To prevent you from being disturbed by the activity in the next room, you need to install a sound insulation. Whether the room is upstairs or in line, the construction has to prevent sound from being transmitted. This does not have to be a massive concrete slab or wall. Soundproofing relates to the overall ability of a building element or building structure to reduce the sound transmission through it. Two types of sound insulation might be referred to airborne sound insulation and impact sound insulation.
It is important to know the difference between sound absorption and sound insulation:
- Sound absorption is the prevention of reflection of sound or alternatively which a reduction in the sound energy reflected by the surfaces of a room.
- Sound insulation is the prevention of transmission of sound or alternatively which a reduction of sound energy transmitted into an adjoining air space.
Airborne Sound Insulation
Sound insulation against noise originating in air, such as voices, music, motor traffic, wind and airborne sound can be transmitted in a receiving room via some or all of the paths (A) to (B). Path (A) is called the direct path. All transmission paths other than path (A) are together termed the indirect or flanking transmission. This indirect transmission becomes increasingly important when the insulation requirement of the separating partition is about 35 dB upwards. The ideal material for good sound insulation has a very high mass and low stiffness but some of the most convenient building material have low mass and relatively high stiffness.
Impact Sound Insulation
The sound insulation against noise originating directly on a structure by blows or vibration such as footsteps above, furniture being moved, drilling and hammering the structure. Insulation against impact noise can be achieved by the use of:
- Soft floor finish
- Resiliently suspended solid ceiling
- Resilient mounts
- Floating floor
Transmission loss or Sound Reduction Index, R dB, is a measure of the effectiveness of a wall, floor, door or other barrier in restricting the passage of sound. The transmission loss varies with frequency and the loss is usually greater at higher frequencies. The unit of measure of sound transmission loss is the decibel (dB). The higher the transmission loss of a wall, the better it functions as a barrier to the passage of unwanted noise. Calculation of the sound reduction index R is based on test results obtained at different frequencies. The difference between laboratory and field values can be a significant number of dB depending on the construction details and workmanship. The sound reduction index for holes and slits is nearly equal to 0 db. The influence of holes and slits may therefore be important, for instance, at the connections between walls, at doors and windows without sealing strips and at any necessary openings in partitions. If there is an acoustically absorbing material in the slits, it will give a higher sound reduction index for the slits.
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