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How to isolate a bed from the building?

13

Comments

  • bpj
    bpj Posts: 114 Forumite
    Fifth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Anyone reading this will be thinking psychosis / schizophrenia / hallucinations / fantasist etc, but no; I'm as objective as anyone. 
    One thing to note about the conditions you list are that the sufferer may not be aware they are suffering. The description of industrial ultrasonic transducers causing GI disturbance through concrete when suspended at 5' etc. does sound very unusual, and for your current neighbour to be causing similar mischief even more so! Gathering evidence and involving someone external (police / environmental health) would obviously shine some light on this.

    Given you can escape these problems by visiting a hotel, you might consider whether there could be an environmental cause. For example carbon monoxide poisoning can cause a number of symptoms including paranoia and hallucinations, including auditory. That would be unlikely to follow you between rentals of course but perhaps some other environmental exposure could have similar effects (unless you have a dodgy portable gas heater or something!)

    All said with best wishes and helpful intent.
  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    It just sounds like such a blatant situation that I think it should be relatively easy to gather evidence.
    Are you saying the situation is similar where you are now? Ie - the person in the flat below yours is using a device in order to harass using sound and vibrations?
    If so, then you 'just' need evidence, and I've suggested how you can do that. It should soon become obvious that there is no other plausible cause.
    It sounds hellish.

    If the previous flat was rented by you, I'd be inclined to call in at the new tenant and ask how things are going... If they need a witness to support any anti-soc behaviour from the flat below, you're the fellow :-)
    Just vibration at present.  These guys know full well the council EH are only kitted out for detecting noise, so vibration is the ideal way to torment someone.  Thanks, it has indeed been hellish!
  • coffeehound
    coffeehound Posts: 5,741 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    bpj said:
    Anyone reading this will be thinking psychosis / schizophrenia / hallucinations / fantasist etc, but no; I'm as objective as anyone. 
    One thing to note about the conditions you list are that the sufferer may not be aware they are suffering. The description of industrial ultrasonic transducers causing GI disturbance through concrete when suspended at 5' etc. does sound very unusual, and for your current neighbour to be causing similar mischief even more so! Gathering evidence and involving someone external (police / environmental health) would obviously shine some light on this.

    Given you can escape these problems by visiting a hotel, you might consider whether there could be an environmental cause. For example carbon monoxide poisoning can cause a number of symptoms including paranoia and hallucinations, including auditory. That would be unlikely to follow you between rentals of course but perhaps some other environmental exposure could have similar effects (unless you have a dodgy portable gas heater or something!)

    All said with best wishes and helpful intent.
    @bpj You make a fair point that someone suffering from psychosis will by definition not be aware of their condition.  But those around them certainly will be!  All I can say is I have no history of anything like that and score low for paranoia in personality tests.  I was an R&D technician for 18 years and worked with many different technologies including ultrasonics, so can have a reasonable stab at what was causing the disturbances.  

    I could reel off a long list of reasons why, but suffice to say with 100.000% certainty, this was/is deliberate harrassment by a certain personality type, in very similar properties and caused by the same night time snoring, that for anyone else would be solved by a pair of 50p ear-plugs.  Thank you kindly, I appreciate it :)
  • Bendy_House
    Bendy_House Posts: 4,756 Forumite
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    Coffee, any idea what frequency these vibrations are at? When you 'feel' them, are they a few pulses per second? One pps? What?
    I guess, roughly, if they are inaudible, they must be below around 20Hz? A quick Google suggests that frequencies at around 7Hz can cause nausea and other issues.
    Although not an audible sound, these should still all be pickupable by a microphone, surely - or perhaps a different type of transducer which is attached/pressed down hard to the floor - and be displayed on Audacity or similar? I'm not suggesting it's that straight-forward, but there are a lot of audio forums out there with knowledgable folk who'd be able to advise.
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper I've helped Parliament
    If you are convinced it is not you and always others stop living in flats.

    They do say if when things go wrong once it could just be bad luck,  a second time you need to start looking closer to home, a third time it you not them.

    How long have you been in this new place?
    How long before it started?
  • So basically you say they are retaliating because of your snoring ?
  • Coffee, any idea what frequency these vibrations are at? When you 'feel' them, are they a few pulses per second? One pps? What?
    I guess, roughly, if they are inaudible, they must be below around 20Hz? A quick Google suggests that frequencies at around 7Hz can cause nausea and other issues.
    Although not an audible sound, these should still all be pickupable by a microphone, surely - or perhaps a different type of transducer which is attached/pressed down hard to the floor - and be displayed on Audacity or similar? I'm not suggesting it's that straight-forward, but there are a lot of audio forums out there with knowledgable folk who'd be able to advise.
    Not sure which we're talking about here Bendy.  In the current place and the earlier stages of the previous place, it was device like I linked to above which can be set to a range of different frequencies.  Once I'd raised the bed off the floor using shock cords, it was quite well isolated.  But the guy realised that by sweeping through the frequesncies, it only needed one to be passed through the cords to wake me up, which is what I think Freebear alluded to earlier in the thread -- in a tuned system, some frequencies will still get through.  In general terms, though, that thing feels like a washing machine on spin cycle in the next room -- general rumbling through the floor.

    As to what he was using after that, I'm not 100% sure.  It could be felt like a torch beam being shone about, so was a directional beam.  My best guess is ultrasonics either through a transducer, or maybe some high power sounder or speaker.  It didn't feel warm so wasn't microwaves a la Havana syndrome.
  • So basically you say they are retaliating because of your snoring ?
    It's a complex picture, but yes, that was the main problem for them.  As mentioned before, for probably most people, it would just be a case of putting in ear plugs to solve the problem, but these kind of over-sensitive guys can't cope with that kind of discomfort.  There is other stuff as well though; they tend to go to bed early, and don't like anyone who is active after that.  They can't deal with something like someone typing (as I type this, the guy downstairs is slamming doors to register his dissatisfaction).  It's like living in a mental institution.
  • Bendy_House
    Bendy_House Posts: 4,756 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    edited 13 November 2021 at 1:57PM
    Your choices would appear to be
    1) Do nothing about the folk in the flat below - but explore treatment for your snoring.
    2) Move to a small detached property, or at least one more suited with having an isolated layout - perhaps a side wing or annexe of a larger property
    3) Take action - start recording and analysing the vibes. As I said, there are forums out there with specific skills who I'm sure will guide you. You don't even have to say what it's for - just that you want to monitor and analyse (display as waveforms, transpose, record, etc) infra and ultra sounds.
  • theoretica
    theoretica Posts: 12,685 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    A tangential action would be, if you don't already know, to measure how loud your snoring is.  You say it is at the level of 50p earplugs - but is that knowledge or assumption?  Some people have no idea how loud theirs is, and snoring can be over 100 dB.  Measured loudness would be useful information for seeking treatment if yours is indeed worryingly loud.
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