What is Soundproofing: Are you tired of unwanted noises disturbing your peace? Wondering whether soundproofing can help you eliminate them once and for all?
It’s an unfortunate fact, but noise is unavoidable in our lives.
You’ll hear some unwanted sounds, whether it’s at work or home. Perhaps it’s the neighbors next door enjoying their favorite music. Or upstairs neighbors are stomping like crazy around their apartment. Or cars and other outside noises make it difficult for you to concentrate at work.
But that doesn’t mean we have to tolerate it, and soundproofing is one way to combat the issue.
You see, many unwanted sounds can be reduced, dampened, or even eliminated, and that’s exactly what soundproofing does.
This page will give you a general idea of what soundproofing is.
After reading it, you’ll understand the concept of soundproofing and how it can help you stop sounds from entering your house. You’ll also find out which noises you cannot eliminate.
Finally, you’ll learn the different blocking methods and which sound insulation techniques and sound-absorbing materials work best.
I admit that it’s quite a lot to cover. So, let’s get right to it.
Contents
What is Soundproofing – Definition
Soundproofing means blocking or reducing unwanted sounds from entering your house, work, or other property or being heard outside.
In practical terms, soundproofing means using various materials and techniques (more on those in just a moment) to reduce or absorb the sound so that it no longer disturbs your peace.
Before we explain that, though, we must discuss some other things.
First, note that, in the definition, I referred to soundproofing, which tackles sounds both entering and exiting premises. That’s because soundproofing can be used not just to keep your house quiet. The same soundproofing techniques can also prevent others from being exposed to sounds you generate in your home. If you’re a musician, for example, you may wish to soundproof their home or a room in your house so that you could practice without disturbing their neighbours and having them complain about the noise all the time.
Most of us seek soundproofing advice because we want to reduce the noise and enjoy a quiet place, and in this guide, I’ll mostly focus on helping you with that.
Secondly, before we dive deeper into soundproofing, we must understand what sound is and how it works. In particular, you should know how sound enters your house. Soundproofing involves tackling the exact ways the sound travels.
So, what is sound?
Sound is energy. It’s produced when things vibrate and travel onward, away from the source of the vibration (that’s what we call the sound source, by the way).
Here’s where it gets important. As sound travels, other objects and air vibrate at the same frequency until it reaches our ears.
We can hear the sound because the air also vibrates in our ears. It hits our eardrums and stimulates hair cells in our ears. These, in turn, register the sound in our brains.
Here’s a short video showing how sound travels to the brain.
Another thing that we need to discuss is how sound travels. Because you see, there are two types of sound – airborne and impact – we reduce them differently.
Airborne noise is created by sound travelling through the air. The most common examples are speech, music playing through the radio, sound from the TV, or the noise of cars passing outside.
Because this sound travels through the air, it often enters your house through cracks, gaps in the walls or doors, and other structures.
On the other hand, impact noise happens when an object creates an impact, resulting in vibrations that carry it further.
Sounds of footsteps, hammering, banging doors, sliding objects, and more are all examples of impact noise. The sound happens because the object interacts with another surface, like when your shoes hit the floor as you walk, generating the vibrations we hear as footsteps.
This noise enters a room or a house through vibrating surfaces.
Based on all that we learned so far, we can say that if you want to prevent unwanted noises from bothering you, you must interrupt sound waves somewhere along that journey.
How Soundproofing Works
I like to use the analogy of water when explaining sound.
Both sound and water have no shape. However, they can conform to their surroundings, bend around corners, and find their way through the smallest openings or cracks.
Both can also be stopped in their tracks. Unlike water, sound can pass through many solid materials—wood, walls, floors, or glass panels in your windows—but others can absorb or contain it.
That’s what we use when soundproofing.
But there’s a catch—not all soundproofing materials block sound. You can use soundproofing to achieve two objectives but must understand their differences.
The two objectives are:
- Reducing the sound or
- Absorbing it to improve its properties.
Reducing sound (or sound blocking)
I guess that’s the first thing you think of when thinking about soundproofing – blocking unwanted sounds.
When you reduce sound, you aim to reduce sound transmission and minimize its impact.
