How To Reduce Noise When Living On A Busy Street

Written by Michael Harris
Last updated

Living on a busy street can be quite challenging at times especially if you live in a big city. Loud cars, dogs barking, neighbors arguing, and other hums and vibrations can be intrusive and disruptive, making it difficult to get a good night’s sleep or to concentrate when working from home or studying.

If you are struggling with unwanted sounds from a busy street, in this post we’re going to cover 10 ways how you can help reduce the noise making it into your home that won’t break the bank.

Where Is The Noise Coming From?

Before we work on the solution, it is essential to find out where the most noise is coming from.

Is it the windows, the doors or maybe through the walls?

Figuring out the source will help us prioritize what areas we need to work on soundproofing and we won’t waste time and money trying to fix something that isn’t broken.

1. SoundProof Curtains For The Windows

If you live on a busy street, you know the drill: constantly honking horns, squealing brakes, and general traffic noise can be incredibly distracting and disruptive, not to mention incredibly loud.

The good news is that there are some simple steps you can take to reduce the noise from a busy street.

One of the most effective ways to soundproof your home is to install soundproof curtains for your windows. These curtains are made of thick, heavyweight fabric that helps to block out external noise.

In addition, they are often lined with a layer of insulation, which further reduces the amount of noise that enters your home.

Fortunately, these types of heavy soundproof curtains don’t cost a fortune. They come in a wide variety of different colors and styles so you can choose one that will fit well with your interior design.

2. Use Window Weatherstrips

Our next tip is to ensure you have window weatherstrips installed. By sealing up any gaps around your windows, you can help to block out some of the unwanted noise from outside.

In addition, using weatherstripping around your windows can also help to improve the energy efficiency of your home, so it’s a win-win!

If you’re looking for a quick and easy way to reduce noise pollution, give window weatherstripping a try. You don’t need an expert to use them all you have to do is, measure your windows, cut and paste the strips accordingly.

Purchase Acoustic Thermal Insulated Windows

If you have the right budget, one thing you can do is to get soundproof windows, These are windows created to block out noises. They really work but a bit pricey for my liking, However, with the right budget it is a way to go.

3. Work on your door

There is only so much you can do to reduce noise coming through the door, however, I find that using some of the following things will dramatically lower the sound waves.

Try Soundproof Door weatherstrip kit

These are the same as the window strips, the only difference is they are designed for doors. Alternatively, you can purchase only one long weatherstripping kit and use it for both the windows and the doors.

Place a Noise Blocking Door Sweep

Noises and sounds can easily slide through the gap at the bottom of the door. One thing you can do to prevent that is to install a door sweep

Cover the door with Blankets

This is not the best option but it works especially if you don’t have any money to sound dampen your room. You can just place blankets to close off the gaps and create a second layer.

Get an Acoustically Treated Door

As expected the doors are custom made for lowering noise levels. They are quite expensive but worth every penny.

4. Sound Dampen the Walls

Even the tiniest cracks on the wall can cause chaos in terms of the amount of noise and bass that can come in. Walls are harder to soundproof but one of the essential areas to cover.

Fortunately, there are a few cost-effective you can go about lowering bass noise and sounds from the streets.

Use Bass Traps

Often if you live on a busy road, I am certain you often hear some vibration like sounds from passing cars. The sound is low-frequency so it travels far.

One way to prevent it by making use of bass traps, these are designed to absorb some of the bass sounds coming through the walls.

They are simple, all you have to do is put one on every corner of your walls.

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By installing these, you will dramatically reduce some of the low-frequency sounds.

Build a Room within a Room

Sure, this is quite costly but it’s the most effective thing you can do to soundproof your walls. Building a room within a room simply means adding new layers of drywall to the walls using a noise-proofing sealant as adhesive.

This is very effective because the new layer of drywall will block out most noises coming through especially if your current walls are thin.

The good news is, you don’t have to hire someone for the job as you can do it all by yourself. All you need is to get some drywall and use a noise-proofing adhesive like Green Glue.

There are a lot of tutorials on youtube to apply these. including this one.

Acoustic Foam Panels

Now, depending on the place you trying to sound dampen, you can use studio acoustic panels to help lower some of the noise. These are probably not as effective as using green glue but if you are looking for something cheaper and temporarily then this may be a viable option.

If you would like to know how to hang these see this guide on mounting foam without using glue.

5. Install some Carpets

Anything you can do is to install carpets in your house to help balance the sound levels and prevent sounds bouncing on the floor creating the echo effect, which makes the outside noise even louder.

6. White noise Sounds

Another great thing you can do is to get a white noise machine and play white noise calm relaxing sounds when the external sounds are disturbing you.

7. Plant/Purchase Sound-absorbing Plants

Now, this is more focused on the long-term because these plants take a while to grow alternatively you can purchase them and install them on your backyard or where you hear the most street noise.

8. Earplugs

You can wear earplugs whenever you feel distracted or when trying to sleep. This may not be the best option but will certainly help if you are looking for a quick solution.

Conclusion on street noise reduction

Everyone deserves to live in a quiet peaceful home and that is why I decided to help you get rid of the unwanted noise/ I hope this article helped.

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About The Author

Hey I'm Michael and I run this website. I'm a professional voiceover artist and in my search to create a silent studio I've become obsessed with soundproofing and things being quiet. Thanks for visiting and if you have any question get in touch.