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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A man has revealed the extreme steps he's taking to block out his noisy roommates at night while he's trying to sleep, but there's a problem with his approach.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, around 50 to 70 million Americans are living with sleep disorders while one in three adults are failing to get the recommended amount of healthy, uninterrupted sleep.
Isaak, from Arizona, who chose not to share his full name, is among those struggling to get enough sleep at night though, in his case, it's for entirely unavoidable reasons.
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"I live rent free with my mom," he told Newsweek. "My sister and her husband live rent-free with us too and since they have no expenses, my sister doesn't work many hours and her husband doesn't work, which means they don't have a reason to go to bed on time."
That's led to them keeping some unusual hours, which has posed something of a problem with Isaak. "They stay up all night going around the house, cooking, opening and closing doors, etc," he said. "I'm a light sleeper and it wakes me up." The couple also keep pets, which has only added to the cacophony of nightly noise.
Isaak has hit upon a unique solution to the problem though: his very own soundproof sleep box. "My sleeping box is built out of six 4x8 sheets of melamine particle board," he said. "The door is held shut airtight with magnets and foam gasket tape."
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Resembling something not entirely dissimilar to a casket, albeit a much comfier one, Isaak estimates he has spent around 15 hours so far building his soundproof sleep box.
In a post shared to Reddit under the handle IsaacNewtonx40, Isaak offered a glimpse of the exterior and interior of his new sleeping quarters. Though it might look like the finished article, it's not without its teething problems.
For one thing, it's not safe to actually sleep inside yet. "I'm working on creating a baffle box to allow air to come in without sound entering. Once that is built, I'll sleep in it," he said. "For now, the buildup of CO2 would be dangerously high considering the box is airtight."
It's also not technically soundproof at this point either. That's another aspect Isaak is still working on. "So far, there is a massive reduction in sound inside of the box," he said.
"However, bass still finds its way inside. For that reason, I may have to increase rigidity by adding additional mass to the enclosure and an air bladder underneath to isolate it from vibrations in the floorboards propagated by my nocturnal roommates and their animals."
Despite these snags, Isaak is dedicated to his task and has taken heart from some of the positive responses he has received online. "I had a few people message me saying they've been sleeping in a soundproof box for years," he said. "It was so wild to hear that I'm not alone in this."
Isaak is now planning to regularly update followers on Reddit of his progress. "I've decided to document the entire process of my project in hopes that it will help someone else," he said.
Watch this space.
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