History Main / RightThroughTheWall

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Any college student living in a dormitory has had to deal with this.
** As has almost anyone who's stayed in a hotel. Not just sleazy motels, either; even good hotels aren't soundproof, and the chance your room will be next to people having sex is pretty good.
* According to Bob Denver's autobiography, he heard Tina Louise and her fiance in a wild tryst with each other in her dressing room, while he was trying to sleep in his.
* Videos recorded outside doors or next to walls where a neighbor is having loud sex (usually recorded in dorm buildings or hotels) are ubiquitous on Website/YouTube, to the point where it borders on meme territory.
[[/folder]]

%%* [[http://xkcd.com/316/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip, [[GeniusBonus in true xkcd fashion.]]

--> '''Leliana''': I suppose he must like [[TheImmodestOrgasm your shrieking]], you sound like a genlock being murdered -- a sweet, sweet sound to a Grey Warden. You should try a little harder next time he takes you. I don't think they heard you in the Anderfels.

-->'''Chandler:''' We share a wall. So either he's great in bed or she just likes to agree with him a lot.

** Joey has similar complaints about Chandler and ''his'' girlfriends. In "[[Recap/FriendsS1E24TheOneWhereRachelFindsOut The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy]]", when Janice insists that they spend the day together because, " That's how long it takes to love me", Joey mutters under his breath, "I know. I live in the next room."

** One episode has Monica hiding in a bathroom behind a shower curtain when her parents come in, not knowing she's there. Cut to Jack and Judy coming downstairs, adjusting their clothes, and Monica following them, looking horrified.

* This happens in ''ComicBook/LostGirls''. When one of the characters goes to tell them to keep quiet he sees that they're both women and loses his nerve.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAge''

In the ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' arc "Backfired" Norman moves up from the basement to the bedroom next to Richard and Anne, who keep him awake for a week before he takes some "sleeping pills" and conks out on the couch with his eyes wide open.

-->'''B'Elanna''': ''[reading from the PADD]'' "Stardate 52648, 0300 hours: intimate relations resume." ''[addressing Seven directly]'' How the hell do you know when we're having intimate relations?\\
'''Seven of Nine''': There is no one on Deck 9 Section 12 who doesn't know when you're having intimate relations.

* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': A PlayedForLaughs {{Yuri}} example. At the end of Volume 2, when Milkit is cleaning Flum’s ears they hear strange noises from Eterna’s room. As it turns out, she could hear everything in their room. Due to their dialogue and InnocentInnuendo, Eterna thought they were engaging in more adult activities. Others misunderstandings ensued until Flum finally made it clear they were merely cleaning each other’s ears.

* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': A PlayedForLaughs Yuri example. At the end of Volume 2, when Milkit is cleaning Flum’s ears they hear strange noises from Eterna’s room. As it turns out, she could hear the everything in their room. Due to their dialogue and InnocentInnuendo, Eterna thought they were engaging in more adult activities. Others misunderstandings ensued until Flum finally made it clear they were merely cleaning each other’s ears.

In works set in apartment buildings, characters will inevitably have to [[CeilingBanger deal with their noisy neighbors]]. In more risqué comedies, this becomes especially problematic when the neighbors aren't merely loud about their daily business, but also their [[ImmodestOrgasm bedroom business]]. How the characters respond to overhearing these noises is up to them, though frequently, they decide to [[LoudOfWar provide their own noises]] in response to give the loud couple next door ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine.

Sometimes the trope is [[InvertedTrope turned on its head]], with the main characters ''trying'' to be heard right through the wall for some reason — to prove how great their sex life is, or to make their neighbors feel uncomfortable, for example. Another popular variation involves the noise turning out to be [[NotWhatItLooksLike something completely innocent]] like moving furniture.

When not set in the world of comedy, this trope is quite often used as a means of reminding the audiences that this particular apartment building our character has just entered ''really'' is as shady and populated with a bunch of suspicious characters as it appears from the outside, the reasoning behind this being, of course, that SexIsEvil.

