Carpet underlay for soundproofing

Norman_Castle

I live in a flat which has a living room underneath my living room. The noise from this flat, in particular, loud voices, can be heard in my flat. I have carpet on the floor with another layer of upside down carpet underneath as underlay (very mse). Due to recent problems I am considering fitting either wool or PU foam underlay to reduce the noise. I understand this will reduce impact noise which will benefit my neighbours, but does anyone have experience of successfully reducing airbourne noise from entering through the floor by fitting thick underlay.

Metalwrath

A decent layer of foam would be a good bet although this might prove costly, if it was me I'd try fiberboard underlay suitable for laminate flooring. It has good acoustic properties and is cheap to buy (and indeed often comes up free on freecycle and similar when people remove old flooring.)

I'm unsure how your building is constructed but if you're lifting the carpet and it's viable it might be a good idea to pop up the floorboards and fill the gaps with rockwool/fiberglass insulation.