Apartment Living: How to Study in a Loud Apartment

There’s nothing quite like moving into your first apartment, meeting your first roommate who’s not a family member and spending your days surrounded by people in what might be a loud apartment. Unfortunately, all that fun can really hamper you when it’s time to study hard and you’re faced with loud background noise and multiple distractions. Fear not, though! Here are four tips that will help you buckle down and focus through the chaos of apartment living so you can get back to enjoying college life sooner:

Use a noise machine to block outside sounds

With a fan or an inexpensive white noise machine, you can mask outside noises while you work. This is a relatively simple and cost-effective way to block out noise, as long as distractions are in another room, and the fan or noise machine won’t bother anyone else in your room.

Communicate with neighbors and roommates 

This one can seem difficult, but it will likely produce the best result in the quickest amount of time: talk to your loud neighbors and friends, and tell them in advance when you’ll be free to enjoy noise and distractions, and also when you’ll need the peace kept, within reason. If you all can work out times for everyone’s needs, you’ll be able to get what you need without anyone feeling slighted. (If you’re not sure how to approach your roommate, test their Myers-Briggs personality type here.)

Use noise-canceling headphones 

A good set of noise-canceling headphones can actively block ambient noise to easily provide you with the calm, quiet atmosphere you’ll need to study. One drawback is that a great, comfortable set can be on the more expensive side, so consider your level of need or consider asking for these as a gift from family members.

Consider purchasing sound-dampening paint or acoustic panels

If you have permission at your apartment to paint or nail into your walls, this is an option for you. It’s slightly more involved than any of the other items, but once you take these steps, you won’t have to set up your space for studying again. You can buy sound-dampening paint or panels for the wall online, and you should also be able to find these items at your local hardware store too. Be aware with the paint that you won’t be blocking out large crashing noises or blaring stereos, but medium frequencies like roommates’ and neighbors’ conversations.

With these tips, you’ll find the tricks you need to study easily when you need to without major effort. How do you find it best to study in an apartment? Share your tips in the comment section below.