In practical terms, you reduce the amount of sound that enters the room. The less noise comes in, the less of it you experience.
There are many materials and techniques to use, but far too many to cover in a single guide. However, in general, you reduce the noise by creating a natural obstacle for the noise to reduce the amount of it getting in.
Think of any airborne noise – someone speaking, for example. That sound can get to your home in many different places. It can seep in through poorly installed windows. Gaps between the wall and the window frame can let air in and make noise. Insulating windows with soundproof materials can drastically reduce that noise. The same rule applies to doors and other entrances.
You can also reduce sound coming through the walls or ceilings by installing acoustic plasterboards, isolation strips, and more.
Absorbing sound
Sound absorption works differently.
For one, it does not prevent sounds from entering or leaving your home. Instead, it improves the acoustical properties of the sounds in the room.
Sound absorption is ideal for building a home theatre or a music practice room. In that case, you must reduce the echo in the room and improve how sound waves travel through that space.
In simple terms, this will improve your listening experience and overall sound quality.
(Note – You can also couple sound absorption and sound blocking. This way, you enjoy better sound in the room, and unwanted noises do not contaminate it from outside.)
Acoustic treatment
Finally, you may also hear this term – acoustic treatment – while learning more about soundproofing.
Acoustic treatment aims to enhance and direct sound to where it should go in a room. Again, home theatres, recording studios, mastering studios, and similar spaces would require acoustic treatment to reduce the echo in the room and ensure that the sound waves do not bounce off the walls.
Acoustic treatment focuses on installing foam-based materials like panels that prevent sound from being reflected.
Important Question – Does Soundproofing Work?
I admit – I get asked this question a lot, and quite understandably so.
Many people I know struggle to cope with noise from their neighbours or outside noise. Many have long lost hope that their quality of life can be improved.
It always pains me to say this: Soundproofing works, but it doesn’t always completely block unwanted sound.
It’s not all bad news, though. Soundproofing can significantly reduce the noise and bring it to a bearable level.
(I prefer to mention this as I don’t want you to understand that soundproofing can entirely kill that noise from upstairs. But if you want to minimize it to a level where it doesn’t bother you anymore, soundproofing is a way to go.)
This is because many sounds cannot be blocked completely. Also, often, if you manage to reduce one type of sound, another might persist.
A good example is eliminating voices from the house next door. You can do it. You can bring the sound of their conversations down to a level you barely hear. However, the materials you use to soundproof the wall might not block all low frequencies. As a result, you might still hear the rumble of the bass in their stereo.
For that reason, one of the most important things to do as you begin researching soundproofing your house is to assess noise levels, the type of sounds you want to reduce, and how they might get into it.
Speaking of which…
Which areas of the house can be soundproofed?
Sound waves can enter your house through many different places:
- Doors,
- Windows, including glass panels,
- Walls,
- The floor,
- The ceiling,
- The roof, and so on.
And all of these can be soundproofed using various methods. Because this guide focuses on giving you a basic understanding of soundproofing, I prefer not to go too deep into explaining these here.
Having said that here are the most common soundproofing methods used to block the noise coming from those places:
Increasing the distance from the noise source. Of course, it’s not always possible, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Creating what’s known as a room within a room. This quite complex method is suitable only if you want to block aggressive noise and achieve high levels of sound insulation.
In this method, you create a dedicated, soundproof room inside an existing room in the house.
Damping sound with materials like PVC or various underlays reduces vibration and decreases the impact noise.
Deflecting sound so it does not enter the room. This strategy works best to reduce noise from outside. In this method, you place an obstacle between you and the noise source.
Here’s an example of how a sound barrier can deflect sound so it doesn’t reach a house.
What’s next for you
This page teaches you what soundproofing is and how it helps eliminate or reduce unwanted noises in your house.
But like I said in this guide, soundproofing a house takes more than picking up some materials and going with it.
The first step is to identify the noise that you want to block. Next, find out whether it’s airborne or impact noise.
Then, identify how it gets into your house and the noise level.
Only then can you start looking at soundproofing materials and techniques that you could use to block it?
Good luck!
