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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to get really p**sed off with my elderly neighbours?!

33 replies

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 09:33

seriously ive really been very understanding but this is becoming a bloody joke!............................
i live in a semi and my elderly neighbours lounge and my lounge are seperated by a very thick 1920s built wall,anyhooow since we moved in 5 years ago their tv has got louder and louder and louder,
we could always hear it in our lounge (great when you have a blinding headache and need to chill out!!)) but its just got ridiculously loud now to the point that i have to struggle to remember which programme im actually watching,mine or theirs!
the thing that really pi$$es me off is that althought the guy is hard of hearing he does have a bloody hearing aid that he never turns on!!!!
arggggggggggggggggggh!!!
seriously am i being unreasonable?????!!

OP posts:

imnot27 · 08/03/2007 09:45

No, you are not being unreasonable. Just ring social services, and get them put in a home!! sorry, being mean, but I know how annoying noisy neighbours are. I would say, go round again and ask if they can move their tv. Also, get a builder round to put up some soundproofing, makes an AMAZING difference, is quite cheap. Tell him to take his time, could take at least a week, lots of hammering and banging on next doors wall unfortunately...

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 09:48

hehehe! i like the idea of a home!
seriously even if i did get a builder round they prob wouldnt hear the bloody banging!!!

OP posts:

imnot27 · 08/03/2007 09:58

Hmmm, how about getting the number of one of their children/carers, and asking them to help? or, if you started tunneling under their foundations, their houde will collapse and they will have to move to a bungalow and you will have a detached house? Might work... But we had sound proofing in our old terrace and was great!

edam · 08/03/2007 10:00

Have you told them how noisy their TV is? They may not realise esp. if they have been losing their hearing. Tell them and ask them to move the set. People don't turn their aids on because they amplify all sound so can be quite uncomfortable. But maybe your neighbour could look into headphones for watching the TV.

KathyMCMLXXII · 08/03/2007 10:01

Have you tried talking to them?
...oh....might not be so easy!

But do they even realise? They might just be thinking that young people today always mumble and that their telly must be on the blink.

EmilyDavidson · 08/03/2007 10:03

Its give and take with neighbours really. You can hear them ,but they can hear you too

Bozza · 08/03/2007 10:09

I think you maybe need to talk to them. My grandparents had this problem at one point years ago with their neighbours. But I don't know how it resolved itself because the same lady now does my Grandad's (he's 94)shopping and other chores. He really is extremely deaf (all those years spent in a woollen mill) and has the TV mega loud even though he is wearing an hearing aid and still has the subtitles on. It has got worse recently because he has got a new TV with greater volume capacity. When we go on a Saturday teatime we wait until he is out of the room and then turn the volume down - it really is unbearable but I am sure he doesn't realise how loud it is.

Ali5 · 08/03/2007 10:13

We have this problem too, but luckily our neighbour knows how deaf she is. When we moved in, her hubby was still alive and he was even deafer than she was but watched the telly in another room that didn't back onto our lounge. Now, she watches tv in the room adjacent to our lounge and it's really loud. Not a problem when Corrie is on as she watches it too .
I'd talk to them, chat over the garden fence kind of thing because perhaps they don't realise how loud it is.
Hearing aids are generally designed to help in conversation not amplify the telly.

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 11:06

thanks people, i have talked to them several times! i did contact the local council at one point but they asked me to keep a log of times/dates etc but i didnt want to do that. i would feel awful keeping a log of a couple of oaps tv habits!!
emily, not much for my neighbours to hear from my side,even if he wasnt deaf!

OP posts:

sunnysideup · 08/03/2007 11:08

I see how annoying this is, but it gives me a real nostalgic feeling about my old grandad who died last year, who was deaf for years, never turned his hearing aid on (or wore his glasses, though he only had one eye and was very short sighted in his good eye!) or wore his false teeth He had six children, and when we went round for family get togethers the TV would be BLARING, his kids and grandchildren would all be talking loudly over one another and laughing raucously..............well, safe to say that his neighbours have probably never missed him since he died I guess

My grandad was given (after his neighbours complained about the TV) some clever headphones which I guess are digital; you sit watching the TV with them on and can hear perfectly without the telly being loud. He never wore these either! But maybe if your neighbours would get some of these it might save the situation? If you approach them kindly and say you understand they can't hear it and have they ever considered these headphones to help them?

Might be worth a try?

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 11:19

thanks for that sunny,i do remember my nan wearing headphones to listen to the tv,not because she was hard of hearing but because we all talk so much in my family!!

OP posts:

HappyDaddy · 08/03/2007 11:27

Our neighbours are always shagging, we can hear it through the wall, clear as day. We have to put the telly up to block it out!

UnquietDad · 08/03/2007 11:28

HappyDaddy - try a round of applause when they finish!

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 11:36

lucky neighbours!

OP posts:

HappyDaddy · 08/03/2007 11:40

yes, lucky them.

a round of applause is a good idea. A bit off putting when you can hear "that's it, oh god" while you're trying to eat your dinner.

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 11:41

they must be a young couple? not been together long? not bored of each other yet? not married???!!!!!!!

OP posts:

AitchTwoOh · 08/03/2007 11:46

smeeinit,
you could ask them to move the telly, i think. or offer to do it for the and while you're there rejig the sound so that the bass is turned down and the treble up. then it'll be less boomy through your wall. also make sure the telly is on soething like a bit of carpet, as the sound will bounce through floorboards if they have them (i realise most old gimmers don't though).
our former neighbour was deaf, and he said that he could actually hear the tv better with the bass turned low, he just hadn't realised it was possible.

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 11:53

good idea aitch. i could maybe drop the tv accidently on purpose while i was moving it! i am very clumsy!

OP posts:

themoon66 · 08/03/2007 11:56

Oh dear. My dad used to do this. He died two years ago though.

His telly was so loud it made my ears feel like they were bleeding. We all used to say 'god dad, think of the poor neighbours'. But he was in denial about just how loud it was.

HappyDaddy · 08/03/2007 11:58

They are middle aged, married 30 odd years. They are great neighbours.

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 12:00

theres hope for us all then happydaddy!

OP posts:

suedonim · 08/03/2007 12:03

We had neighbours like that, HD. For some bizarre reason we could hear their bedroom antics emanating from our chimney. It was most offputting when trying to concentrate on the news. They had two small children inc a weeks-old baby when they moved in but were at it like rabbits from the start. And they were as prim and proper as you can imagine when we spoke but her language coming out of our fireplace would even make Charley Gibbons blench!

ShowOfHands · 08/03/2007 12:04

My neighbours are elderly, have their TV ear-shatteringly loud and are also two of the filthiest people you could imagine.

They're forever slapping up against the adjoining wall screaming 'harder, do it, yes' and other far more untypable phrases. All sorts of creaks- them, the bed, whatever furniture I assume they are precariously perched upon.

I'm torn between being very pleased for them and horrified at the sheer volume of it all.

Maybe they think they are whispering sweet nothings...

suedonim · 08/03/2007 12:16

ROFL!

Original poster

smeeinit · 08/03/2007 12:19

ewwww!

OP posts:

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