Sound insulation and sound absorption

When someone has a problem with noise, they start looking on the Internet for information about “soundproofing”. Customers explain that they want the sound that is in the room to stay there and not be heard around.The most common problems are: you don’t want to hear traffic noise invading your home, you don’t want to listen to your neighbor’s favorite rock band with him, you want a quiet room in your home – a place to rest or concentrate on your work, or you don’t want to disturb your neighbors when someone in your family plays a musical instrument or uses the home theater. Usually, most customers ask and ask for prices for “sound insulating foam”. They are sure it is the right product because they have seen material shaped like pyramids or eggshells mounted on the walls of television studios, recording studios or in the movies. This perception is wrong. Acoustic foam does not stop sound, it simply absorbs the echo and modifies the acoustics of the room. It does not stop sound from passing into adjacent rooms, but it dramatically improves speech intelligibility, sound quality in rooms and other enclosed spaces. For example: the manager of a restaurant wants to reduce the noise of clattering pans that can be heard in the restaurant hall, the lecture hall must be designed so that the speaker can be heard clearly from any place, the recording studio must control sound reflections so that to preserve its clarity when recording. Materials that absorb sound and those that block or stop it are different. Products that are designed to absorb echoes in rooms are soft, porous and low density. Products whose purpose is to block sound from entering and leaving the room are heavy, high density. Sound cannot pass through barriers, it simply causes those barriers to vibrate. The vibrations are transmitted to the opposite side and thus sound travels through these barriers and various surfaces.
To find out which is the exact material that is most suitable for your case, it is best to consult a specialist. There is no universal way to soundproof a room or apartment, so the specialist will most likely ask you the following questions:

– whether you want to block the sound or want no echo;
– what are the dimensions and surfaces of the room;
– what is the room used for – what sounds do you want to block /high, shrill sound, talking voices or low-frequency bass sound/;
– what are your ideas for dealing with the situation – where to place the product, what space it can take up from the room, etc.

It is possible to inspect and measure the unpleasant noises on site. The aim is to recommend the best system for the specific case and to prepare an individual project.

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