more. I couldn't cope with dh using the exercise bike on the other side of the house, it would leave me in tears.

This would drive me utter mad.

It’ll be a sound bar on a TV. If my neighbour parks up with their car stereo on full blast, I can actually feel the low frequency vibration rather than hearing anything. It’s very unpleasant and that’s just for a few seconds.

An old building will definitely be less soundproof than a more modern one.

Surely they would have been able to hear that with previous neighbours though and they’ve just moved in.

Have the got a Peloton or bike on a trainer or rollers?
Or rowing machine.

A treadmill would be more thumpy, but the first two are more constant.

Could it be a high powered fan? My upstairs neighbour has Dyson fan and we live in old victorian house and when on high it sounds like a car engine turning over but I can't hear it when I step outside. Very annoying but when they turn to lower setting (at my request!) it doesn't bother me. Go speak to them or get environment officer in when its on.

I hope you can get it sorted OP as I know what its like and can make you feel like you're going mad 💐

To get anyone to take this seriously (landlords or councils), you need data.

• Keep a Log: Note the exact time, duration, and the physical sensation (e.g., "Tuesday, 8:00 PM, floor humming, felt dizzy").
• Use Technology: Download a Seismograph or Vibration Meter app on your smartphone. While not "pro" grade, they can visually graph the movement. If you place the phone on a hard surface and the graph spikes while the neighbor claims nothing is on, you have proof of an external force

The kinds of sensations you are describing - vibration in the ears, feeling in the chest and general anxiety - I had because of my underneath neighbour some years ago. It was a newbuild HA flat and the sound insulation was shit. It was identified as the subwoofers of his sound system and the housing manager came out several times. I would make an agreement with him to keep the base down but it would simply creep up again over the following week. The problem was that he liked the base tone. He told me one day "You dont know what my music means to me" and he simply did not care that he was causing me headaches etc. It was this that led to my having to move out from a secure HA tenancy to a private let. I never forgave my selfish neighbour and found some pretty nasty ways of punishing him after I moved out.

We've had something similar with our neighbour. Strange vibration started coming through our lounge wall( party wall with them) and it made me ill. When we asked the neighbour it turned out it was a fish tank with a small generator thing attached which was vibrating against the wall. It had us driven crazy until we knew what it was

"found some pretty nasty ways of punishing him after I moved out." -

you can't leave us hanging. off-topic, i know, but further details please