Acoustics is one of my main hobbies. The others recommending noise cancelling headphones are spot on. Most of the "soundproofing" stuff won't stop the sound, they're actually made to reduce echo in a room.

To stop sound you need either mass or distance, both are hard to do unless you like straight up build an inner room in your room and carefully engineer it. It sucks but there's no getting around physics

Can't say anything interesting about soundproofing, but I did invest 3 years trying out every possible earplug out there and I can give you a quick summary:

• pvc foam plugs
  • pros
    • by far the most effective option at overall noise reduction
    • do not amplify your own voice when speaking
    • widely available
  • cons
    • hard/annoying to apply, especially in hot environments
    • ineffective when applied incorrectly (watch a video or two, it is not obvious)
    • single use, making it both environmentally problematic and costly in the long term
• custom molded silicon plugs
  • pros
    • easy to put in
    • comfortable even for long usage
    • custom acoustic profile for musicians
    • about as much noise reduction as possible except for pvc foam (still a significant gap between them)
    • long lasting when cleaned and stored properly
  • cons
    • really expensive
    • need to go get your ear scanned/molded
    • the plugs are physically large making it slightly less portable (if you have small pockets or really tight jeans)
• custom diy molded plugs
  • pros
    • inexpansive
    • noise reduction comparable to proper custom plugs
    • comfortable
    • easy to put in
    • no need for an appointment
  • cons
    • many of the ones on the market are made of porous materials, making them uncleanable overtime so they are not actually safe for long term reuse
    • physically large so less portable
• silicone / rubber plugs
  • pros
    • cheap
    • widely available
    • large variety of shapes and sizes means that you can find ones that will fit you well
    • cleanable and reusable
    • good noise reduction
  • cons
    • not as good at noise reduction as custom plugs
    • need to be replaced about every year
    • can be uncomfortable for long periods of usage
    • often odd shapes are marketed as better, all shapes perform basically the same so ignore it.
• wax plugs
  • pros
    • block water from entering you ears when swimming
  • cons
    • low noise reduction as they are not really meant for that
• filter based adjustable plugs
  • pros
    • about the same noise reduction as silicone plugs
    • reusable
    • good ones will be easy to adjust making them really versatile (can be used in different noise levels while being able to hear and not be too insulated from the environment)
    • cheap, about 2-5 times the price of silicone ones
    • easy to put in
    • comfortable
  • cons
    • can break
    • sensitive to dust
    • not easy to find

This basically covers it. My personal setup is a small two chamber box that is always with me, in one chamber there are pvc foam plugs for max noise reduction and in the other chamber I have adjustable plugs that have 3 levels that I would define as:

1. Everything is slightly quiter, nice for slightly noisy places where I still want to hear or have a conversation
2. Not used often, but can be useful in some specific noise levels where I want some quite but have to still be aware
3. About as good as silicone plugs, I use it almost daily whenever I want some quite (basically anytime I walk in the city)

If you are interested, I am using 3m foam plugs and these random adjustable plugs that I found that are surprisingly good quality for the price (cheap so don't expect anything special)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010386481009.html

Yeah noise cancelling headphones are your best bet, it's been a life changer for me

I am highly sensitive to sound, and it honestly has ruined my life at times when I've had to live in apartments. (not only do I fly into rages over excessive and/or long-lasting sound, it also gives me migraines that make half my body go weak). There aren't really options for preventing sound bothering us using sound-proofing. That said, windows are likely your main source of problem if it's coming from the street. You could try making sure the weather stripping is intact, cover the window with foam board, and also using plastic sheeting around the windows to create an air gap. They sell this as draft insulation at hardware stores.

You could try covering the sound with a noise machine, but if you're like me, you will find the constant noise exhausting.

I swear we need designated "quiet" neighborhoods so people like us can just live

I have the same issue, and ended up building myself a coffin. Soundproofing a rental apartment would have been an insane waste of money that I didn't have anyways, and sleeping with headphones on was impossible to me due to how painful it would get, having the plugs in when I slept on my side, pushing them further in.

During the day, I used the noise canceling earphones solutions most mentioned and that worked really well, but thank heavens I'm not claustrophobic.

