Options for Buffering Noise

Gork

My fiancé and I just moved into a new apartment in our building and neither of us happened to notice it was across the hall from the mechanical room until after we moved in. The room is emitting a constant hum that bleeds into our apartment through the wall we share with the hallway and our front door. I measured the noise at around 55 decibels with my phone.

What are some options to buffer the noise that don't involve piling up all our furniture against one wall? I thought buying some acoustic foam paneling and installing it on the wall in the hallway, with the building's permission, might help.

Local H Jay

Dunno if it would help, but they make white noise emitters which might cancel it out.. I would talk to the complex managers and see if they have a solution as well.

Gork

I have a white noise machine and you have to pump it up loud enough to drown out the hum, so really just replacing one with the other.

bowen

Those foam mattress eggshells work well for stopping noise.. you'll probably have to put it in the mechanical room though. They have to be glued to the wall.

urahonky

I have really sensitive hearing so buzzing/humming always kills me. The white noise machine works okay because you end up focusing on that sound rather than the humming, but as Gork said you're just replacing one sound with another. I'd first check in with the complex and see if there's anything they can do. In my old apartment we had that issue and it turns out it was just a pipe that wasn't flush against the wall and they secured it and it went away almost completely.