Neighborhood noise has become a serious problem in many countries, and it is difficult to regulate it by physical means alone. A cross‐cultural survey was conducted in four countries, Japan, Germany, the United States, and China on the residents of apartment houses in order to examine the cultural differences involved. Interesting differences were found in preferred countermeasures, highly annoying sounds, attitudes against noise, expectations for laws, etc. The use of loudspeakers in public places was accepted in the four countries when they were used for conveying necessary information. The results suggest that it is important to take cultural or social backgrounds into consideration in order to find suitable countermeasures.