To think wtf do people who live in a semi are thinking when they buy a sound bar for their tv

[JacobReesMogadishu]

So I live in an old semi, a halls adjoining one. So our living rooms are both on the far side of the house from each other.

Neighbour has recently got a sound bar, it’s in his bay window so not even on the wall nearest our house.

I can feel it through my whole house. Not hear it, feel it. I’m currently upstairs in my bedroom on the furthest side of the house from him and it’s making me feel sick. It’s like that throbbing you get on a ferry.

I’ve mentioned it to him, he said he was sorry. Said he was surprised I could feel/notice it. Said he’d tweak the bass. Said he’d watch tv with the living room door shut. It’s made no difference.

When he turns the tv off it’s like a switch has been flicked inside my head. The change in sensation is unreal.

He said he bought one which the sales person said would properly reverberate so it would be immersive. But it’s reverberating through my whole bloody house.

He’s obviously done as much as he can/will do. Is there anything I can do for soundproofing? Well it’s not really sound proofing I need, it’s vibration type proofing. I want to move it’s so bad. Dh thinks I’m bonkers, he doesn’t seem to notice it as much.

Whats a halls adjoining semi?

So the front doors are next to each other in the middle of the house. They’re meant to be better for not hearing noise as the only adjoining rooms are hall, landing, kitchen, bathroom.

You're probably more tuned into it because it's annoyed you.

It does sound like it's causing you an abnormal amount of bother. I don't think anyone can expect that a sound bar would cause so much disruption.

I accept it could be that. But I genuinely feel like it’s throbbing in my head. I don’t know how to untune from it. 🤷‍♀️😁

I can totally relate to this! We live in a terraced and one side have an alleyway between houses but bedrooms joined above.
They have just got a sound bar and every time they have a film in the bass is so loud and my whole house literally shakes. It makes me feel sick. We have an extension in 2nd floor and can here it booming in there. We tried speaking to neighbour who we get on with. They got an acoustic mat. We can still here it/ feel it. It’s awful!!! Have spoken again, if they can’t work out how to turn it down we’ll have to ask them to unplug it. Honestly why would you do that when you are joined to both neighbours??

How awful - I am noise sensitive and this would drive me mad (and make me really anxious). I have been on the receiving end of a serious noise issue which required support from the local council noise team. I would suggest speaking to your neighbour and politely making it clear that you find the level of noise disturbing and ask that he reconsiders the volume / other options. If nothing changes, then tell him you will be asking the local council noise team to monitor the noise and determine whether or not it is reasonable. I couldn’t live with it so sadly this would be my last resort. In normal times they would come to your property and measure the noise, though in covid times I’m not sure. There will be a solution but hugs in the meantime.

I might ask next door if they could get an acoustic mat, or offer to buy them one. Though it sounds like it might not help. At least my house isn’t shaking. Sounds awful @Siennabear

We're semi detached and have a sound bar... But we're not your neighbours. We don't have it for bass and have those settings turned down, but it's great for DH who has hearing loss as it filters out voice from other noise etc. I've been in next door (pre covid) while our TV has been on with DH watching, and you can't hear/feel it at all. We're open plan living room/hallway and joined by hallway.

Your neighbours just need to change their settings. I can't believe anyone would want to watch everyday telly with bass blaring tbh,surely just for films etc. Whether they want to or not is a different matter though.

I don’t think the council would be interested as I genuinely can’t hear it. It’s not a noise/volume issue at all. It’s a bass, vibration, reverberation issue. Like having a lorry Parked outside your house all The time with the engine running and you can “feel” it in your head/stomach.

Yes, he did say he doesn’t always have the sound bar on, it depends what they’re watching. But it seems to be every weekend evening.

Christ that sounds like a nightmare OP. Some people are so unbelievably selfish.

If your dh isn't bothered by it I wonder if it's a particular frequency that it's vibrating at that bothers you. I think everyone has a frequency that hurts their head, but it's different for different people. My parents used to live on a main road and buses stopped in traffic jn first gear used to make me want to shout as I felt that my head would explode. Jn that case I think that the mat would help as it mughtt change the frequency

It's not about the sound bar, it's about the volume of it. It's quite possible to have one and not piss off your (highly strung) neighbour

That's awful, I hope it gets resolved soon.

I live in a semi and our neighbour knocked into the joining chimney breast and put a tv in it, we could hear the tv in every room each time they had it on, sometimes it would be until 4am and their excuse for us hearing it was 'sounds travels at night'. Thankfully they have moved and we have a nice new neighbour who didn't put the tv in the same place!

Trouble is bass has long wavelengths so can actually be louder next door or outside than in the room it’s in as the peak of the waves is longer than the room. We live in a detached house but I can hear the bloke across the road’s subwoofer when it’s quiet I’m my house. A couple of summers ago the bass from the pub’s disco was reverberating around our front room - the pub is 1/2 a mile away.

@Mmsnet101 is it pretty obvious how to turn the bass down?? My neighbour said he can’t work out how to do it....

I totally know what you mean—I get a headache and sore teeth from bass like that, I would rather be right next to a screaming noise than deal with the vibrations. Tell him that the bass needs to go all the way down, it’s unlivable.

My neighbour has the same OP. She acknowledges the noise is loud for us as her speakers are against our lounge wall. She says this whilst smiling. Our floors sometimes vibrate. It’s hellish.

@siennabear it'll be different for each one but our remote has on/off, volume and then buttons for voice +/- /bass +/-/music +/- etc which changes the settings so should be fairly straightforward!

I feel your pain, I've live next door to gamers who like it loud. The only way I can describe it is like nipping to the loo whilst at the cinema and walking past a screen when it's an action packed moment, it's loud as fuck but muffled.

Is it the kind with a separate 'woofer'? If so, see if you can persuade them to disconnect the woofer.

That’s interesting about bass being long wavelengths so can be worse further away. Because I can’t feel it in the landing or bathroom Even though they’re closer than the bedroom where I can feel it.

@Pelleas

Is it the kind with a separate 'woofer'? If so, see if you can persuade them to disconnect the woofer.

Yes, he bought a 3 woofer rather than a 5 woofer model as the sales assistant said the 5 woofer one would be too much for the size of room. So thank God for that.

Must admit I’m tempted to get a 5 woofer one and see how they like it (joke).

Oh my god, this would be an absolute nightmare for me. I've never heard of a sound bar but it sounds like an evil device. How would that not annoy your neighbours.

It sounds like a combination of house layout plus your own sensitivity to certain frequencies. Certainly sound bars aren't an issue for most people living in semi detached houses.

I used to live in a single brick hall to hall terrace and noise from the neighbour with an adjoining hall was very noticeable in the front bedroom but not the back one or indeed downstairs - it seemed to echo up the hallway and bounce into the front bedroom.

Also you say your dh isn't bothered by it.

So it seems that maybe it genuinely isn't obtrusive either to your neighbour or to others in your household. However you are bothered by it so do keep approaching your neighbour as to how to resolve this, whether by sound mat or some other means.