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Figured the $12 foam earplug trick was nonsense, until my upstairs neighbor got a treadmill
So I live in a 1960s building in Chicago with floors like paper, and my upstairs guy bought a treadmill in January. I almost dropped $200 on a white noise machine, but a guy at the hardware store on Clark told me to just buy a pack of foam earplugs for $12 and roll them thin before sticking them in. I tried it mostly to prove him wrong, and the thumping went from waking me up at 6am to barely a bump. Now I'm wondering if those silicone putty ones for swimming work even better, has anyone compared both for stomping and footsteps?
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bennett.claire11h ago
Silicon putty seals flat against the ear wall, which is great for steady noise but bad for thumping. Low bass sounds travel through your skull, not just the ear canal, so a tight seal does nothing for that thud you feel in your chest. Foam works better here because it fills the whole canal and deadens more of that deep vibration. The putty also gets gross fast, sweat and earwax turn it into a gummy mess in a couple weeks. One thing nobody mentions: how you roll the foam matters more than the brand. Roll it thin and long, pull your ear up and back, and hold it in place for a full minute while it puffs back out. Half the people who say foam fails are just jamming it in too fast.
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