About Soundproofing and Soundproofing Manufacturers
Including: Acoustic Foam, Acoustic Flooring, Acoustic
Panels, Acoustical
Ceilings, Anechoic Chamber, Noise
Pollution, Sound
Barriers & Sound Insulation
Soundproofing products and materials are
sound carriers which absorb excess sound in rooms, chambers and around equipment in order to create quiet environments for worker safety, product testing, audio mixing and research. Equipment noise can not only cause distractions and poor communication in the workplace, but in heavy manufacturing settings, they may cause permanent audio damage to workers as well. For this reason, facilities where excessive equipment noise is a concern use acoustic flooring to absorb floor vibrations or acoustic curtains to surround equipment, absorbing their sound. Sound mixing studios and theaters use
acoustic foam as
sound insulation on acoustic wall panels and
acoustical ceilings in order to prevent
noise pollution, or echoes which distort and dilute the main audio. Medical hearing facilities and product testing facilities, such as computer testing chambers, require soundproof chambers to measure decibel levels given off and affected by products. Noise control installation may be as simple as installing several
acoustic panels on the surface of a wall, or it may be as complex as building an entire soundproof
anechoic chamber.
Soundproof materials work by absorbing sound, dampening vibrations, as sound barriers or as a combination of the three. Sound absorption is achieved with the use of soft, porous, open-celled foams such as polyurethane foam, which trap sound waves within the foam's labyrinth of non-reflective cells. The higher the ratio of sound barrier surface area to open space, the greater the sound absorption; for this reason, anechoic chamber manufacturers line walls, ceilings and even floors with corrugated foam wedges, which absorb far more sound than flat foam or other acoustic panels. Product testing rooms and acoustical research centers requiring absolutely minimal noise pollution build anechoic chambers, or noise control rooms, lined with acoustic foam panels, acoustic drywall and acoustical ceilings.
Acoustic flooring is important in other types of industries for reducing noise pollution caused by walking or operating equipment on a cavernous floor. While wall panels and sound insulation absorb airborne sound waves, acoustic flooring and vibration dampening materials reduce the amount of vibration energy transmitted between surfaces constructed of rigid materials, which typically transmit vibrations at multiple frequencies. Acoustic flooring contains insulation such as gypsum board, batt insulation and vibration shock absorbing materials layered on top with thin layers of acoustic foam and porous mineral boards. Carpet and fibrous materials provide a significant level of floor soundproofing, although tiled or uncarpeted floors may be effectively soundproofed by other means.
Soundproofing is not only required for testing chambers, studios and noisy facilities, but also for smaller equipment such as computers and for consumer machines such as cars. Mufflers, grommets, shocks and vibration isolators are examples of soundproofing applied locally to equipment. Computers contain soundproofing materials, and computer workstations in offices are often housed in soundproof or semi-soundproof rooms. Sound isolation rooms, also known as audiometric booths, are available to audiologists, doctors, hearing aid specialists and hearing clinics for hearing testing. Federal government regulations stipulate maximum noise levels in work environments, schools, offices, airports and other public buildings, often requiring these facilities to install a certain amount of soundproofing in order to remain functional and safe.
Soundproofing Types
- are constructed of one or two cores of dimensionally
stable medium density glass fiber and suspended vertically from a ceiling
structure. Acoustical baffles are designed for areas where standard
acoustical ceilings are not feasible or as an additional acoustical
treatment in existing spaces.
-
consist of polyvinylchloride outer shells and acoustical batting. Acoustical
blankets can be hung from vertical uprights or attached to a frame,
enclosing a piece of equipment to absorb and stop noise.
- consist of a suspended ceiling grid and high
sound absorption lay-in acoustical panels or tiles and provide a lightweight
and attractive ceiling system. Acoustical ceilings, which are quickly
installed, can be used to control the quality of sound effectively
in a specific space.
- are used when sound must be prevented from
spreading from one area to another. Acoustical enclosures include
recording booths,
industrial enclosures of all kinds, highway walls and noise barrier
walls.
- are used to line sound-reflective surfaces. They reduce noise by allowing
the
sound energy to penetrate into the material and be dissipated by its
cellular or fibrous
nature prior to reaching the reflective surface.
- Acoustic flooring are layers of sound-absorbent material underneath flooring material that reduces sound heard between floors in multi-level buildings.
- Acoustic panels are fastened to walls in order to absorb unwanted noise.
- provide a high density layer used to separate or prevent
noise from entering a certain area or leaving a contained area.
Common uses
for barriers are bulkheads, firewall treatments, cab floors
and pipe wraps.
- are panels similar to acoustical baffles but are hung in a
horizontal position from the ceiling or roof structure.
- aid in the control of vibration and structure borne noise often through
friction
or time. This
method is common with sheet metal panels, cab enclosure
panels, boat hulls and deck plates and HVAC ductwork.
- scatter a sound wave from a surface. Sound direction is
changed so listeners may experience sound coming from
different directions at equal levels.
