Desperate for your help!

[Lorryyellow]

I’m a middle aged woman and I live on my own. I know nothing about sound technology but need advice. I think my neighbours have been transmitting sounds into my home for some time now. Excruciatingly loud airplane and helicopter noise, popping sounds, loud switch sounds, sounds that appear to be coming out of my cupboards and noises that seem to resemble my own fridge noise but much much louder. Also general white noise whirring. It’s being done intentionally to intimidate me and i need it to stop. Any ideas as to what equipment they might be using or what they are doing to produce these sounds? I am going to report it to the police but I need to know first what I’m reporting.

 

[Doodski]

I’m a middle aged woman and I live on my own. I know nothing about sound technology but need advice. I think my neighbours have been transmitting sounds into my home for some time now. Excruciatingly loud airplane and helicopter noise, popping sounds that appear to be mid air and very loud audible switches, falling objects in my cupboards and noises that seem to resemble my own fridge noise but much much louder. Also general white noise whirring. It’s being done intentionally to intimidate me and i need it to stop. Any ideas as to what equipment they might be using or what they are doing to produce these sounds? I am going to report it to the police but I need to know first what I’m reporting.

Sigh*
Been there had it, experienced all that sort of jazz designed to be difficult to explain, difficult to deal with and play with your mind. My nemesis resident abuser of me flooded my apartment twice with water between 3 and 4 am on different dates, turned up country music with huge amounts of bass from the subwoofer all night long often and would not stop. I escorted the manager Mrs Kimura two times into his suit for her personal protection to find him passed out in his underwear with all the crack pipes and drug gear everywhere, a huge huge glass ashtray overflowing and smoldering and the apartment with smoke floating in the middle of the air like clouds in the middle of mountains. These kind of people want to hurt your brain, make you experience and feel them. That is the agenda. I for one brought my Hewlett Packard sine wave oscillator home one day, connected it to my ~1.4 horsepower home stereo system with large speakers the morning after one of his all night crack smoking binges and abusing me I then turned the power and sound volume level way up very loud to vibrate the building and all things inside of it at maximum effective efficiency and then I left the building. The landlord had been assaulted by the same crack head abuser very disrespectful person that was targeting me and as a result the abuser near had his foot broken by me and cried howled for minutes in pain after when he shoved it in my door and threatened me(They pretty much always have no actual skills and it's all big talk and abuse.) and so the landlord had a certain affection for me being as he was about 85 years old. I always had a great relationship with that landlord and so he went inside my suit after some hours of this and turned off my stereo and later said it had malfunctioned somehow and pretended it was equipment failure.

You need to either get rid of the abuser(s) or escape the abuser(s). It's just that simple. You can't live with this situation and what it will do to you over the long term.

 

[Doodski]

I also want to add. I observed this male crack head abuser out in public while I was walking along the sidewalk one day minding my own personal matters. He never even recognized me all bathed, clean shaven, in my dress clothes, hair gelled and slicked back with a silk tie etc. He actually was storming about glaring at people and he intentionally upon seeing me and obviously disliking me placed himself in my path/direction of travel, he glared at me like he was some sort of tough guy and he made me get out of his way. So when all this abusive crack head from him jazz started occurring at the apartment building I knew exactly what kind of guy this guy was.

 

[G|force]

This all sounds like some Chuck Palahniuk screenplay. Anyway, If the OP can record these sounds and post them on Soundcloud so we can get a better understanding of the nature of the problem, it would be a good start toward a plan.

 

[Crook]

I’m a middle aged woman and I live on my own. I know nothing about sound technology but need advice. I think my neighbours have been transmitting sounds into my home for some time now. Excruciatingly loud airplane and helicopter noise, popping sounds, loud switch sounds, sounds that appear to be coming out of my cupboards and noises that seem to resemble my own fridge noise but much much louder. Also general white noise whirring. It’s being done intentionally to intimidate me and i need it to stop. Any ideas as to what equipment they might be using or what they are doing to produce these sounds? I am going to report it to the police but I need to know first what I’m reporting.

