Highly Sensitive People HSP Community Group
The highly sensitive person (or HSP) is someone who cares deeply about everything ... feels emotions with great intensity ... is highly conscientious ... has a rich and complex inner life ... is very intuitive ... is often creative in a variety of ways... is easily overwhelmed and/or overstimulated. A HSP needs lots of quiet time,space, and freedom. If this sounds...
For well over a year we have had noisy neighbors upstairs and next door! I live in an old house that was converted into five apartments. The noisy neighbors live in the apartment above mine and also in the apartment literally near our front door! The walls are very thin and I can hear everything! Both sets of neighbors congregate outside near our door smoking, laughing and carrying on. They get so loud that I have to turn up the tv if I want to hear it and I can't concentrate on reading. The ones upstairs scrape things along the floor and slam cupboard and bedroom doors. They sometimes play their music loudly. The neighbors next to use sing, play guitar and play pounding drums even after 11pm! During the day they have even had their band playing outside in the front yard! We can't move until next year and I feel so stressed with all the noise! I know that complaining wouldn't do any good. That they would just be even louder! They are all 20 somethings who don't care how much noise they make! We don't have a vehicle so I walk or take the bus. I go up to the mall on Fridays and stay quite a few hours. I get out as much as I can but hip/back and leg pain make it hard to walk around too much on some days. There are some days where I just want to go into a soundproof room and never come out! Thanks for listening to my rant!
Have you spoken to these neighbours? Not confronting them, just quietly letting them know they are noisy. Or if you don't feel confident, is there a mediation charity that could help you? .
If you rent, is it through some sort of housing association? Is there a structure, someone you can complain to who enforces rules throughout the building? Could you appeal to your landlord? In fact, complaining can do a lot of good. They could get evicted or forced to keep to whatever tenancy rules they signed up to. I don't know about where you are, but where I am the local council also has powers over antisocial neighbours, so appealing to them could help too. If you call the noise nuisance line, they will come out and measure the noise. If they feel it is necessary they may leave you a decibel meter and tell you to make a diary of every noise occurrence. It is important to do this. It isn't easy, or fast. But if they do get louder the meter will measure that, and you can make a note and inform the hotline. All of that just adds more evidence to your case for them to either respect you and their other neighbours, or be evicted.
Noise nuisance is very serious and can cause physical health problems. You have every right to live peacefully in your home. But you have to stand up for those rights. If you don't, nobody else will.
1. Talk to these people. Somehow. If you don't want to, get an advocate to speak to them.
2. If they don't listen, MOVE. I know it's harsh, but MOVE. Your sanity is most important here.
And don't worry whether you have a good place ready to move into, put your stuff in storage and stay anywhere if necessary. These conditions are so bad for you, regardless of HSP, noise like that causes mental illness, heart attacks, stress, high blood pressure, sleep deprivation...