If it gets so bad you need to do that, make sure you get good enough ventilation, an easy way to open it, and personally since I lived with roommates, I ended up also wiring an emergency alert button, so in case anything happened to me in there, they could come into my room and rescue me. One of them even made me a sign for "The corpse is out/in" so in case of emergency or a fire, they would go and wake me up so I could evacuate too. Plus two USB ports, one for a night light, and one to charge my cellphone.

This message is getting kind of long, so let me know if you want more info about it. But in a nutshell it was just an iron frame, plywood panels, for the outer and inner walls, and rock wool for the in-between of the walls. Two doors, one on the upper panel, one on the side, so I could just roll myself out if it in case of emergency. And most importantly, and to repeat myself, ventilation.

A small custom mattress, and lining on the walls to prevent splinters, and you're all set.

Triple glazed vacuum sealed windows do wonders to dull out most of it.

Replace your windows with thicker glazing. Or if you live in a rental you can add sound proof secondary glazing in front of your windows. And for the rest of the room the best way is to build a room inside the room with soundproofing insulation behind the walls. Or hang Mass Loaded Vinyl against the walls.

Basically proper sound proofing is expensive as fuck. Cheapest is a good pair of active noise canceling headphones and custom fit earplugs.

A buddy used to live in an apartment where the amount of road noise made it hard for him to sleep. He added a blackout curtain over his bedroom windows which made a huge difference for him.

i cant be bothered to read everyone elses replys but ive found the best thing for me is some earbuds with a nice pair of over ear hearing protection. ive got some industrial over ear earmuffs with a 32 dB or so attenuation. those by themselves help a ton, but to really get the isolation ill play some brown noise or ocean waves through my earbuds. the combination of controlled noise and high attenuation of outside noise provides almost perfect sound isolation, to the point i cant hear anything in the room, even someone speaking right next to me. it helps if you can find a kind of noise thats comfortable for you, like i said for me something like brown noise or ocean waves work best. they're soothing for me but you might prefer something else.

Are active noise cancelling headphones an option?

Better windows, thicker walls, or moving

How much noise can you take. Audio recordings Studios can get very good but that can get expensive too. Still it would be worth looking in those forums for people looking for help with street noise as those people know what works

The only thing that would effectively work would be mass loaded vinyl which you would need to cover all 6 sides of your room in, which is usually done before putting up the walls because its a heavy rubbery fabric.

And it's expensive.

Everything else is acoustic stuff which would really only prevent sound from escaping the room too easily.

Would probably go for the soundproof headphones like others have said. Cheap and effective.

Not autistic but sound sensitive from time to time. Try a white noise machine. You can find ones that are tunable so you can find a tone that doesn’t trigger you. They can greatly help drown outside noise. You could get one for each room and create your own sound wall.

Ugh, I agree the lack of noise regulations is a serious issue no one talks about. I moved away from the city in large part because it was always loud. Pretty sure I got tinnitus from years of daily earplug and headphone use, too.

Nowadays, I always sleep with a fan on for noise, and if that’s not enough then I play this. Doesn’t block everything out, but really helps reduce my irritation. https://youtu.be/hXetO_bYcMo

You could see if you can get some old carpeting or rugs for cheap or free to hang along the wall facing the street. They have two features that block sound: complex geometry, and mass.

I've tried everything I can get my hands on. For actual silence (or close to it) I wear yellow foam 3m ear plugs and then I wear construction ear muffs, like what you wear to operate loud equipment, over them. Also works wearing them over a small pair of ear buds if you want white noise or music or a podcast. Construction ear muffs are light and made to be worn all day.

I also have a set of sony wh-1000xm5 and they are great for noise cancelling when also listening to music I really like.

Would it not be an option to just move somewhere quieter?

I sleep a lot better after moving out of the inner city to the edge. To an area on a dead end street

Books work great

If you don't have the permission and money for expensive renovations, then high quality earplugs is the answer. I have gone through a lot of different earplug products because of the discomfort of wearing them.

These 3M ones, I can wear for 12 hours straight, no problems. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B000I7LH8Y

If you do want to get serious and do the work, base your noise-reduction system around this product: https://sonopan.com/

@mmyu it would be nice if users in the UK could see this too #autism