- decrease the noise and destructive low frequency
pulsations at blower inlets.
- can reduce vibration by having greater attenuation in one direction
than
the other and are often found
installed under some defined load factor between
two surfaces, such as generator pads.
- are easy-to-use portable panel products,
such as partitions, wall-mounted panels, baffles
and privacy screens.
- refers to any unwanted and unpleasant sound.
- are used to regulate the amount of sound that is reflected
off a surface. Reflectors are often used in acoustically
sensitive settings.
- reduce the level of sound through either absorptive, reactive
or a combination of mechanisms.
- are noise control materials and are directly related
to the amount of surface area available to
be treated. Sound absorbers are frequently found in machine enclosures,
housings, industrial environments and medical, marine and
transportation applications.
- use a walls of high density material to reduce roadway noise.
- Sound insulation or acoustic insulation absorbs the frequencies transmitted by sound waves and prevents unwanted noise and vibration.
- refers to the methods used to reduce the intensity of sound.
Soundproofing Terms
- The
filtering system in a sound meter that allows the meter to disregard
lower frequency.
- The
ratio of the sound absorbed to the sound incident on the material or
device.
- A determination
of the level of reverberation or reflected sound in the space for which
the building materials are a factor. Acoustical analyses also determine
how much acoustical absorption is needed to reduce reverberation and
unwanted noise.
- The material
used to change a sound field by absorbing, damping or blocking acoustical
energy.
- The science of
sound, which includes its creation, transmission and effects.
- The uninterrupted
transmission of noise into the atmosphere. Airborne noise can be controlled by
absorption or by being blocked.
- The sounds
within a given environment from many different sources.
- A test chamber
lined with absorbent acoustical material used to eliminate sound reflections
and to determine the sound radiation characteristics of equipment.
- A unit of measurement referring
to sound intensity. One bel equals 10 decibels.
- The process of dissipating
mechanical vibratory energy into heat. Damping materials are used to
apply to vibrating surfaces in order to reduce the noise radiating from
that surface.
- The rate at which sound
will fade when the noise source is removed, expressed in dB/sec.
- A unit of measurement
referring to sound intensity that is equal to one tenth of a Bel.
- A device
inserted into air ducts or openings that reduces the noise transmitted
through the ducts or openings. Noise reduction is accomplished by using
internal sound absorbing materials.
- The pathway along which
sound travels around the perimeter or through holes within partitions or barriers
erected to reduce the sound isolation between areas. Examples of flanking paths
include ductwork, piping, back-to-back electrical boxes within partitions, window
mullions, etc.
- Sound from an outdoor
source where no obstructions exist.
- Amount
in decibels that a specified signal can exceed to cause damage to the ears of
a listener.
- Sound frequency expressed
by cycles per second.
- The reduction of sound
power levels reached by inserting a muffler or silencer in an acoustic transmission
system.
- An acoustical treatment
plan for enclosed areas in which one end is highly absorbent while the other
is reflective and diffusive.
- The strength of the physical
resonance of a sound to sound pressure and intensity, as experienced by a listener.
- A term referring to a sound
of any kind, usually in reference to unintelligible or unwanted sound.
- Sometimes referred
to as "dBA levels," it is used to assess listening conditions at
ear level by gauging sound levels at loudest locations in a room.
- A range
of frequencies where the highest frequency of the band is double the
lowest frefquency of the band.
- The process in
which structure-borne vibrations are converted into airborne sound.
- Sound waves that continue
to bounce off surfaces after the source ends, until the sound waves lose energy
and eventually die out.
- A test
chamber designed so that the reverberant sound field within the room
has an intensity that should be the same in every direction and at every
point. It is often used to measure transmission loss and sound absorption.
- The unit of measure
used for sound absorption consisting of the number of square feet of
sound absorbing material multiplied by the material absorption coefficient.
- A thin layer of material sandwiched
between two layers of absorptive material that prevents sound waves from passing
through the absorptive material.
- Pressure waves traveling
through the air or in other elastic materials.
- The acoustical
process in which sound energy is dispelled as heat rather than reflected
back to the environment as sound.
- An instrument
used to measure sound pressure levels. Type 1 are precision instruments,
whereas Type 2 are general purpose instruments.
- A
measure of the total airborne acoustic power created by any noise source;
it is expressed on a decibel scale referenced to a usual standard of
10-12 watts.
- A measure of air pressure changes caused
by a sound wave and expressed on a decibel scale referenced to 20µPa.
- Creating an area insulated
against noise.
- The transmission
of energy from vibrating structures or solids into noise.
- Like those with structure
borne noise, they are the wavering of a boundary that defines the motion of a
mechanical system and can be reduced by isolators or damping.
- Cubic area of a space calculated
by the length x width x height of the space. Volume influences reverberation
time.
- Wavelike compressions
and rarefaction produced by sound passing through air. Sound waves vary with
frequency.