This article seems to be confusing two very different issues.

1/ Soundproofing is the action of preventing unwanted sounds from entering or leaving a bounded location.

2/ Acoustic treatment, is a way of preparing a room to provide a flatter frequency envelope, to minimise echo, flutter, reduce existing frequency resonances and generally 'deaden' a room.

Egg cartons are a shoestring budget attempt to attain the the latter. By breaking up the waves of sound reflected from a wall they aim to subtly reduce standing vibrations (in a tight range of frequencies) but will do virtually nothing to prevent the ingress or egress of sound.

Even expensive surface mounted sound treatments (as seen in most professional studios) are designed to do the same job more effectively and across a wider range of frequencies - many are high density and also act as 'bass traps' ... but again, you can pay up to $1000 per square meter and STILL not significantly reduce the ingress and egress of sound. But the sound that DOES get in will not echo, boom, or become coloured by the rooms own characteristic resonances. Hardly a help to those seeking refuge from the neighbours.

So, how do you soundproof a room ?

Well, sound travels well through air... but some of the most annoying components travel even better through water and most solids. What sound really doesn't enjoy is having to move from one density medium to another (energy is lost here) ... or trying to get past a free standing resonator (The resonating mass will soak up most of the energy at that frequency).

Soundproofing is one of those things that really needs to be planned for in advance. No matter what you place in the walls to deaden the higher frequencies will NOT prevent the annoying bass frequencies being transferred through the framework and using the internal paneling as an effective soundboard.

So, I'd say drop the blown fibreglass and mount slab rockwool. NOT to the panelling, but to the frame. The frame should be properly caulked and no air gaps left around the rockwool. The interior panelling should be isolated from the frame using silicone or neoprene gaskets. 5200 is great too.

For external walls theres little you can do beyond a standard blown-insultion job. However, by floating an interior frame from the wall as above you will get an additional layer of protection and the slab rockwool will soak up a lot of frequencies a brick wall (insulated or not) inevitably passes.

To correct the author on a few points:

Sound travelling between one wall and another does not set up a vibration. Sound already IS a vibration. The significance of parallel surfaces is that they create the potential for standing waves between the two parallel surfaces. This is an issue for recording studios and audiophiles as it can 'comb filter' the audio... but has no relevance for those annoyed by their neighours music, road traffic or lawnmowers. Non-parallel walls (And surface treatments) may help you to hear your music as it was meant to be heard - but won't stop external noises.

In particular, surface treatments are particularly expensive, are often misrepresented as 'soundproofing', and will do little or nothing for anyone suffering with noise pollution except needlessly lighten their wallet.

Wall insulation, Double Glazing and and airtight seal around the windows will suffice for most external noises such as children, lawn trimmers and light road traffic.

Carpeting (particularly with a good heavy underlay) does help deaden a room. But for reducing unwanted noise it would probably be far more effective used on your neighbours floor than your own.

This is because noises *within* the building, such as neighbours, will be difficult to soundproof against given the buildings construction. And, whilst it IS possible to isolate a room from vibrations carried directly by the building itself, it is cost prohibitive for the average joe.

However, for those setting up a home recording or listening area... a room-within-a-room setup is quite effective. In particular, the entire inner space should be built upon a raised flooring. Possibly heavy slab rockwool isolated by neoprene or even (as one DIYer suggests) suspended on tightly packed rubber hemispheres made from halved superballs. My home-brew studio is within a concrete garage containing a sand-suspended poured-concrete base with neoprene, rockwool then two opposing layers of hardwood flooring with a heavy rug.

The walls are heavy rockwool panelled walling of 'inside-out' construction with silicone gaskets between each joint and this sufficiently removes unwanted external mid-high range frequencies. This is surrounded with heavy block resonators suspended vertically from the garage beams (Thus isolated from transferring their vibrations to the recording enclusure) which were designed to soak up traffic rumble and aircraft noise which were a particular problem. Each block is graded to soak up a particular problem frequency and produce a kill effect over a wide range of low-end frequencies.

Doors are a particular problem. They need to be heavy! Solid doors are not always best - a sandwich constructed door filled with sand is better but hanging them presents fresh problems ... and the seals around doors are a major culprit, so these need special attention, even at the hinge side. They should be airtight when closed.

As you see, soundproofing is no easy task.

Eggboxes and carpeted walls indeed : )

-GC

I wish to obtain DRAPES for the purpose of sound blocking. I live in an apartment and there is a pool on the other side of a sliding glass door (with kids who scream). I also have a window in that direction.