Anyone who has lived in a college dorm or an apartment will know that this can be TruthInTelevision. See also CeilingBanger for a similar trope (and what something like this may very well elicit). Nothing to do with RightThroughHisPants. Or, for that matter, when [[ImpactSilhouette someone moves]] [[ThereWasADoor right through]] [[IntangibleMan a wall]]. For couples whose sexy-times are so vigorous that they ''break'' the wall, see DestructoNookie.

Can have some crossover with CallingYourOrgasms and TheImmodestOrgasm. Compare DontComeAKnockin, for a more visual effect communicating the same thing. Contrast SexInASharedRoom, where the point is that there is no wall between the passive observer/witness and the couple.

* Variant: In the omake of ''Manga/FutureLovers'', Akira, after moving in with Kento and his grandparents, is initially reluctant to have sex with Kento where his grandparents could hear them, but Kento reassures him that they're too hard-of-hearing to hear them go at it. Cut to the morning-after scene, where Kento's grandfather asks [[DidTheEarthMoveForYouToo if there was an earthquake last night]] and his grandmother just gives them a Look.
* Louise and Saito narrowly avoided subjecting their classmates to this in ''LightNovel/TheFamiliarOfZero'', when Saito reacts to Louise's priestess outfit with extreme enthusiasm. The passionate semi-roleplay gets quite intense until they hear a knock on a wall warning them not to do anything improper in rooms with thin walls, and then concluding "Lemon-chan? Really?"
* Naturally, it happens in ''Manga/FutariEcchi''. Yura and Makoto are scared of having sex while staying over at her parents' because they fear they'll be heard and interrupted, despite being married already. [[spoiler:IIRC, it actually turns out Yura's ''parents'' are kiiiiinda loud...]]
* ''Manga/DontMeddleWithMyDaughter'': After reuniting with her husband, after almost 20 years of separation [[spoiler: across space-time]], Athena and BM spend every night making up for it. They've tried to keep it down so they won't disturb their 17-year-old daughter Clara, but she can still hear them because she's inherited [[FlyingBrick Athena's]] {{super senses}}.
* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': A played for laughs Yuri example. At the end of Volume 2, when Milkit is cleaning Flum’s ears they hear strange noises from Eterna’s room. As it turns out, she could hear the everything in their room. Due to their dialogue and InnocentInnuendo, Eterna thought they were engaging in more adult activities. Others misunderstandings ensued until Flum finally made it clear they were merely cleaning each other’s ears.

* This happens in ''Lost Girls''. When one of the characters goes to tell them to keep quiet he sees that they're both women and loses his nerve.

* A running gag in ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'', where many of the characters are loud about their sex lives.
* In ''ComicBook/PrisonWitch'', Tanya is cellmates with Kalia and Shawn, and can hear them having sex. Every night. For ''hours.''

* In ''Film/WhatLiesBeneath'', Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeifer's characters hear the neighbours going at it and decide to compete with them.
* ''Film/LAStory'', at one point, has Steve Martin and his date in one room of a motel, and the woman Steve Martin's character is in love with and her date in the next room.

* This trope is ''essential'' to the plot of ''Film/EasyA''.
* At the end of ''Film/MySuperExGirlfriend'', this is taken extremely literally, in a most physical level. It's not just noise that goes through the wall, [[DestructoNookie but the participants as well]].

* Michael J. Fox's character in ''Film/TheSecretOfMySuccess'' is a victim of this trope. Best sequence is when at one point, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Xsfm69Weco when his horny neighbours are getting it on]] while he's trying to work, he goes to the fridge for a canned beer, grabs a stick, and begins waving it like he's holding a conductor's baton. We know that they do this a lot because he can mouth along with their dirty talk, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything and cracks his (overflowing) beer right at the moment of climax.]] Then he sits down at his desk and says, "You guys were good tonight." Unfortunately, the neighbours later on have another round, so he puts his head under his pillow trying to keep the noise out, but is unsuccessful, upon which he bleakly mimes being an orchestra conductor to the beat of the couple's increasing wails.

* Happens a lot at the beginning of ''Film/{{Bound 1996}}''.

