Noisy neighbor? Device gives taste of their own medicine

Wallsound speaker /Courtesy of Wallsound

Have you ever been annoyed with loud upstairs neighbors, but not known how to get them to tread lighter?

A Korean company thinks it has the answer – a device that allows users to send the noise right back through the ceiling.

Called “Wallsound,” the device is fixed onto one’s ceiling. It is advertised to gather “60 to 70 percent” of the noise in a person’s flat and amplify it through the ceiling.

The product sells on the company’s website and major Korean online shopping sites.

Reviews of the product have been mixed, with some applauding it as a needed antidote for noisy neighbors and others doubting the gadget’s effectiveness.

In a dispute last year between two neighbors, the Seoul Central District Court partially accepted a restraining order requested by a man, whose downstairs neighbor was haranguing him over noise levels.

The court said that the downstairs neighbor could not bang on his neighbor’s door or ring his doorbell, but could send him text messages, shout through the ceiling or knock on the ceiling.