Are there drapes made specifically with sound proofing in mind?

What material would be best, if searching for drapes for soundproofing?

Any suggestions on finding such drapes appreciated.

Thanks for all of the great tips! I am wondering though, specifically, what would you say is the easiest and cheapest way to prevent sound from leaving a room? We rent, and our apartment is right next to our landlord's! I think his bedroom actually shares a wall with ours! Plus, our hardwood floors are apparently not insulated well at all. The downstairs neighbors complained about the noise from the last tenants, saying they could even hear conversations they were having, plus other noises which kept them up at night. Can someone please help us get some privacy and help our neighbors be able to live in peace??? Thanks!!!

Is there any way of soundproofing train noise in a room?

I am in an office building where the sound comes up from the floor below and the hallway is rather loud. any thoughts on soundproofing the floor and doors? Thanks so very much! Jen

It is all about how much quiet/silence makes it worth it for you.

Texture and material density will affect the sound wave. Ex.: try to scream in the water.

So it is like an infection chain control, you take one link of the chain and the entire structure gets weaker or disappears

Lin R.N.

Why aren't bathrooms soundproofed? Ut seems like soundproofing a bathroom would be a very useful and valuable addition to any apartment or home!

hey jenosequa,

the easiest and cheapest way to soundproof a room?

I used sound proofing fiberboard. It's super cheap and lightweight, making it easy to handle. the only company I know of who makes this stuff is Knight Industries. there's a ton of info on their website.

let me know how it works out.

what about soundproofing pipe noise...can it be done? for how much? and are there any cost-effective solutions? my roommate likes to take long showers at night and i can hear the water running through the pipes of the sink in my own bathroom, unbuffered right next to my bedroom and i hear it.

High frequencies are easy to dampen, carpet in the room will help this, even some carpeting on the walls. Heavy drapery etc...

Bass is usually the problem. Isolation of the rooms surfaces with dense, heavy material is the key here.

A room within a room. Walls ceiling and floor need to be isolated from the original. Isolation prevents the transfer of bass vibrations thru to the rest of the house.

Lay a new floor structure (2x4's and 3/4 inch plywood) on a series of rubber shims or blocks.

The same principal is used for the walls, build the new wall structure (2x4's and 3/4 thick plywood or 3/4 thick drywall) and support it on some kind of shock absorbing material. Don't fasten the new wall structure directly to the old, again use shock absorbing material between and do not fasten too tightly , the tighter it is connected, the more bass will transfer to the outer structure.

Ceilings, isolation of a drop ceiling, isolate the hanging wires on springs and allow the edges of the grid system to "float" against the wall to prevent vibration transfer, use the heaviest tile inserts available or cut your own from 3/4 plywood or drywall.

i live in an apartment and want to convert a walk-in closet into a music practice room. i play the flute, so bass really isn't a problem. the closet does not share any walls with neighbors on either side, but there are apartments above and below me. also, there is a flimsy metal door on the closet with air vents running its entire length.

any suggestions on how this can be done effectively and cheaply (i hope).

thanks. tony

hallandale beach, fl usa

For most of you who ignored anon1052's initial response to the article and want to do it cheaper and easier, you can't. You can only get slight reductions in sound. It must be kept in mind the difference between less resonance, echo, volume etc. of sounds already in the room and keeping sound from going in or out. All the urban legends about egg crates and stuff really do very little for in the room sound and next to nothing for sound going in and out. Think "soft stuff that absorbs" for internal sound and "total isolation barriers" for keeping sound from going in and out.

Not much sound passes through two feet thick of concrete to the outside, but anybody who has had a band play in their unfurnished basement knows it sounds terrible inside.

For the flute player: You have the perfect set-up already. Hang a bunch of clothes in the closet. All those irregular surfaces and absorbing fabrics just might do the trick. I do the same thing when I practice singing or my saxophone when I need to be quiet. Also, you are then using your closet as a closet.

two words - Green Glue. It's a fairly inexpensive material you sandwich between a double-layer of drywall (you can use in ceilings and floors as well) which works wonders.

i live in a rented house and i am very fond of Trance, so every night i play trance with the lights off, and trance consists of high bass, so i think i am disturbing my neighbour, my room is made up of concrete floor, the people who stay below me are disturbed.. what can i do to reduce the noise to reach them, i have a very good sub woofer system to boost the sound, but i don't like to disturb people living downstairs me... kindly help.

Brooklyn, INDIA