* In ''Film/AnalyzeThat'', Ben Sobel and his wife get annoyed at Paul Vitti's "friend" moaning for forty minutes. Ben goes complaining, a discussion ensues ("We don't think it's necessary to wake the neighbors every time we have sex.") …only for the friend to restart ("I told her if I wasn't back in two minutes to start without me. I gotta go.").
* One Creator/CheechAndChong movie made it seem like two characters were having very loud and rambunctious sex inside a van, much to the embarrassment of those outside. However, the guy was moaning and banging the wall because of a cramp in his leg, while the girl was trying to demonstrate the noises her roommate made while having sex.
* At the end of ''Film/ClassAct'', Duncan's parents hear a banging in the room above them. Due to the MistakenForGay storyline borne out of their lack of understanding of urban black culture, his dad fears Duncan is having sex with Blade. He goes up there and catches Duncan instead [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday having sex with Damita]]. After dad explains to mom what happened, mom gets horny and pounces dad.
* The Tim Allen movie ''Film/ForRicherOrPoorer'' has his character Brad and wife Caroline (Kirstie Alley) staying in an Amish home. Despite long, tiring work-filled days, their hosts provide rigorous, squeaky-springed sound effects almost every night. When Brad and Caroline rekindle their relationship, their hosts get treated to the same sound effects.
* In ''Film/FightClub'', the main character gets exasperated at how he can hear Tyler and Marla having wild sex upstairs every single time, with the plaster on the ceiling even crumbling with their movements. [[spoiler:Becomes downright weird when you realize that the main character and Tyler ''are the same person''.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smSxcg1DhiQ Jamal's neighbors]] in ''Film/FindingForrester''.
* The Jackie Chan movie ''Film/ArmorOfGod II'', has Jackie and a woman fighting with two thugs in her apartment at night. The hotel manager downstairs thinks it is this.
* Georgette and Joseph in the café bathroom in ''Film/{{Amelie}}'', making all the cups and crockery rattle. Amelie covers up the sound of TheImmodestOrgasm by running the espresso machine.
* ''Film/{{Beetlejuice}}'' -- as the Maitlands try to scare Mrs. Deetz in her bedroom, their ghostly moaning is heard by Delia in the next room, as she grumbles in disgust thinking it's her parents.
* The short ''Film/{{Thin Walls}}'' was all about this. A hot woman moves in next door to a nerd, who can hear her at night (I remember the boyfriend as a member of The Knack). He bribes a co-worker into recording passionate screaming, which he plays back at high volume to attract the neighbor.
* In the Creator/AlanAlda film ''Film/TheFourSeasons'', him and his wife are in one of the staterooms on the yacht the three couples have rented, listening as they hear one of the other couples on the boat going at it hot and heavy.

* In ''Film/Unknown2011'', at Gina's place, we hear noisy sex from the next room which leads to an awkward moment between Gina and the hero.
* Göran in ''Film/{{Together}}'' is forced to listen to his girlfriend Lena and Erik having loud sex next door.

* In ''Film/LizzieBordensRevenge'', Janice dares Ashley and Leslie to make out. Ashley and Leslie adjourn to Ashley's room and do so. Their orgasmic squeals can be heard in the lounge: to [[GirlOnGirlIsHot Janice's delight]] and the other girls' discomfort.

* A short mystery story by Steven Saylor has an amorous couple in ancient Rome (well, the countryside near it). The detective's teenage son listens eagerly but is shy when they heavily flirt in front of him.

* ''The Bronze Horseman'' by Paullina Simons. InsatiableNewlyweds Tatiana and Alexander have a [[SlapSlapKiss loud argument, then equally loud sex]] in a communal Soviet apartment. Afterwards, they start a seditious discussion which Alexander quickly shuts down because the neighbours are likely [[SecretPolice NKVD]] [[BigBrotherIsWatchingYou informers]]. Tatiana just quips, "Well they've heard everything else."

