shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Hubby and I share an office and the pounding of the keyboard drives me crazy* (ok, technically it just makes me really upset, not crazy). Right now he has a USB Apple keyboard. The problem is that he uses two fingers to type and hence pounds on the keys. Please help my marriage by telling me there is a quietish keyboard solution out there. *This is probably related to my other noise issues like people eating, etc. So, if there is no such keyboard, I would appreciate the name of a good shrink or drugs.
The Monkey Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Not helpful, but the sound of other people eating sends me into a rage. Thank god you're crazy, too.
Grahame Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 I've heard there are these things called headphones that may help ...
shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Posted October 11, 2012 Ok, yes, very funny. I use headphones most of the time but I cannot or do not want to wear them all the time. Plus, sometimes there are quiet passages.
falkon Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Keyboards have 2 sources of noise: 1. poorly fitted keycaps rattling 2. the key bottoming out Just take him to a best buy and have him try typing on some keyboards there. Some of the short-press (laptop) keyboards may be better. If you don't mind torturing him, you might just make him use this: I'm sure if you google 'silent keyboard' you can probably find some niche manufacturers but I haven't personally tried any.
Dusty Chalk Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Keyboards have 2 sources of noise: 1. poorly fitted keycaps rattling 2. the key bottoming outI was thinking this and thought that maybe some rubber grommets or foam might help the bottoming out part. That said, maybe figure something out that sends him a little electrical shock if he hits it too hard. My office would drive you crazy, not only are people noisy with their keyboards, they're noisy with their mouths. "Why is the system Sooooo Slooooooow!" etc. Thankfully, it's only once a week.
Dreadhead Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Not helpful, but the sound of other people eating sends me into a rage. Thank god you're crazy, too. My wife suffers from the same illness.
RudeWolf Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Not helpful, but the sound of other people eating sends me into a rage. Thank god you're crazy, too. I have punched people for eating loudly. What maddens me the most is supping and chewing without closing the lips. When I was living in Iceland I had a roommate who had a habit of eating loudly. The only thing that kept me from horribly mutilating him were my HD25-II's. Then again even with headphones I KNEW that he was eating like a LOUD ESTONIAN SWINE!!!!!11111
skullguise Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 At home, I put a small/long pad under the keyboard, it helped lighten the sounds a bit. Some is the keys themselves of course, but the vibration or impact on the desk itself adds a lot more noise than I thought it would..... You may be able to get a not-so-perfectly-quiet keyboard and just use the pad underneath. And BTW, I'm a 6-finger typer! Index and occasionally middle finger on each hand, and thumbs on each hand for space bar. Odd duck I be, but I never learned to touch type and this works for me.
shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Posted October 11, 2012 (edited) Yeah, I think some sort of gel pad under the keyboard may help. I don't think the virtual keyboards may work since it seems to be the pounding on the keyboard that drives me crazy. I tried "typing" with two fingers on the surface on hubby's IKEA table/desk and it makes quite a bit of noise still. Hubby seems to think you need to kill each key (even though the keys on the Apple keyboard doesn't really need to be pressed very hard). I noticed that the Logitech MX5500 keyboard that I bought to use with the PS3 is a fair amount quieter (but it is bluetooth and takes up too much space). Too bad I don't have time in the next month to get to Micro Center to try out keyboards. Glad to know that there are crazies out there. Pretty much everyday I want to punch someone for eating "loudly." The worst is when someone decides to bring something to eat during a nice quiet seminar and they always seem to sit next to me and then its really hard for me to concentrate on the speaker. I also had a lot of trouble when I was in China because of the way that people eat there. I wonder if there is a larger percentage of people who are irritated by noises (to the point of wanting to punch someone - I guess it's called misophonia) in the headphone community. One of the reasons I originally got into headphones was to drown out outside noises so I could concentrate. Edited October 11, 2012 by shellylh
morphsci Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 I actually discovered that once I got married I was able to shut off outside sounds completely.
shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Posted October 11, 2012 By the way, if you have misophonia, do not see the movie "Eat, Pay, Love" - awful.
blessingx Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 By the way, if you're human, do not see the movie "Eat, Pay, Love" - awful. Fixed. 1
Grahame Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 What do you know. Endgadget reviews the Matias Quiet Pro ,,, http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/11/matias-quiet-pro-keyboard-review/
shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Posted October 11, 2012 But a mechanical keyboard will be louder in general... "While it's still a bit louder than your run-of-the-mill membrane-based keyboard, the Quiet Pro is very quiet by mechanical keyboard standards."
deepak Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 Laptop keyboard sounds used to drive me insane when I studied at the library. I guess I wasn't the only one since there were a few other crazies like me that used to use earplugs even in the quiet no talking areas Fortunately no more intense, stressed out days like that for me ever again and keyboards don't bother me any more. Oh yes and the other thing that drove me mental was when people had their laptop speakers cranked and you could hear the Windows/Mac turn on jingle even through the earplugs.
dsavitsk Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 I took a Lenovo Thinkpad USB keyboard and opened it up and filled the hollow bits (all of it) with Dynamat sound dampener. This is basically gooey tar with a foil backing. I then put a layer of adhesive rubber on the bottom. Keyboard is solid as a rock, and very quiet -- not quite silent, but better than most others I've tried.
shellylh Posted October 11, 2012 Author Report Posted October 11, 2012 Wow, that is impressive. How many hollow bits are there and how long did it take?
swt61 Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 How many hollow bits are there and how long did it take? a one, a two, a three...
dsavitsk Posted October 11, 2012 Report Posted October 11, 2012 The whole thing is basically an empty shell. My issue is that I wanted the feel of the Thinkpad, wanted to use a smaller X series computer as my main computer, but also wanted a large monitor. The external keyboard is the same as what they use on the laptops, but the shell does not offer as much support as a dense laptop body. So I was really filling it with goop in order to make it solid and heavy. The noise dampening was a side benefit. The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the case open. All of that said, it is still not silent. I think the only way you are going to not hear the keyboard at all is to go in the other room
Dreadhead Posted October 12, 2012 Report Posted October 12, 2012 (edited) Maybe of interest: http://m.engadget.com/2012/10/11/matias-quiet-pro-keyboard-review/?icid=eng_latest_art Edited October 12, 2012 by Dreadhead
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