What is the difference between soundproofing and room (architectural) acoustics?

The goal of soundproofing is to limit of the transition of sound from a room (or outside) to adjacent one. It determines which components of a façade, walls, ceilings etc. are important to make their acoustical isolation as good as possible. Soundproofing controls the noise, which is produced by the machines/equipment in a building. Room […]

How efficient are trees in the lowering of outside noise?

Nearly completely useless. The seaming lowering/dampening of the noise is more an effect of the distance from the source than the barrier that the foliage would provide.

Does it help at all if we put foam in the shape of spikes on the walls of our studio?

Yes and no. The inclusion of foam absorbers efficiently lowers the amount of sound reflections at high and/or middle frequencies if the foam is thick enough. That’s how we decrease the reverberation time in that frequency band. That is also the way in which we eliminate the flutter echo. Because lower frequency sound reverberates in […]

How sound effective a gypsum wall can be?

Very effective, if done correctly. For a truly well isolated room we must use two layers of studs and completely fill the empty scape between the studs with mineral wool. It is smart to use gypsum plates of differing mass/ thickness. It is very important that the wall is constructed from the floor (bearing structure) […]

Is it possible to have too many acoustical materials in a room?

Of course. Expected use of the room determines adequate acoustics. Too few acoustic materials usually mean overly reverberant space, like you would expect in a cathedral or a giant cave. If, however, we exaggerate with sound absorbing materials, we hear nearly nothing from the performer and vice versa.

Is there only one or are there many “good acoustics”?

The art of good acoustics is getting several factors into a perfect harmony. “Good acoustics” in a radio studio or in a church are completely different. That’s why we must first ask ourselves what the room is going to be used for.

Why can we not simply add or subtract decibels?

A decibel (link to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decibel) is a unit, where we compare two acoustic values. Because the ratio is logarithmic the rules for logarithms apply, not the rules for simple arithmetic. The consequence is that a difference of 10 dB (decibels) is very large from an energetic standpoint. 10 dB for the human ear means something […]