By Chuck Woodbury
editor
In this day and age of RV parks with tightly packed campsites, unwanted noise can be irritating, or worse keep you awake at night.
Here are a few ways to get rid of unwanted noise or at least mask it.
•If the noise is from your neighbors, ask them politely to talk softer or turn down their music (or outdoor TV). If the noise is well beyond what should be acceptable, notify the park management or camp hosts.
If that fails, here are a few ways to mask unwanted noise:
•Close your windows if you don’t need them open. Or at least close them on the side of your RV where the sound is originating.
•Wear earplugs. This is probably best only at bedtime. Alas, some people don’t like anything in their ears, so this option won’t work for them. Wax earplugs that mold into your ear work best.
•In the summer, use your air conditioner to mask outdoor sounds. Other times, use its fan-only option. An overhead exhaust fan will also mask some noise.
•A portable fan can also provide white noise.
•If you enjoy sleeping to the sound of a TV or music, that can drown out other sounds. Wear earphones at night or even other times.
•There are many apps, some free, that work on your mobile phone to provide soothing sounds to mask noise. I have two on my iPhone —Sleep Pillow and Sleep Bug. Most free apps will include the sound of a pounding surf, gentle rain or a crackling fireplace. Pay a few dollars and get more exotic sounds. One night I overhead my neighbor’s app: it sounded like his RV was infested with crickets.
White noise machines are available at big box stores and online. I use one from LectroFan that provides 20 different sound combinations, all based on either white noise or the sound of a fan. I’m a light sleeper: the sound from the machine has helped me sleep soundly many a noisy night.
If you have other methods of combating unwanted sound, please leave a comment. I’m sure there are many ways that I didn’t mention here.
##RVT761 #RVDT1225
Manufacturers should offer more rigs with dual pane windows. Acrylic dual panels are lighter than single-pane glass windows and offer both noise reduction and heat/cold insulation. Most folks report little or no condensation either. With increased usage, production would ramp up and prices would go down. There are improved coatings available now to protect against the feared “streaking” or “clouding”. Another benefits is no broken glass to deal with in any kind of an accident.
One of the very few benefits of being quite deaf. I just don’t hear noises (even loud) outside of my RV. OTOH, there are numerous occasions where that’s not such a positive.
Funny, but we had a similar neighbor when I lived in Brooklyn, NY. My family and a few friends were enjoying a nice summer evening, grilling and talking. Suddenly a nearby neighbor started playing hard rock music very loudly. We couldn’t even hear each other talk. I asked the neighbor to lower the volume so we can enjoy the evening. They turned it up louder. We finally went inside and had to close the windows to dampen the sound.
Well next time they did this, we were prepared. My husband loved all music but had a lot of classical. I had quite a collection of foreign music. We got out the boombox and started with the William Tell Overture blasting, accompanied with us adding our voices to the loudest parts. We followed this with the 1812 Overture. Then I brought my collection of Native American drummers, African drummers and Taiko drummers of Japan. Neighbors finally got the hint and lowered their music and we did also.
After asking them politely and they refuse… a outside loud speaker attached to a fire/police siren/pa should work pretty good… maybe quieten down the noisy neighbors. Or playing Reveille at 6am would give them a taste of what you had to deal with!
There are noise-cancelling earbuds. They might not cancel 100% of the noise, but it might let you dial down how much white noise you need to completely mask it.
Other creative solutions that I wouldn’t try, as it would likely bother other innocents:
1- Put an earworm song on autorepeat on your outdoor speakers. “It’s a Small World After All” should do it.
2- Capture the offending noise with a microphone, process it with your computer to about a 1/4 second delay, then play that back on your outdoor speakers.
Outside tv are horrible Really who thought that was a good idea. We all need to be respectful of our campsite neighbors. I have found most campers are only thinking of them selves. Then while on the subject how about those camping fire rings that mainly produce smoke. All of this makes camping not much fun
I’m in with Tommy Molnar “….biggest argument in favor of boon docking there is” on this one. We don’t have I-phone or do apps, we leave home to get rid of all the modern niceties’ that most folks have around to run their lives, so that isn’t an option for us. Boondocking, and carefully selecting Parks or campgrounds who police the ignorant, and inconsiderate is our MO. When that gets to be to much of a chore, I’ll be doing more BBQ’ing on the lovely deck at home. But just to add to the matter at hand, we have been using Solitudes tapes for many years, There’s dozens of them out there featuring everything from thunderstorms to paddlers on a lake with loons buzzing around. If and when the going gets tough and the inconsiderates bug us with their noise and rowdiness we turn on the Solitudes tape, have a good sleep and move on in the morning, – if the “problem” next door doesn’t.
I have used: https://earplugsonline.com/ for years and they are the absolute best over every other brand or style.
I originally started using “White Noise” on my phone for tinnitus, but it is wonderful for drowning out real noise as well. There is a free version, but spring for the Pro version. There are so many sound files available, with more released regularly, you are sure to find a long list of favorites! Add to that, the phone then doubles as a bedside clock (different number colors, different light intensity) you can’t go wrong! It has been softly putting me to sleep for years now.
We’ve used a Sleep Easy Sound Conditioner (on Amazon) for 3 years now and it works great for half the price of the Lectofan.
UPDATE: Right after writing this Sleep Easy recommendation above, I came across a LectroFan Micro sound machine Amazon.com: LectroFan Micro2 Guaranteed Non-Looping Sleep Sound Machine and Bluetooth Speaker with White Noise, Fan Sounds, Ocean Sounds for Sleep, Relaxation, Privacy, Study, and Audio Streaming, Black : Electronics
that is far better. It’s super compact & has many sound choices. It’s also rechargeable, & doubles as a bluetooth speaker. If we’re boondocking, it runs all night on the battery, & recharges during the day when we’re running our inverter. After 4 years, the battery is still strong & easily lasts thru 8-9 hours of sleep. It’s so small it can fit in your pocket or purse, but can put out a very loud noise if needed. It has given us many nights of comfortable sleep in strange, noisy environments, in the last 4 years of our fulltime travels
You can download an MP3 file from BoomBuster.com that masks unwanted noise and play it on a mobile device or on your RV sound system. The download is under $12 and they have a money back guarantee… so it’s risk free!
This is the biggest argument in favor of boondocking there is.
I agree, Tommy!!! — Chuck