ULPT - How to turn off or mute neighbours TV so it isn't so loud?

Posted by FIthrowitaway9@reddit | UnethicalLifeProTips | View on Reddit | 67 comments

Live in a three bed semi in the UK, our neighbour shares a wall and sounds like they have fitted their TV to the wall on the chimney, this has been the case for years.

Over the last two years especially, I'm guessing our neighbour who is a woman in her 70s is losing the quality of her hearing. Her TV has been so loud, it woke our kid up who sleeps in the opposite end of the house.

I have discussed this directly with our neighbour, at first it was kind enough and I appreciate I should not expect to control what someone does in their own home. They changed behaviour as a result, things improve for maybe a few months, then it regresses.

The above pattern has happened multiple times, though when she woke my daughter up I was a bit more direct and said it is unacceptable that she wakes out daughter up, my wife has a chronic illness so it's bad enough when my wife's sleep is disturbed.

At this point, I'm sick of the merry-go-round and just want it to stop. I have purchased headphones for her, she claims they broke on my last discussion with her. I offered to buy her a new set of she picks them out but no follow-up yet.

So I am done with this and want to make it so her TV doesn't work and she does something else or moves it or something. Not suggesting criminal damage and we would reserve this when it is ultra loud or loud at an inappropriate time i.e. after 11pm

Suggestions welcome!

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Vallywog@reddit

Flipper-zero for all your fun needs.

FVE13@reddit

How does it work?

Here

donh-@reddit

Williams Sound has a product that puts a mic up at the teever speaker and a li'l amp box with a headphone jack by the listener. They off it with nice light headphones or earbuds. They work great and are properly priced.

We used to stock them at my shop. Many pleased customers.

twonaq@reddit

Loud drum and bass at 3 in the morning.

Red9zero@reddit

Our neighbour did this. We put up with it for a few days, then mounted our tv to the adjoining wall too.

HandshakeOfCO@reddit

Is the TV visible through any window? If so, figure out its model, buy a remote for it on Amazon, and when she’s not in, use the remote through the window to set a maximum volume (most TVs have this setting). Or switch the audio output to Bluetooth.

She’s 70 years old, she’ll never fucking figure either of these out.

jxryd@reddit

Just call the police and tell them the show she watches offends you

The_best_is_yet@reddit

Ooh this one is hilarious! And so clever!

Mandoctor@reddit

Slide piss discs under her door

piss discs are not helpful for TV volume

No_Educator_6376@reddit

Get a universal remote control and turn it off!

fap-on-fap-off@reddit

Hey hey a TV ears type of thing as a gift. She'll be able to hear the broadcast much better than simply turning up the volume on the speaker. You'll hear nothing. Win win

Heavy-Locksmith-3767@reddit

Is there a window or something, you could try using a universal remote.

intdev@reddit

And if it works, set up a small mirror on a tree branch or something to reflect the beam into the TV more easily.

DJCaldow@reddit

Got to deviate from unethical here. There are two kinds of sound, the one that travels through structure and the one that travels through air. If her TV is mounted to a chimney without anything to absorb vibrations in between then that's likely your issue and the hollow chimney is acting like a megaphone. Her mount needs to be decoupled from the chimney with neoprene or rubber padding and even the bolts into the chimney need rubber washers.

If you want to be unethical...do it while she's out and don't tell her. Or have an adult conversation where you tell her you know what the issue is, you understand why she doesn't hear it but you have a solution and would she be interested.

FlowerComfortable889@reddit

I would probably jump off from there by suggesting maybe a wireless set of speakers (and make sure sure turns off the TV ones) that she can put right by her. That would keep the rattle off the wall at least

And sell it as a "surround sound" system.

gnilradleahcim@reddit

A smaller Bluetooth style sound bar that they can position close to them so it would not have to be as loud, could also be an easy fix for the whole situation.

milo_minderbinder-@reddit

This is the best comment here. If it really is mounted on the chimney then that will be the issue.

Even easier than adding soundproofing behind the TV would be just using an external soundbar that is not mounted to the wall.

SwimOk9629@reddit

there's no way her TV volume woke up your kid on the opposite end of the house. impossible, unless it was at hearing damaging levels, which you would have a lot more people complaining with you.

FIthrowitaway9@reddit (OP)

It connects to the same party wall but is not directly opposite if that makes sense.

Believe in the impossible I guess

ChestnutMareGrazing@reddit

Omg have you ever been in a house with an old person? They BOOM the volume at levels you can't begin to imagine and with the technology around sound clarity, it's in damaging levels at upper volume. Which I am quite sure this elderly woman is using.

Hello_Hangnail@reddit

Yep. I could identify my neighbor's specific taste in porn when I lived in a townhouse with zero insulation between the units 😒

lgodsey@reddit

People will do anything to keep from just talking to others like a grown up. Never change, reddit.

If you can read, I have spoken to her several times and the problem re-occurs after a few weeks

Mr_Fried@reddit

I find a hard reset can help to resolve a lot of problems with electronic devices.

Here is the application I tend to use:

Mr_GreenAdam@reddit

Sutcliffe hair brush

😂😂😂

avindictiveprinter@reddit

Ah, the Brogan Adjustment!

xCurlyxTopx@reddit

And if that doesn’t solve the problem, you can try it on the tv instead!