* Occurs as comic relief in Frank Yerby's novel ''The Voyage Unplanned'': the hero's love interest accuses him of having had very '''loud''' sex with another woman the night before. The supposed other woman was actually a terrorist who tried to murder him, and the orgasmic screams really came from the hotel room '''next''' to his. He proves this by banging on the wall and calling:

* Played around with in ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}''. Siri quickly discovers that [[GodKing Susebron]]'s priests are listening through the wall when she goes in to see him every night to try to make sure she's fulfilling her wifely duties. Since she ''isn't'', largely because [[spoiler:Seb is a bit of a ManChild and doesn't even know what sex ''is'']], she starts beginning every evening by bouncing up and down on the bed and making very enthusiastic noises while her husband stares at her like she's gone nuts.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Sansa is grossed out by her aunt Lysa's loud screaming during her having sex with Petyr. The take they used was the only one where Creator/SophieTurner [[{{Corpsing}} didn't laugh]].
* An episode of ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' involved Samantha experiencing loud neighbors who had vocal sex every night immediately after the late news. After she 'joins in' with her own noises, she receives a note from them inviting her to join them in person. Though she is originally keen on the idea of a threesome with the couple who seem to enjoy sex so much, she soon realizes that the couple are overweight and unattractive, so she just tells them to keep it down in future.

* In ABC's short-lived drama ''Six Degrees'', Carlos is searching for a new apartment to allow for some privacy for his roommate. At a particularly tiny one, he overhears a couple making love, so the real estate agent pretends they're having vocal sex to annoy them. [[spoiler:It turns out that it's his roommate at her boyfriend's apartment.]]
* An episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' dealt with a loud, but charming, upstairs neighbor. Monica and Rachel couldn't bring themselves to ask him to keep it down, so Phoebe went up to do it. Phoebe and the neighbor ended up having sex, which everyone downstairs heard. Later that episode, they find out that he is seeing other women when they overhear ''those'' sex noises, too.
** The page quote is about when Chandler starts going out with Joey's ex. "All night long, she'd agree!"
** There was one episode when Joey was describing to Chandler how much his girlfriend appreciated him being there "just for her". He described her response as being like a ticker-tape parade. Chandler remarks that is his room is "very close to the parade route."
** Joey has similar complaints about Chandler and ''his'' girlfriends. When Janice insists that they spend the day together because, " That's how long it takes to love me", Joey mutters under his breath, "I know. I live in the next room."
** There is a scene in Barbados where several members can hear it right through both walls. Although the 'it' in this case is just making out.

* ''Series/{{Spaced}}'' has Tim and Daisy faking sex noises as part of their fairly lazy ruse to trick their landlady into thinking they are a couple.
** Also, in a non-sexual example, "You never know who's listening" "Nobody's Listening!" IronicEchoCut.

** A vertical variant is seen in Season 5; Ted's upstairs neighbors are loudly [[UnusualEuphemism playing the bagpipes]]. When Ted can take no more, he confronts them [[spoiler: but backs off when he realizes they're an elderly couple]]. Later in the episode, Lily and Marshall's bagpiping is seen to have a similar effect on their downstairs neighbors. Then it turns out that it was the couple above the elderly couple.

* ''Series/SisterSister'' has Lisa and Ray making loud sex noises through the wall so Lisa's mother thinks they're really married. Played with in that they [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdqiL73q0To quickly grow tired of it.]]
-->'''Ray''': ''[bored voice]'' Saddle up, pony girl!\\
'''Lisa''': ''[whispers]'' You are twisted.\\
'''Ray''': ''[holds up book]'' I'm reading a Western!
* For one episode of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'' Mimi (Drew's nemesis) and Drew's brother are temporarily living in a trailer in Drew's backyard. Kate notices Drew is acting tired and we get this jewel.
-->'''Drew:''' I didn't get a wink of sleep between the trailer rocking and the screaming.\\
'''Kate:''' Screaming?\\
'''Drew:''' I started screaming when I realized why the trailer was rocking.

* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''. When Aeryn and Crichton finally have sex (while the crew is aboard an immature, and thus small, Leviathan), Rygel grumbles the next morning about being unable to sleep, and further is disgusted that it sounded like Crichton was ''exerting'' himself. Cut to the blissful couple snuggling. Crichton bangs on the wall with his fist and makes loud moans; Aeryn laughs that ''he'' was "even louder than that, if you can imagine".
* At one point in ''Series/{{Coupling}}'', Sally complains of having a listening flatmate. When asked if this means she has to be quiet, she explains, "No, loud, we're very competitive."
* ''Series/GeneralHospital'': Maxie is tired of hearing Johnny and Lulu's sex life, so one day she makes loud sex noises in her bedroom. They think she's with Spinelli, but when ''he'' comes through the front door…
* ''Series/{{Hustle}}''. While Stacie and Danny are [[UndercoverAsLovers posing as a married couple]], they hear someone in the next hotel room and think it might be the mark, so they fake having loud sex to maintain their cover. Actually Danny suspects it's Mickey and just wants to make him jealous, but he's not fooled (their orgasms are too well-timed for a couple who haven't been together for a while).
* There is an extremely disturbing version of this in ''Series/{{Carnivale}}'', where the noises are of a girl being raped. The character who's hearing all this is paralyzed, though, and can only stare in terror at the wall.
* On an episode of ''Series/SpinCity'', Stacy is at Mike's apartment, and Mike apologizes for his noisy neighbors. We hear the noisy neighbors copulating for a second.
-->'''Stacy''': You think that's loud? (voice filled with pity) Oh, Mike.
* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Seven of Nine [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove explores human "mating rituals"]] by studying the OfficialCouple Tom and B'Elanna. B'Elanna discovers this and starts reading Seven's notes about this, which results in the following memorable dialogue:
-->'''B'Elanna''': ''(reading from the PADD)'' "Stardate 52648, 0300 hours: intimate relations resume." ''(addressing Seven directly)'' How the hell do you know when we're having intimate relations?\\
'''Seven of Nine''': There is no one on Deck 9 Section 12 who doesn't know when you're having intimate relations.

** On one episode, she accuses her younger daughter of having sex with her boyfriend (who spent the night). Darlene asks why on earth she would even risk doing it in the next room. Her mother counters that she could have been quiet.

'''Becky''': (shouting from upstairs) Very funny, Darlene! Stop jumping on DJ's bed!
* In ''Series/GossipGirl'''s third season Nate and Serena start to date and apparently have loud sex in the kitchen right outside Chuck and Blair's bedroom (now that's just rude). They are then treated to the sounds of Blair having an ImmodestOrgasm, which they assume is her not wanting to be outdone. Then Nate gets a phone call from Chuck, who's apparently ''not'' having sex with Blair at the time. It turns out Blair is just reading a fashion magazine and mocking Serena's bedroom noises to point out that the walls are thin.
* In an early episode of ''Series/MadAboutYou'', Paul and Jamie meet their neighbors Hal and Maggie, who recognize their voices...
-->'''Hal:''' We hear you through the walls sometimes.\\
'''Maggie:''' Our kitchen is right next to your bedroom.\\
'''Jamie:''' (mortified) Oh, my god--\\
'''Hal:''' That's her!
* In an episode of ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Robert is purposely thumping a chair up and down so his mother will hear it through the walls and think he and Amy are trying to conceive.
* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'':
** One episode when a drunken and frustrated Penny decides to have sex with Leonard.
--->'''Sheldon''': FYI, my noise-cancelling headphones proved ineffective last night.\\
'''Penny''': Yeah, sorry about that.\\
'''Sheldon''': As a native Texan, I must say I've never heard the phrase "yee-haw" used in quite that context.\\
'''Penny''': Oh, God.\\
'''Sheldon''': "Oh, God". That I've heard on multiple occasions.\\
''[...]''\\
'''Mrs Gunderson''': Good morning, Leonard. Or should I say "yee-haw"?
** In a later episode, Sheldon unwittingly gets his own back, as Leonard and Penny overhear the sounds of him and Amy having sex from the hallway.
--->'''Sheldon:''' Oh Amy, you naughty vixen!\\
'''Amy:''' My goodness, that form of stimulation is highly efficient!\\
'''Leonard:''' Should we give them their privacy?\\
'''Penny:''' I want to, but I don't think I can.\\
'''Sheldon:''' Whoopee!\\
'''Penny:''' Okay, I'm good now. ''(runs inside)''
** An earlier episode also had Sheldon casually mention that he could hear Penny having sex in her apartment for the past three years he had lived next door to her. She was appropriately mortified.
* The second episode of ''Series/{{Rome}}'' includes Octavia overhearing her mother Atia having very loud sex with Mark Antony, which she mockingly imitates at a party later. Antony's comment: "She has you exactly."
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'' a suspect's alibi was that he had been having sex with the victim's wife when the victim was murdered. This is verified by talking to the neighbors who recalled hearing it (it was a warm night and the windows were open).
** The episode "Watershed" features a subversion. Neighbors of the victim frequently heard sounds of sex coming from her room, which is part of the reason they thought she was a prostitute. She was really playing a CD of those sounds specifically to produce that conclusion while she worked on computer hacking.
* The titular ''Series/{{Cuckoo}}'' and Rachel are doing the deed much to the annoyance of her parents. They shrug it off as they're newlyweds and they were like it once… although nowhere near as long. They also make Dylan trade rooms with them so they won't hear them anymore.
* Used frequently in ''Series/TwoAndAHalfMen''.

