How loud is too loud?

[Ventenio]

I think the noise pollution here is really off-the-charts and I can only shake my head.  The other day, VIP bus, very long trip, crazy music almost the entire time.  Then VIP bus parks outside my rented condo and the noise was insane until 11 p.m. when I feel asleep.  woke up at 6 and the noise went from 6:30 to 9.  Dogs are another thing.  Quiet, then new dog shows up and goes crazy every day.  

 

I've come to expect some crazy noise, and I know loud noises scare ghosts and whatever, but it is pretty "funny" that it appears nobody thinks someone might not like it.  i'm moving in a few months and I can only guess what the next noise issue will be.  

 

Does everyone have similar stories?    I know I could live in the middle-of-nowhere, but I would rather some noise and be close to things I buy on a daily basis.  I'm also not convinced it would be more quiet there.  

[Gumballl]

Move into a high-rise condo, preferably a unit that faces away from the main street.

[ratcatcher]

How loud is too loud?

When the vibrations cause you to have multiple bowel movements.

When items in your house on shelves start falling to the floor.

When you actually feel like committing murder.

When you start thinking of moving to another country.

For starters.

 

[CNXexpat]

A big problem in Thailand. Nobody thinks about how loud noise, burning and so on can effect the neighborhood. It´s only: I want - I do. And Thai neighbors never complain.

[fishtank]

Me Me Me. The Thai mantra.

I can do what I want and sod everyone else.

[Beggar]

14 minutes ago, Gumballl said:

Move into a high-rise condo, preferably a unit that faces away from the main street.

High rise condos and here the higher floors are not always a good idea since you then hear the noise even from places that are further away. 

[Gumballl]

6 minutes ago, Beggar said:

High rise condos and here the higher floors are not always a good idea since you then hear the noise even from places that are further away. 

Yeah, riiight.

[tropo]

10 minutes ago, CNXexpat said:

A big problem in Thailand. Nobody thinks about how loud noise, burning and so on can effect the neighborhood. It´s only: I want - I do. And Thai neighbors never complain.

Yes they do. My Thai neighbour complained about a very low level of noise coming from my apartment. I'm a night owl and she wakes up at 5am. The point is, you're only allowed to make noise if you're Thai. The rules don't apply for foreigners.

[Beggar]

They don't care about noise. Often they use it as advertisement. Here is a lot of noise. Come and look what is going on here. You have this at open air bars, in shopping malls when they promote products or services and at many other places and occasions. Laws? They have to be enforced... 

[samsensam]

 

i live in central bangkok and have a very quiet life. doing some leg work and research pays dividends, i looked at loads of places, i had my spec; quiet and well managed, and i found one, the fact it was newer than most in the area and cheaper was a bonus. there are oasis of peace and quiet everywhere, you just have to find them.

[CNXexpat]

32 minutes ago, tropo said:

Yes they do. My Thai neighbour complained about a very low level of noise coming from my apartment. I'm a night owl and she wakes up at 5am. The point is, you're only allowed to make noise if you're Thai. The rules don't apply for foreigners.

Then you have a very special neighbor. I saw people set fires beside an open air restaurant or when people are drying their clothes outside. Nobody complains. I always wonder why.

[Takeprofit]

[jesimps]

I used to live in town where I thought it was really noisy. I moved to the countryside near the beach, but it turned out to be noisier than the town. I figured that if I moved away from the beach (noise wasn't the sole reason for moving) it might be quieter. It wasn't! Loads of noise from temple, neighbours dogs (especially) and bass-heavy stuff from shacks in the middle of nowhere. I'm convinced that the quietest place to live in Thailand is in the middle of town, in a good quality condo which has double glazing and floor and ceiling insulation.               

[1FinickyOne]

People are sensitive to different levels... Thai mostly don't seem to mind... but why would you even choose to live in an area w/bus tours out your door if you don't like noise?

 

I love quiet and am in the process of moving out far enough to only hear the birds... though where I am now is pretty quiet too...

 

good luck. I am sure you will consider location in your next move. 

[1FinickyOne]

On 11/30/2019 at 6:55 PM, CNXexpat said:

Then you have a very special neighbor. I saw people set fires beside an open air restaurant or when people are drying their clothes outside. Nobody complains. I always wonder why.

Freedom to do what they want on their own property... Not that I am in any way in favor of doing annoying things that would upset your neighbor or harm their health as in setting fires... people in USA want to be able to do what they want on their own property.,.. but, we need some respect for neighbors, hopefully. 