No_Address687@reddit

Buy a decibel meter to measure how loud it actually is so you can put a number on it when you make a noise report.

ApplicationHour@reddit

There are phone apps that can measure the sound volume. Decibel X for example.

TheIronSoldier2@reddit

They aren't accurate

Triplygood@reddit

My experience with the few I have used on an iPhone is that they are “fairly accurate” but not accurate in the sense that they’re useful in court. Remember how bathroom scales used to have “not legal for trade” written somewhere on them? Kind of like that. They are not built to ANSI or OSHA standards but I have found they’re usually within a few db of the professional tool my real estate agent uses. I guess it is a matter of deciding how accurate is necessary for your given situation. Maybe a good starting point for many.

Second_Shift58@reddit

flipper zero

CFHQYH@reddit

Fire

i3reathless@reddit

I mean, I used to have a phone (htc one m8?) That had a remote control app, you could input the brand and it give you a remote control on your phone for your TV. It also worked on random TV's as well, it was very handy but believe the phone needs Infra Red.

zeberg@reddit

how thick are the walls? karate kick the walls when this happens repeatedly

YouArentReallyThere@reddit

Fill the chimney with expanding foam insulation

ki4clz@reddit

strong magnetic fields

Atworkwasalreadytake@reddit

I would start retaliating by figuring out the best time to wake them up and getting a large subwoofer.

If you need a good song for this: https://youtu.be/NiJNqp-GGXE?si=F5q6QDUbk2ItftB7

Very good clean baseline that travels.

semorebunz@reddit

a gadget called tv b gone , claims to turn off all tv's

AreThree@reddit

My Dad has one of those.

The device is just a small remote control with one button that sends out all of the known IR LED code sequences for all the different manufacturers and models of TVs. Takes about a second and you must have line-of-sight to the target TV.

He has hated loud TVs in public areas for as long as I can remember and picked himself up one of these. He would never admit it, but I know he gets a childish thrill out of turning off a TV without anyone knowing.

He tells the story about how he got into a "remote control battle" with someone at an upscale hotel restaurant he and his wife were eating at. It was disruptively loud and he turned it off like three times and the dude behind the bar (with nobody else there and I guess nothing to do) kept turning it back on. Eventually he had to ~~be an adult~~ talk to the dude and ask him to turn it down or off while they were eating.

VerbalDysentery@reddit

You brought back a memory of my friends and I playing a prank on another friend. Xbox 360 had a universal remote that could turn off any console without synchronization. We would be outside as window and turning off his Xbox while he was playing call of duty. We never told him. He got very pissed off because I think he was interested in a female gamer buddy.

Jaded-Citron-4090@reddit

Get a remote that works on their TV. My living room tv will make my gaming TV turn on. Took me a month or 2 to figure out what was happening.

Trishlovesdolphins@reddit

If she has a newer tv, you might be able to find it through a bluetooth app on your phone and turn it down yourself.

mattzildjian@reddit

Suggest to her to enable subtitles, then she doesn't need it so loud to understand the dialogue.

Nick-Nora-Asta@reddit

Go visit for coffee and steal her remote

moose_dad@reddit

If youre offering to buy her headphones, why not offer to buy one of those soundproofing squares to fit behind the tv where most of the noise is being conducted?

Or unethically, find out what tv she has and get a universal remote for it. Then simply turn it off when it gets too loud.

DoallthenKnit2relax@reddit

Find out what brand of TV she's got and buy a universal remote, then turn it down on her.

torch9t9@reddit

Help her get some wireless headphones

distributingthefutur@reddit

If you can see her tv from outside, you can use a universal remote or IR blaster to adjust her TV.

HoweRome@reddit

Buy her those headphones that connect to TVs.

fieldsofanfieldroad@reddit

My uncle who is hard if hearing hard the speakers for the TV moved to just next to where he sits. It made everyone's lives a lot easier. Maybe try discussing that with her. The sound will then be on the opposite side of her living room as well as considerably lower.

Dear_Resolution8813@reddit

easy find out what TV they have and buy a remote for that TV most don't even need to be synced to the TV. mute whenever you like.

BillyMooney@reddit

Rather than muting, just turn the volume down slowly, nudge by nudge, so she won't notice the change in audio level.

EstateValuable4611@reddit

Finesse.

mister-ferguson@reddit

Or gift her a new TV but get one that you set up with a remote on your phone

ovoid709@reddit

A lot of modern TV's have the speakers on the back and they are designed to bounce the sound off the wall and back at the viewer. If you want to handle this peacefully I'd suggest buying her a cheap front facing soundbar. Find one with a remote that does not require line of sight and buy an extra remote. Now you have likely solved your problem, but have also provided yourself a backup solution in case the first fails.

Cool-Negotiation7662@reddit

Modern smart TV can get controlled by a phone. Download the TV apps and see if one works.

Universal optical remotes work through windows. A small mirror can get around corners in some cases. Wiring the led to a bank of IR leds with an amplifier can make a spotlight that will cycle every TV around. My neighbor built one, could turn off/on all the tvs. Looked like a flashlight strapped under the remote.

Best of luck, you're in an unenviable position.

BamBaLambJam@reddit

You can use a universal remote to turn off her TV/mute it (needs clear line of sight of TV, so have fun walking up and down stairs)
You could jam her WiFi if the TV uses WiFI (she can just switch to cable TV)
Check your local laws for noise rules.