Soundproofing already dropped ceiling with recessed lighting?

[BabyWitch]

Hi. This is long, sorry!

We bought a lower ground Victorian terrace conversion which was done about 4 years ago.

Unfortunately, this means that our main bedroom is below our neighbour's kitchen and we can hear everything (low sounds mostly - every footstep, every word, chair scrape, fridge hum and even a mobile vibrating on the table). The fact that there are too many people living there, so there are shifts in the kitchen continuously does not help (including 1am and 4.30am). This is out of our control.

I have been in touch with the landlord and he has put rock wool (?) under their kitchen floor. This has muffled the sound but not lessened it.

We already have a dropped ceiling that houses the recessed lighting. I got a soundproofing guy around and he suggested putting in a layer of soundproofing above the lighting. This would bring the ceiling down by about 3inches, which we can't afford as they are already incredibly low (it meets the doorframe and an average height person can touch the ceiling easily).

So my questions are:
A)What are our options?
B)Can we fill the spaces between the light fittings, above the false ceiling with soundproofing material? Is that safe? Will it reduce sound or would it be a waste of effort? (The bulbs are not contained at all, and the wiring is not encased either. )
C)Is the false ceiling itself adding to the transfer of noise? Would we be better off filling that entire space with soundproofing, then putting the lighting underneath the false ceiling?

TIA. I feel sure that some Mumsnetters must have experienced (and hopefully solved) something similar. Any tips or insight would be greatly appreciated!

when you say recessed lighting, you mean there are holes in the ceiling for the noise to come through, right?

Thanks for replying PigletJohn. Sorry I meant to say I'm not sure what it's called.. The sort of spot lighting that is set directly into false ceiling, with wires hidden above. (Have I just made it sound more complicated than it is?)

downlighters.

not much good as lights, and, as they have a hole in the ceiling, the noise comes through it.

A nice thick plaster ceiling, with no gaps, cuts noise a lot.

I'd move if you can. I'm not sure the landlord would want to invest too much as the entire flooring would need to be revamped to today's acoustic standards which might be costly.

Thanks for your replies.

We own the flat, so we would be paying to soundproof our ceiling, CookieDoughKid. Admittedly, this is the big reason that makes us want to move. But moving isn't cheap (estate agent, solicitor etc) and we're wondering if we invest a bit in soundproofing to make it more livable in.

The lights work for us, PigletJohn, they don't clutter up our small rooms. But, if the gap and the holes are adding to the noise by amplifying it, then we certainly need to reconsider what's there.

Thanks all!

Hmmmmm

is the floor of the kitchen above wood? the rock wool would have helped but for things like footsteps and chair scrapes the vibrations are transferred thru the beams

Your options are to get the people upstairs to get a carpet or lino to lessen the impact on the floor- things on tab;e

the other thing that you could try to to rip out your existing ceiling and replace it - but not have it directly attached to the ceiling above. You can get special hangars which will decouple or you can support from the floor or wall below.