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer''. In Season 7 the Scoobies and Potentials are all holed up in Buffy's house for mutual protection. Willow and Kennedy finally get a bedroom to themselves and act appropriately. In the kitchen, Anya complains to her former fiance Xander about the noises they can hear; after all, they've stopped having sex, so others should have similar consideration. When we cut back to them, [[SexWithTheEx they're making out on the kitchen floor]].
* The ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Savant" involves the detectives solving a brutal assault case by interviewing the victim's preteen daughter, who has a rare condition that just happens to give her superb hearing (to the point that she could hear the assault despite being in a different room) and the ability to recognize any voice she's heard. Alas, the same condition also leaves the girl unable to sort through her memories easily, and thus the detectives are treated to the spectacle of the girl helpfully impersonating the perp's sex talk and her mother's orgasmic gasping and moaning.
* ''Series/{{Lucifer 2016}}''. Thanks to his DaddyIssues Lucifer is seriously annoyed by this trope thanks to the BigOMG that accompanies the sounds of sex.
-->'''Lucifer:''' You're not the one being taunted all the while! "Oh God" this and "Oh God" that! He's popping up everywhere and spoiling my favorite things!\\
'''Chloe:''' I'd really hate to be in your head.
* At the beginning of the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "The Inspiration," we see a couple in their apartment complaining about the noise from above. The girlfriend first guesses they're putting together furniture, then that they're "Doing it on the floor!" This being Criminal Minds, the truth turns out to be far worse. [[spoiler: It's a BoundAndGagged woman flailing desperately to escape.]]
* ''Series/LipService'': Tess can't sleep when Sadie is having sex with an Italian tourist named Gabriella (who is quite loud). Lexy, meanwhile, is also getting it on with a woman at the same time (not so loudly, but still to a degree she can hear). The next morning, she lets them all have it.

* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' uses a variation involving mood music during an episode where Jazz and his wife Jewel crash in the pool house with Will and Carlton while their apartment gets repainted. Will and Carlton find themselves woken up in the middle of the night at one point by [[Music/JamesBrown "I Got You (I Feel Good)"]] blaring out of the bedroom, then after Will shouts in at them to cut it out, they try again...[[SoundtrackDissonance this time with the]] ''[[{{March}} Washington Post March]]''.
* Variation in ''Series/TheOfficeUS''. Jim and Pam, who are exhausted due to their new baby keeping them up all night, try to sleep in the warehouse crew’s secret nap spot. Unfortunately, they are right next to where Dwight and Angela secret meet up spot for their contractually obligated five sexual encounters. They’re shown wide awake having to stay perfectly silent listening to the whole thing.

* From Music/ViennaTeng's "1BR/1BA", which is about apartment-hunting:
-->''My upstairs neighbors are making sounds that I never want to hear\\
I hope they're just moving furniture around and really liking their ideas''
** Sometimes in live performance, she will then add a chirpy spoken-word "Oh yeah, right there! Oh yeah, right there!"
* [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Paper Thin Walls"]] by Music/ModestMouse.
-->''These walls are paper thin\\
And everyone hears every little sound\\
Everyone's a voyeurist, they're watching me\\
Watch them, watch me right now''

* From Music/PaulSimon's "Duncan":
-->''Couple in the next room\\
Bound to win a prize\\
They've been going at it all night long\\
Well, I'm trying to get some sleep\\
But these motel walls are cheap...''

