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Sounds that keep the neighbours awake

What noises do your neighbours make, that disturb your sleep? Loud music? Stomping on the floor?

Forbes Magazine reported recently that Harvard astrophysics grad student Jon Bittner surveyed over one hundred respondents for apartment-sharing site SplitWise.com to find out what disturbs most people’s sleep. Ratings were done on a 1-5 scale, with 3 being neutral and 5 being ‘very disruptive’.

The most disturbing noise was found to be a party in the building (4.19), followed closely by construction at 4.18, loud sex (4.11) and thumping on the wall (4.04).

Slightly less annoying were the sounds of nearby talking, snoring, dancing, footsteps, TV/movie, street noise, music, machinery (such as a refrigerator), which were all rated on a sliding scale between 3.87 and 3.32.