Ask HN: How to noise cancel out a specific annoying sound?

There was a stackoverflow question (IIRC) long ago on how to disable a mobile phone's camera shutter sound, and the answer was to record the sound, inverse it and play it when the camera is activated so that the two sounds cancel each other out. Not sure if it worked though, or if it helps in your case, as precise timing is needed for this to work.

Does this happen at a specific time of day (e.g., start/end of shift) or randomly? The quickest way would be to wear ANC headphones during the most noisy times. Then, if possible and allowed, you could look into soundproofing your windows. Maybe reach out to the garage owner as well and tell them about your situation.

Get married. You get better with practice.

Wire cutters? Seriously though, it will be a struggle to defeat if it is random.

Active noise cancellation of a known sound pattern is actually pretty easy (technologically). The inverse of the sound wave collides with the sound waves and cancels them out.

I’d do it with an arduino, use a microphone to listen for the specific sound and trigger the opposite sound (which you’ll have prepared ahead of time and saved). Arduino programming is pretty straightforward. And now with AI you could probably just prompt one of the top five ai products for the code.

Then it’s a question of getting the sound projected in the right direction. You’ll probably want a speaker array pointed towards the source of the sound. I think a soundbar might be a good start.

In the short term headphones with active noise cancellation work great. I use earbuds under comfortable hearing protection.

I also like the wire cutters idea. I hate those alarms.

city ordinance. parts about noise, etc