I'm sorry to hear this. All these various sounds can be produced with most amplification and speakers/subs. They may not specifically be transmitting into your home, some of the sounds could be movie soundtrack related. First thing I suppose is where you live and whether you own or rent. If you rent, speak to the landlord. In the UK you can contact your local council to investigate complaints and issue abatement notices to stop or limit the noise if it qualifies as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. If not in the UK it is likely you have similar remedies. Do you know the neighbours, can you speak to them? This may be best initial approach, they may just be being inconsiderate, rather than targeting you. In the UK this would not initially be a police matter. Thanks.

 

[Ziggy22]

I am going to report it to the police but I need to know first what I’m reporting.

I wouldn’t overcomplicate it with the type of noise, just consider the volume and time of day.

Purchase a cheap sound meter. Make a video of the time of day, and the sound level. If it exceeds local ordinances, then they can possibly do something.

 

[Palmer]

Very sad report. In my experience this needs professional help, unfortunately that means lawyer. Depending where you live, I would look up comparative cases on the web first - to pick a legal representation with pedigree. Documentation is all good, but you would need instructions from an experienced counsel - before spending a lot of time and effort.
If money is a problem, - it seems to always be you might have to look into relocation. That also involves cost, but less so, and perhaps better - than spending it on the litigation, outcome somewhat uncertain. Been there, done that. There's strength in numbers, I would suggest trying to find a group of people that would help you out, if and when you need it. Again - too many factors that are an unknown in your situation, so from afar - that's the best I can come up with, for now.

 

[Lorryyellow]

I'm sorry to hear this. All these various sounds can be produced with most amplification and speakers/subs. They may not specifically be transmitting into your home, some of the sounds could be movie soundtrack related. First thing I suppose is where you live and whether you own or rent. If you rent, speak to the landlord. In the UK you can contact your local council to investigate complaints and issue abatement notices to stop or limit the noise if it qualifies as a statutory nuisance under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. If not in the UK it is likely you have similar remedies. Do you know the neighbours, can you speak to them? This may be best initial approach, they may just be being inconsiderate, rather than targeting you. In the UK this would not initially be a police matter. Thanks.

Unfortunately I do know the neighbours but we are not on talking terms. The Met Police have been round several times to speak to them but they deny everything. There is an open case for potential harassment (not just for the noise) but it’s difficult to prove anything - noise itself is not loud enough to be easily deciphered from the CCTV cams own white noise and not loud enough to cause a statutory nuisance. I was just hoping someone here might be able to tell me what they might be doing or what equipment they might be using to produce the noise to then be able to deal with it.

 

[Lorryyellow]

Very sad report. In my experience this needs professional help, unfortunately that means lawyer. Depending where you live, I would look up comparative cases on the web first - to pick a legal representation with pedigree. Documentation is all good, but you would need instructions from an experienced counsel - before spending a lot of time and effort.
If money is a problem, - it seems to always be you might have to look into relocation. That also involves cost, but less so, and perhaps better - than spending it on the litigation, outcome somewhat uncertain. Been there, done that. There's strength in numbers, I would suggest trying to find a group of people that would help you out, if and when you need it. Again - too many factors that are an unknown in your situation, so from afar - that's the best I can come up with, for now.

The lawyer route is what I want to avoid at all costs and I really don’t want to be driven out of my home by them. Luckily I have a very supportive neighbour on the other side looking out for me and the Police are also doing what they can. But unless we know what exactly they are doing it’s hard to prove…

 

[Lorryyellow]

This all sounds like some Chuck Palahniuk screenplay. Anyway, If the OP can record these sounds and post them on Soundcloud so we can get a better understanding of the nature of the problem, it would be a good start toward a plan.