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', this can come up a couple of times with the warden and his/her romance options. Justified in that the PlayerParty spends nights camped in tents in the wild, so there's not much of a wall to be had.
** If a female warden is romancing Alistair and has gone to bed with him, Zevran can make comments on how the affair is going based on things he overheard.
---> '''Zevran''': [[SpeedSex It did seem as if you just got going when all grew quiet.]] You are… feeling all right, yes? Perhaps you are tired?
** If a male or female warden is romancing Zevran and has gone to bed with him, Wynne can bring this up to you in a lecture about appropriate behavior for a Grey Warden.
---> '''Warden''': You know about Zevran and me?\\
'''Wynne''': I almost wish I didn't. Half of us aren't getting any sleep, the way you two carry on all night.
** Wynne may also lecture the player about the noise if he is [[ImmodestOrgasm romancing]] [[TokenEvilTeammate Morrigan]].
** Also, if the warden is romancing Zevran, Oghren can bring this up in party banter, advising Zevran that "you might wanna, you know, keep it down".
** Leliana will also make the rather cutting remark to Morrigan if they are both romancing the Warden.
--> '''Leliana''': I suppose he must like your shrieking, you sound like a genlock being murdered -- a sweet, sweet sound to a Grey Warden. You should try a little harder next time he takes you. I don't think they heard you in the Anderfels.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2: Apartment Life'', loud noises will occasionally leak through the walls, annoying your sims who can bang on the walls to get the neighbors to shut up. One of the things that can leak through the walls is Woo-Hoo interactions.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'': During a randomly generated sequence, Michael's daughter can be heard having loud sex behind her locked door in his mansion.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': When C.J. chooses to have "coffee" (sex) with one of his girlfriends, the camera stays outside the home and the sounds of them having sex are muffled, as if we're listening to them through the wall. Later games with this option, ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' (and its [=DLCs=]) and ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'', also keep the camera outside during "coffee" or "booty calls", but the sounds are no longer muffled.

* ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'':
** Fairly early in the run of the webcomic, Davan gets sick of hearing his neighbour's loud sex noises -- not so much for the noise, but because it's very obvious that the woman is faking it. He finally storms over to them and angrily gives the man detailed written instructions on how to please a woman. [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/neighborly Found here.]]
** Also, [[https://somethingpositive.net/comic/back-up-plan/ this]] strip references how thin the walls are ''within'' Davan's family home.
* [[http://xkcd.com/316/ This]] ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' strip, [[GeniusBonus in true xkcd fashion.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Candi}}'': Candi and her suitemate overhear a couple during Spring Break, thinking it's one of their friends and his girly -- not knowing it's her ex and one of her other friends ''as well''. It's a twofer!

* In ''Webcomic/TheLessThanEpicAdventuresOfTJAndAmal'', Amal, apparently. "Y'know, you are one ''noisy'' motherfucker."
* Invoked in ''Partially Clips''. An English couple on holiday, when war with Germany is on the horizon, plans to have loud sex to annoy a German officer in the hotel room next to theirs.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Gaia}}'', Viviana sets up a noise-canceling device before her first time with Ilias, mentioning how thin the walls are. [[spoiler:She notices the next morning that the device was missing a key component, making it ineffective.]]
* [[https://yaoi.biz/avialae/chapter-2/page-120 Subverted]] in ''Webcomic/{{Avialae}}'', where it turns out to be just a joke. Not that this is any comfort to the still-mentally scarred third party.
-->'''Jamie:''' So how did things go with Gannet last night?
-->'''Bailey:''' ''([[SpitTake spit takes]])'' Y-Y-You heard us?!
-->'''Jamie:''' WHAT?! No! Oh my god, I was kidding! Fuck, I'm gonna have to burn that couch now.

