Bedroom soundproofing

Depending on the construction method of the building, it's often incredibly difficult to soundproof a room.     You're better off finding a sound you can sleep with to have on at low level to break up any sound from next door.       I use something boring on a tv at very low level so it's unintelligible mumbling in the background.    Its continual sound means any random noises from outside are lost in the mix.

If you want to try soundproofing, alternating layers of dense and lighter materials stop the energy propagating - foam panels and double plasterboard layers can work well.   

Thanks for your reply.  I don’t understand why walls between properties aren’t thicker.  Why would anyone want to hear their neighbours.  It’s so annoying.  The bedroom in the house I’m looking at is shaped so that the bed would be against the wall not adjoining the neighbours, and I could fit floor to ceiling wardrobes along the wall that does join the neighbour.  Maybe I could put a layer of foam or something behind the wardrobe as well?

Everything in a house is built to the minimum quality / maximum profit model.   You have to remember that houses built before about 1980 didn't have to contain loud stereos and cinema systems - just people and transistor radios.

Sound is all about energy transmission - your wall acts like the diaphragm in a speaker and lets the sound energy through.    Layers of foam have no mass so cannot contain energy and the next layer of plasterboard is heavy so it needs lots of energy to transmit through - the result is the energy is lost - no sound transmitted through.

Wardrobes full of stuff do the same thing - lots of mass and different materials so it absorbs the sound..

Try to avoid air-gaps where sound can bounce around and escape into the room.

Everything in a house is built to the minimum quality / maximum profit model.   You have to remember that houses built before about 1980 didn't have to contain loud stereos and cinema systems - just people and transistor radios.

Sound is all about energy transmission - your wall acts like the diaphragm in a speaker and lets the sound energy through.    Layers of foam have no mass so cannot contain energy and the next layer of plasterboard is heavy so it needs lots of energy to transmit through - the result is the energy is lost - no sound transmitted through.

Wardrobes full of stuff do the same thing - lots of mass and different materials so it absorbs the sound..

Try to avoid air-gaps where sound can bounce around and escape into the room.

also consider pre world war a lot of the cheeper building materials didn't exist. Your options were largely brick, wood and stone. Having grown up in a house with stone outer walls, brick inner walls and wood floors I'd say brick and stone do ok. Wood not so much. Far easier to hear people in the room bellow / above that the one to the side. Maybe look at older builds. Like victorian era. Doesn't have to be expensive if its a small house (like a back to back) in a northern town.

I think these houses were build around 2000.  I don’t know anyone that lives in that area to ask what the build quality is like.  It is frustrating that build quality is so poor in many areas.  My friend lives in an older house and can even hear her neighbours light switches being turned on or off.