4 steps to talk to your roommate about noise

Are you fighting with your current roommate over noise levels?

Are you going to move in with someone and want to know how to approach this topic?

Discuss the issue with your roommate respectfully and effectively to deal with any conflict over noise.

If possible, create some ground rules before moving in.

Start by sitting down with your roommate to discuss:

• What time does each person usually sleep? 🛌

• Does anyone in the house play instruments or have a large speaker? What times would they be able to use those items? 🎷🎸🎻🎹🔊

• Are other people allowed to be invited over? If so, how many people and how often? 👯‍♂️

Express your feelings to your roommate and address the issue directly.

Waiting can cause stress, which builds up into anger.

It can also make you feel like you are losing control of the situation.

The last thing you would want is to suddenly blow up on your roommate over something small because you've gotten so stressed about their noise.

Timing is everything!

Although it's best to address the issue sooner rather than later, the timing has to be right in order to get your point across.

Photo by Andrew Seaman on Unsplash

Try to bring up the issue when:

• Your initial feelings of anger are gone

• Neither of you is in a bad mood

• You or your roommate aren't making noise at the moment

• Both of you are free to discuss the issue without interruptions

Things won't always be perfect, but it's important to be flexible and willing to compromise.

Try out these ideas and see if they work for you:

Set up a schedule 📃

• list quiet hours where noise needs to be kept to a minimum

Go outside to work/study 🌳

• you can get some fresh air and be more productive

Soundproofing methods 🎧

• earplugs, headphones or soundproofing curtains can be a good way to dampen the noise

To make sure it's the right opportunity, double check this list when you talk to your roommate about the noise level: