Room Noise Levels in Everyday Home Life

The Importance of Room Volume

The concept of "room volume" is a term from everyday life, not from technology. It doesn't describe a setting, but rather what can still be heard beyond one's own four walls. That's why it can't be represented by a number on the remote control.

A result in the adjacent room

The key factor here is the room where the sound is heard; in your own living room, the volume can be higher as long as the walls, ceiling, and doors absorb enough of it. This is exactly why the same TV, set to the same volume, goes unnoticed in one house but is a constant source of complaint in another. And it explains why it’s hard to judge the volume from the comfort of your sofa.

That doesn't mean complete silence, though. A little background noise from the neighboring apartment is simply part of living, especially in buildings with thin walls. The line is drawn when background noise becomes something you can clearly hear.

The lack of a specific decibel value

There is no officially established standard for indoor noise levels. Nevertheless, figures of around 40 decibels during the day and around 30 decibels at night—measured at the neighbor’s property—are widely cited. These figures stem from individual court rulings and guidelines that were actually intended for other purposes, which is why they serve as a point of reference but not as a universally applicable upper limit. Construction methods and distance significantly affect the result anyway.

In everyday life, “quiet hours” are generally considered to be the time starting at 10 p.m. However, there is no uniform nationwide regulation for this, because the guidelines are set by the states and local governments and are often supplemented by building rules in many residential complexes, so the times can vary from place to place.

Room noise level in decibels

First and foremost, the decibel is the unit of measurement for sound pressure level. The scale condenses a very wide range of sound pressure levels into manageable numbers, which is why there are only about 40 points between a quiet room and a busy street. Measuring devices weight frequencies in a similar way to the human ear, which is why measurements are often expressed as dB(A).

Decibels in Everyday Life

The numbers only become meaningful when compared. The following values apply to typical distances from the noise source. Surprisingly, the TV doesn't appear on this list. There is simply no set level for it.

As a rule of thumb, an increase of about 10 decibels sounds roughly twice as loud. Small adjustments to the volume control therefore make a bigger difference than the number alone would suggest.

Two numbers that are both correct

This is where many people get tripped up. A TV in the living room is often at a normal conversation level or slightly above it. At the same time, only 30 to 40 decibels should reach the neighbor’s home. But what does that actually mean?

The higher value describes the sound level in the living room itself—that is, where the device is located. The lower value describes what remains of that sound after it passes through the exterior wall. The building's insulation lies between these two values. It often varies significantly from building to building.

The number on the remote control

TVs display the volume as a value between 0 and 100. This value has no fixed relationship to decibels and simply describes the position of the control knob on the device. The same value corresponds to different volume levels on two different TVs.

The volume level is also affected by the audio source, the sound mode, and—especially—a connected soundbar. So two devices aren’t really comparable anyway. An agreement like “never over 20” is therefore of little use. A more reliable approach is to test the volume in the next room or outside the apartment door.

The Journey of TV Sound Next Door

Not all TV sounds travel equally well through rooms and walls. To figure this out, you need to understand which sounds actually manage to travel loudly through walls. Only then can you determine where turning down the volume will actually make a difference.

Low notes come through first

Low frequencies are often harder to block than higher frequencies. That’s why you often hear bass, movie soundtracks, or muffled sound effects coming from the neighboring apartment, while individual words are barely intelligible. How noticeable this is, however, depends heavily on the building’s construction and the walls between the rooms.

Some of it doesn't travel through the air, but rather as structure-borne sound through the floor. If a speaker or subwoofer is placed on a piece of furniture or directly on the floor, it transmits vibrations into the building structure. In such cases, turning down the bass level a bit is more effective than any other measure.

Construction and Installation

How much of the TV sound actually reaches the neighbors depends heavily on the building. Solid walls and well-insulated ceilings usually block more sound than lightweight partition walls or doors that aren’t properly sealed. In homes with thin walls, the volume therefore often needs to be turned down further so that as little of it as possible can be heard outside your own apartment.

Even if there are many things you can’t control, you do have control over the placement of your TV or other devices. If the sound is directed straight at the adjacent wall, it travels farther than if it’s directed into the room, so simply repositioning the device can help. Placing a soft pad under the device and keeping it a few centimeters away from the wall reduces sound transmission without requiring you to turn the volume down. Carpets, curtains, and filled shelves also absorb reflections within your room.

Assessing Your Own Volume

It often takes a while to realize just how loud the TV has actually become over time. Small adjustments to the volume control can easily go unnoticed in everyday life, while other members of the household or the neighbors are more likely to notice them.

A simple test can therefore help you quickly assess the situation. Leave the TV on and step briefly into the next room or outside your front door. If you can still hear the sound clearly there, it’s worth turning the volume down a little more.

Consideration in Community Life

It is often observed that noise from a neighbor’s apartment is particularly bothersome when it can be heard repeatedly over an extended period of time. With regard to the TV, this can be especially noticeable in the evening, when music, sound effects, or occasional loud noises regularly penetrate through walls and ceilings. It’s not just about the volume.

Lack of Understanding as the Cause

One reason a TV might be kept at a consistently high volume is that the dialogue is hard to understand. If you turn up the volume in this situation, you’re making the whole apartment louder without really improving the audio for yourself. This makes a noticeable difference for the neighbors, but does little to help you understand what’s being said.

Another option involves devices that output sound directly at the listener’s seat, such as a TV voice amplifier like OSKAR. This keeps the volume in the room at a level that everyone else can tolerate. The sound that carries into the next room is then no longer determined by the person with the poorest hearing.

Before resorting to additional technology, however, it’s worth taking a look at the audio settings. Depending on your TV, you can boost the midrange, activate a voice mode, or select audio tracks that emphasize speech. Sitting closer to the speaker can also help keep the overall volume in the room lower.

Different Household Needs

When it comes to volume, people in the same household often have different preferences. One person wants to turn the TV up a bit, while the other finds it too loud almost immediately. As a result, the volume gets adjusted over and over again while watching TV, without either person ever finding a setting that really works for both of them.

Other Opportunities in Everyday Life

In addition, there are a few simple steps you can take that often help reduce the noise level in the room a bit.

• Sit closer to the TV so that speech remains easy to understand even at lower volumes.
• Turn on Night Mode or dynamic range limiting so that particularly loud sections stand out less.
• Turn down the bass slightly if low frequencies in particular are noticeable in adjacent rooms.
• Use subtitles if needed when you want to watch TV very quietly in the evening.
• Talk to your neighbors early on if noise levels keep coming up as an issue.

Whether a sound is perceived as disturbing depends on more than just its volume. Its duration, the time of day, and the type of sound also play a role. Therefore, a combination of appropriate settings, slightly lower room volume, and simple communication often helps.