* ''Webcomic/PvP'': Subverted in that Cole hears Brent and Jade having sex in their office, realizes he's probably making assumptions like he has lots of time before and comes to the conclusion that they're just moving furniture.
* In the ''Webcomic/{{SSDD}}'' arc "Backfired" Norman moves up from the basement to the bedroom next to Richard and Anne, who keep him awake for a week before he takes some "sleeping pills" and conks out on the couch with his eyes wide open.
* ''Webcomic/CosmicDash'': Guugel's internal monologue mentions having this problem:
-->I would tell them to get a room, but her bunk is next to mine. I hear everything.
* Exaggerated in ''Webcomic/EnnuiGo''. Adelie and Bella are so loud when they have sex that Adelie's sister Izzy can hear them with perfect clarity... ''when she's 26 floors above them''.

* Marge and Homer often are these people in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Their loud lovemaking has been the subject of at least two gags, both times with reactions shots from Bart, Lisa, Maggie, and Ned Flanders (their neighbor in another house). On at least one occasion, the family holds a conversation about this habit while remaining in their bedrooms. Bart even punches through the wall to prove the kids' point.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
** Subverted in one episode, where the suggestive squeaking noises keeping Fry up turn out to be two robots mounted on bedsprings playing cards. One of them oils his spring and the squeaking stops.
** And played straight in a much later episode when Bender and a promiscuous ladybot go through the whole night, except for the occasional break to play country music right next to Fry's bed. And [[NoodleImplements some activity involving a pneumatic drill]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheOblongs'', the sex life between the father and the mother is so good that every night she's saying "Oh God" repetitively. The younger son, having lived his entire life listening to them, finds himself incapable of having a good night's sleep without it, and gets insomnia when their relationship becomes rocky.
* A variant is played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/MissionHill'', where Kevin can overhear his gay neighbors arguing over whether the condoms Gus bought are adequate for their purposes.
-->'''Gus:''' What was wrong with our regular brand? These'll snap right off!
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'': A college flashback has Doc Venture sharing a dorm room with Brock, lying horrified in the lower bunk as Brock has loud, furious sex with a succession of girls just above him.

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Downtown}}'' has Jen complaining about her roommate having extremely loud sex with her latest boyfriend.

* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': A played for laughs Yuri example. At the end of Volume 2, when Milkit is cleaning Flum’s ears they hear strange noises from Eterna’s room. As it turns out, she could hear the everything in their room. Due to their dialogue and AccidentalInnuendo, Eterna thought they were engaging in more adult activities. Others misunderstandings ensued until Flum finally made it clear they were merely cleaning each other’s ears.

* ''LightNovel/RollOverAndDie'': A played for laughs Yuri example. At the end of Volume 2, when Milkit is cleaning Flum’s ears they hear strange noises from Eterna’s room. As it turns out, she could hear the everything in their room. Due to their dialogue and AccidentalInnuendos, Eterna thought they were engaging in more adult activities. Others misunderstandings ensued until Flum finally made it clear they were merely cleaning each other’s ears.

'''Sam:''' My parents sleep in the bedroom next to me. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar It's not the same, but I can't sleep either]].

Can have some crossover with CallingYourOrgasms and TheImmodestOrgasm. Compare DontComeAKnockin, for a more visual effect communicating the same thing.

* ''Manga/UchiNoMusumeNiTeODasuNa'': After reuniting with her husband, after almost 20 years of separation [[spoiler: across space-time]], Athena and BM spend every night making up for it. They've tried to keep it down so they won't disturb their 17-year-old daughter Clara, but she can still hear them because she's inherited [[FlyingBrick Athena's]] {{super senses}}.

* [[http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/95q4/walls.html A personal account]] where a person noted that the floors and ceilings act as amplifiers for sounds from adjacent apartments, making it very easy to hear the bed scooting on the floor and the headboard banging against the wall. After 5 minutes, it was funny and kind of embarrassing. After 10 minutes, it became annoying. After 15 minutes, it was frustrating as it was preventing them from sleeping. After 20 minutes, [[MarathonSex it was kind of impressive]].

* [[http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/95q4/walls.html A personal account]] where a person noted that the floors and ceilings act as amplifiers for sounds from adjacent apartments, making it very easy to hear the bed scooting on the floor and the headboard banging against the wall. After 5 minutes, it was funny and kind of embarrassing. After 10 minutes, it became annoying. After 15 minutes, it was frustrating as it was preventing them from sleeping. After 20 minutes, it was kind of impressive.