I am rather upset by noise and found, living in upper Manhattan with its continuous roaring fire engines, police sirens, auto alarms, loud radios in cars and the streets, midnight parties in the back yards, screaming dysfunctional families and drunks etc. to make life pretty intolerable. Since moving to Helsinki I have found the pleasant quiet one of the major pleasures of life. It is a cultural thing and in a noisy environment only a special thick walled construction with padded walls might do the trick but this is rather expensive construction an not likely to come about easily.

they are called "adult" buildings, where, somewhat reasonable, persons of a mature nature are allowed to obtain residence in.

Of course, certain human rights needs to be observed, lest the building managers be put in front of a board for discrimination.

Like sand said, if you live where there is noise, you'll hear it. Even if your neighbors are quiet, if you have a train outside your door or live under a runway...

I prefer a situation where people get along and talk. If someone wants to have a party in his own place, I think you should cut him some slack for the day you want to host a party. If he does it all the time, that's different.

No kids, no home theate, no parties--sounds like 'no fun' to me.

I live on ten acres in the middle of po-dunk. I gotta wear earplugs most Saturdays when I'm welding and banging. But no neighbors to care.

If you do not like noise, take a metal hanger, unwind it, straighten it out, heat up one end, and jam it into your ears, problem solved.

Or how about some earplugs?