* I’m currently reading a non-fiction book titled One Square Inch of Silence, and it’s about how an auditory ecologist (if you can imagine this) who chose one little inch in a national park to protect from sound pollution, why he did this, and what happens next. This has made me hyper-alert to noise–lawn mowers, traffic, planes overhead, that music blaring from the teen’s car across the street, and the piercing of my quiet moments by the sound of the seemingly-endlessly-repeated question, “Mom?” If the author of that book can protect his little inch in the world, perhaps I can find a little silence here at home as well. All roads seem to lead to insulation, don’t they? But how about a vertical garden to bring “insulation, noise control, and a little urban reminder of the world outside” (as it says on this blog, about the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, which is pictured). It’s like a little taste of that national park (and Europe) right on my home. Wouldn’t this be something?
* A bit more modest approach to using vegetation to reduce sound could be as simple as adding some more trees to your yard to provide not only a visual buffer but a sound buffer as well between you and the neighbor’s pool parties (unless, of course, you’re reaching for your swimsuit when you hear that first splash) or from street traffic. Here’s an interesting article (which is where I found this photo) about living with noise.
* Planning an addition and thinking about sound control (such as for a recording studio or home theater), or wanting to add soundproofing to an existing room (such as the room where your son practices his drums)? Consider the noise-drowning effects of carpets, drapes, acoustic ceiling spray, solid wood doors, double-paned windows, eggcrate foam, and acoustically-transparent fabric (such as that pictured here, from this blog post about dream home theater set-ups).
* Wanna’ be a good neighbor about sound? If you mow your own lawn, consider a sound-free electric model (particularly in you have a small yard). You’ll also keep from spewing toxins into the air, which is pretty neighborly of you. 
If many people in your neighborhood hire companies to mow their lawns, you might want to see if folks are able to request service on just one or two days during the week so at least there are some days when there’s a lawn mower break. Especially now that so many people work at home, this could be a really-appreciated neighborhood suggestion.
* If I do happen to catch a few uninterrupted moments of nothing-but-birds-chirping, here’s where you’ll usually find me. In fact, when I planted two trees about ten years ago to provide a buffer from the neighbors, I planted them with a future hammock in mind. My fave hammock, by the way, is this one from Byer’s of Maine. I honestly can’t tell you how comfortable this is, and since you determine how it folds up around you by repositioning yourself, it not only shields you from the sun, when needed, but also from the kids, when the inevitable sound of “Mom?” starts up again! Not trying to hide from the family? Go for the big one, then.
If you’re planting trees, keep the idea of accommodating a hammock in mind (you can use a hammock stand in the meantime). Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
Add a vertical wall, get some trees planted, sound-proof a home theater (or teen room!) with help from service professionals you find on Kudzu. And then curl up with a good book, perhaps one about silence.
