How do you handle loud, meaningful family noises while trying to focus? THe most successful cultivators and Buddhists cultivated in the forest or mountains where there are few people. In our day and age, this is less easy due to polluted rivers, overharvesting of resources, financial necessity, etc. and we all live in noisy metropolises.


  "Go to a quiet place without people, sit cross-legged, with
  correct body and correct attention, without any other thoughts, and
  fix the attention on the nose:.."


For a beginner, this is not ideal, although advanced meditators who are enjoying the fruit of their efforts are fully absorbed with their meditation object, not hearing any noise.

How do you handle loud, meaningful and ultimately alarming family noises while trying to focus on meditation object?
What are trains of thoughts that lead you to the state where you do not even understand what they are saying because you are so absorbed in your object?
I experience this frequently, where I don't hear or feel anything and I am singularly focused on my object and this oftentimes happens when I do any type of noting (vipassana) practice. Any tricks, contemplations, ideas any experienced cultivators can give me?

loud = clearly audible through a door, 10 times louder than the sound of your own breathing (which I like to use as a concentration object)
meaningful = language and emotion, which we as social mammals are instinctively wired to respond to when hearing off-handedly, particularly our mirror neurons

Basically I have an annoying, unhealthy family who watches TV with all their free time and never cultivates or does anything despite the many instructions, books given to them. I feel that they often do this to spite me due to my choice to ignore them.

Please give solutions other than blocking out the noise through noise-cancellation, earplugs, or binaural beats (all of which are excellent suggestions) which I have success with and will continue to use but I do not like unnecessary pressure on my ears.
Understand what happens. Sound comes in contact with the ear which re recognise as such and such or voice of so and so. This creates a reaction which creates sensations to which you react with craving or aversion. In the above case you are reacting with aversion. When sound in the dominant input focus on the ear area for sensations. If the sound is very loud it might hurt the ear also but even in other cases when you practice you get some sensation. This has a mental reaction and thought proliferation. This gives arise to sensations in the head area. This should be your secondary focus. If you look closely you will see this creates vibration and sensation all over the body. This should be your tertiary focus. When you start you will not be able to even sense anything around the ear unless very intense but as you go on you will be able to see the vibration through out the body. This comes with practice.

What ever sensation you should not react to it.

Each time your mind gets distracted by the sound or any other sense input do the following:


Recognise the object of attention to which the mind has wandered away and note it without verbalisation or imagination (i.e., without creating mental fabrications): Sense input or mental chartering, etc.
There is a sensation tided to this object being in focus: it can be intellectual stimulation if it is an thought, some other sensation if the body, etc.
Analysing, mental reaction and through proliferation may have created sensations around your head and rest of the body. So note these sensations.
Bring back your mind to your chosen object of attention. This can be extended even when doing normal tasks.
Each stage try to calm the fabrications. Lesser fabrications more concentrated you get.