Living among this commotion day in and day out became too much very quickly. Since I couldn’t get out of my lease, I needed to get creative. My quest for quiet led me to the magic of Bluetooth and its plethora of compatible products, including the Silensys E7 Active Noise Cancelling Headphones and the Toksel Visible Bluetooth Transmitter Receiver.I used the headphones and the transmitter together to listen to my TV, because on any given night, I wouldn’t be able to hear it against my neighbors’ competing entertainment system. While these technically didn’t give me the quiet I was craving, it blocked out some of their noise in favor of my own, which was a solid compromise at the time. To buy: From $40; amazon.com. The Toksel receivermakes your TV Bluetooth-compatible (if it isn’t already; many smart TVs available today already come equipped with Bluetooth), and it’s incredibly easy to use. Just plug the audio cable into your TV’s audio output, turn the device on, click the “M” key to switch it into TV mode, and voilà, you’ve got a Bluetooth TV. The Bluetooth transmitter has an 18-hour battery life and requires three hours for a full recharge. Once it’s set up, click the search button on the device, which will locate your Silensys headphones (or any Bluetooth-compatible model). Turn on the Bluetooth capabilities before turning on the transmitter, and note that it may take a few minutes when you are connecting them for the very first time, but after that, subsequent connections are instant. To buy: $50; amazon.com. I like the Silensys headphones because they offer both regular and noise-canceling options. The latter, in my opinion, yields a higher-quality sound experience, and the lightweight headphones themselves are pretty comfortable thanks to the cushioned ear pieces. Just make sure to keep them charged so they’re ready to go when you are—though with a 30-hour battery life, I feel like I rarely charged them. Plus, they don’t just die on you: If you are in the middle of watching TV and hear a beep, that means the battery is low. The more beeps you hear, the closer the device is to dying. If you need a charge fast, an hour will do. However, I would recommend charging for a few hours to get them back to full strength. I can say without a doubt that had I not purchased the Silensys Noise Cancelling Headphones and the Toksel Bluetooth Transmitter, I would have lost my mind in that noisy building. After hooking the devices up, not only was I able to hear my own entertainment with great clarity, but my anxieties and anger over my unfortunate living situation lessened significantly, which improved my mental health overall. Not once did I hear competing music or TV noise from my neighbors while utilizing these devices. In fact, on one Saturday night while I was deep in a movie, I removed my Bluetooth headphones briefly and discovered that my neighbor was having a full-on rager next door. I had no idea an entire party was going on a wall away from me, and when I put my headphones back on, the party ceased to exist.