I had a Hik CCTV cam installed in the kitchen but it has so much white noise of its own, it muffles out the noise I’m trying to record

 

[antcollinet]

I had a Hik CCTV cam installed in the kitchen but it has so much white noise of its own, it muffles out the noise I’m trying to record

Really sorry you are in this situation. Sounds quite horrible.

If you have an iPhone there is a free app available you can use to measure the sound level. It's on the app store, but here is the info page:

NIOSH Sound Level Meter App

The NIOSH Sound Level Meter app measures workplace noise to determine if the levels are damaging.

www.cdc.gov

You can also use the phone (as suggested above) to make a recording of the sound when they are making it. Include a clock in the video to show what time it is, and record ALL events. That way you can demonstrate a pattern of harassment. A single event doesn't count.

As to what they are using - just moderately capable home hifi is able to do it. Could be anything.

 

[Doodski]

The lawyer route is what I want to avoid at all costs and I really don’t want to be driven out of my home by them. Luckily I have a very supportive neighbour on the other side looking out for me and the Police are also doing what they can. But unless we know what exactly they are doing it’s hard to prove…

These kind of people will never make sense because nothing here is sensible.
They almost always end up hanging themselves eventually in some way, shape or form but not always to what is the best for you.
I think or it seems apparent to me that you are not a person than can back up all this paperwork, documentation and abuse with any physicality that may erupt from this abuse. I would attempt to deal with it using the proper channels/documentation and if that failed I would hand it right back and then wait for the result. But that's me and not you. When I hand it right back I am very pesky, very diabolical, very manipulative, very evil, very terrible, very serious and I am all about the intention and I make them very uncomfortable. The result from pretty much every single person that has been an abuser in my life is that they pretty much 100% always are not of any real capable skills, they over estimate their abilities and self worth, they almost always 100% can't manage documents in any way, shape or form, end up assaulting somebody and they can't handle getting it all directed right back at themselves when they are made very very uncomfortable. Frankly every one of them for decades either decided I was too much trouble, the legal matters too serious or they simply got a very severe beating upon assaulting me. I am this way because I have been psychologically abused and physically abused and I am now the abuser to the abusers. So with that in mind I'm not sure you are going to be able to manage this because this sort of person is the kind of person that is an abuser and you are not experienced in these kind of matters. I think you need help. You need to document this, keep it brief so you don't end up in hours and hours of typing out statements and documents and maybe use video recordings. Don't let it go on for too long because that creates an assortment of various issues and it ruins your state of mind and creates long term damage. I said it before and say it again, you need to either get rid of this or get away.

 

[mags65]

FFS guys, don't feed this troll.

 

[AnalogSteph]

I dunno, looks legit to me (though there's almost always more to the story... we are talking about humans after all).

I had a Hik CCTV cam installed in the kitchen but it has so much white noise of its own, it muffles out the noise I’m trying to record

Not surprising. Lots of noise and poor low end are par for the course for the tiny mics in equipment like this. Try something like a RØDE NT-1 with shockmount and arm plus a serviceable audio interface or portable mixer with legit +48V phantom power depending on what you have for recording, then you'll be getting somewhere. (You may be able to purchase these thing locally at, say, Andertons or other music retailers. If push comes to shove, there's always Thomann.) That'll be around 250-300 quid all in, but you'd also be getting a very nice (vocal) mic out of the deal.

 

[Mart68]

In the UK you have to be able to demostrate that the neighbour's activities are significantly reducing your ability to enjoy your home.

That means sound and video recordings and a diary logging events. Your local council should be approached once you have a body of evidence. They have the power to confiscate any audio equipment that's being used.

There are some inconsistencies here though:

''Excruciatingly loud airplane and helicopter noise,''

''Noise itself is not loud enough to be easily deciphered from the CCTV cams own white noise and not loud enough to cause a statutory nuisance''

'' I am going to report it to the police''

''The Met Police have been round several times to speak to them''