[fittobethaied]

Just one more reason why Thais generally reject Christianity. They do not want to be beholden to a God that demands any sort of accountability. Biblical principles like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" or "put the interests of others before your own" or "love your neighbor as you would love yourself" are foreign concepts that clash with the Thai behavioral attributes of selfishness and everyone for themselves. 

[Curt1591]

As bad as the load noise is, what makes it worse is that many times you will have a half dozen neighbors blasting different TV shows and music at the same time, seemingly unaware of the others' noise.

[IAMHERE]

On 11/30/2019 at 5:53 PM, Gumballl said:

Move into a high-rise condo, preferably a unit that faces away from the main street.

I'm over 30 floors high and I can hear the boom-boom  of the bar that has to be 400 meters away. Rainy and windy nights are okay, otherwise you hear the thump thump thump all night long even pretty high up.

[HHTel]

Hard to believe, but Thailand does have 'noise laws'.

 

Quote

The legal sound limit in Thailand by law is 90 decibels over an eight-hour Time Weighted Average (TWA). If the noise is over this limit, the health officer will have authority to request that the respondent lowers the sound volume.

 

[30la]

On 11/30/2019 at 5:46 PM, Ventenio said:

I've come to expect some crazy noise, and I know loud noises scare ghosts and whatever, but it is pretty "funny" that it appears nobody thinks someone might not like it.  i'm moving in a few months and I can only guess what the next noise issue will be.

Here the noise is almost without interruption 24/7, very noisy trucks, temples, 3 nearby that always have something to celebrate, weddings, funerals, 7/10/100 and so on days from someone's death, party without meaning, days of Buddha, the school, which is outside the weekend a factory of very intense noise, the sugar factory that when the ovens are turned on seems to live near an airport, noisy neighbors who do not respect anything and no one and finally cars with extremely loud "music"!
We live in Thailand, the land of garbage of all kinds!

[30la]

35 minutes ago, fittobethaied said:

Just one more reason why Thais generally reject Christianity. They do not want to be beholden to a God that demands any sort of accountability. Biblical principles like "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" or "put the interests of others before your own" or "love your neighbor as you would love yourself" are foreign concepts that clash with the Thai behavioral attributes of selfishness and everyone for themselves. 

What are you talking about? Christians are not at all better than Thais, in our civilized countries in the true sense of the word, the police do their job, in Thailand NO!

[Nickymaster]

Thailand is a lawless country. Everybody does whatever they want. Bangkok streets become a race track at night. Tuk tuks, motorcycles, trucks and busses with loud exhausts terrorize the city and keep millions of people awake. Even though noise population is the nr 1 complain nobody does anything about it.  Even government busses have loud exhausts.   

 

Law enforcement is a joke and it is only getting worse. 

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, fittobethaied said:

"love your neighbor as you would love yourself"

I Don't think her husband would approve. ???? or my missus.

[manchega]

could not agree more.  There are well known good restaurants I have left due to noise from  crappy VIP buses.  I always let the place know why I suddenly need to un order food. If only the locals would take issue with noise instead of accepting it as normal 

 

My story for you starts in an incredible peaceful riverside location.  All green except for the house behind us owned by relatives. 

One morning at 5 am woken by loud noise, it is music, really strong bass, we left that day to avoid noise, after hearing from the housekeepers it was a wedding. that night the noise stopped 2 or 3 am. only to start at 5 am again.

apparantly the ostentious display at this wedding was for 5 days of load music from 5 am to 2 or 3 am every day.  incredibly we were 3 km away from the temple which was upstream of the river.

 

Why ? why I ask are there not more people shooting up temples for noise? If this were the us for example that <deleted> would happen, and I would support the right of every person to shoot the <deleted> out of noisy temples, shopping malls and buses in every country

[MarleyMarl]

Been in BKK for 10 years and lived in 5 different places, every place has been noisy. 1st condo I ever rented was opposite an ice factory... the 3rd condo I rented was the worst, it was next to the Huay Kwang night market, so non-stop noise at night, in the day time you could hear the school every morning kids screaming the multiplication tables and singing over loud speaker. Here is a video I made of it back in 2012 

 

 

Now I'm living in a townhouse and just last night 11pm on a Sunday (and 12am on sat) the obvious next door neighbors drilling into the walls. Not to mention the soi dogs, or people driving their trucks up the small street blasting megaphone trying to sell their <deleted>. Oh yea and recently some little turds moved in on my street to some apartment, and they all drive these scooters around with no mufflers that backfire, which is insane in a densely populated area.

The condos don't work well, because of their poor construction there is no sound insulation, the last one I stayed in was considered "premium" even on like the 27th floor, you could hear people talking on the ground level.

[Ventenio]

3 hours ago, kenk24 said:

People are sensitive to different levels... Thai mostly don't seem to mind... but why would you even choose to live in an area w/bus tours out your door if you don't like noise?

 

I love quiet and am in the process of moving out far enough to only hear the birds... though where I am now is pretty quiet too...

 

good luck. I am sure you will consider location in your next move. 

a friend recommended this place since it's definitely the "best" in town, and I'm leaving soon.  It's one of those places where it can be quiet and crazy loud, but not enough of either to make it good or bad.  yea, i should have used some common sense but was lazy and let my friend pick a place for me.  yea, i learned.  

[Ventenio]

Saturday night I thought a house was going to play super loud music all night because of the VIP buses the night before, but they got quiet at 11 p.m. for good.  The owner of the hotel saw me a few times this weekend and I think was afraid that I would say something.   Maybe a few years ago I might, but I've learned that never helps.  Mai bpen rai with a smile, as i know i'll be gone in a few weeks.  

 

someone just create some sort of noise-cancelling system to put in one room.  billionaire, easy.  

[khunPer]

Quote

How loud is too loud?

115 dB to 140 dB depending of the individual and the sound source, several sources says that it's in general is 125 dB.

 

I always considered 114 dB as limit with large PA sound systems – I have a background in pro-audio – however when it comes to irritating sound levels, almost any level can be too loud.

 

Distorted sound seems a lot louder than undistorted sound. Unfortunately many sound systems in Thailand are working louder than it's capacity with a fairly – please read extremely, but I'm then injured from my former occupation – high level of distortion. I was once setting up a large PA for an outdoor disco-event and measured that we covered 114 dB all over the field by correct dispersion of the speakers. When the event began some of the DJs complained, that the system was not loud enough; well, they had to repeat it several times, because the music was very loud, and they never heard my answer with the 114 dB. Half an hour later the same DJs said: »OMG God, your sound system is playing so loud!«

 

Another thing is, that the mind focus on an irritating sound, and thereby it becomes relative loud, even it dB measure is within an acceptable level. If you for example get irritated by a groovy pumping bass from a party long distance away, that groovy pumping bass will irritate you all evening, util you finally fall asleep. Or what about a far away chain saw?

 

Instant sounds are even worse, like suddenly barking or howling dogs – yes, they can be quite loud also – or in Thailand ghost scaring firecrackers in the middle of the night.

 

On 11/30/2019 at 11:46 AM, Ventenio said:

Does everyone have similar stories?

I know all above sounds from where I live, and by time you can get used to them – well, admit that when it's Black Moon Party on the neighboring island 11 kilometers away, I instead just head out in the nightlife myself...???? – even the sound of sea waves can be irritating; mind you, some people pays money to have a recording of same, so they can relax. I know both, because I live by the sea, and I have made sea-wave recordings for clients that sold them on tapes and CD. When getting used to a sound like sea waves – or traffic noise when living in a city; or a neighbor's noisy aircon unit facing towards one's open bedroom window, starting and stopping all night – and move to quiet place in Nakon Nowhere with no sounds at all during the night, some people cannot sleep: It's too quiet, and the monks chanting at sunrise from a distant temple is too irritating loud...????

 

Closed doors and windows might help against irritating sounds, or just train oneself to not be too focused on the noise; might however require a bit of mind-control, perhaps meditation can help...????

 

Some simply move, and carefully choose another place after checking it for normally expected disturbing sounds – might work well until someone open a karaoke bar next door, or a steel workshop across the street...????

[ThaiWai]

Told new landlord I would not do more than a six month contract to check out the neighbors first.  Their roaming vicious dogs broke through my fence to attack my dog no less than four times causing multiple severe puncture wounds each time. No apologies. They would spend hours all times of the day finding ways to try to increase their motorbike exhaust volume revving their bikes over and over and over sometimes for 20 minutes straight and when not doing that would race up and down the soi at literally all hours of the day and night. Never a second of concern for anyone else. After 2 long months I gracefully told my landlord enough was enough. I sent her all the video of the psychos living next door to back up all my claims.  She never even answered me.  I packed up and left and now I live in paradise. Lost deposit of 19000. Best money I ever spent. 

[khunPer]

4 minutes ago, Ventenio said:

someone just create some sort of noise-cancelling system to put in one room.  billionaire, easy. 

Already done, you can buy noise cancelling headphones is Power Buy, about 16k baht a pair.

 

A linear-frequency phase-reversing directional speaker will work, if you can adjust it for all reflections in the room; i.e. the cancellation sound shall come from exactly same direction as the annoying sound.