Acoustic panels for sound reduction

Windsorcastle

I've just bought a flat and have realised that my bedroom shares a partition wall with my neighbours' bedroom and I can hear them talking at night and, ahem, other bedroom noises 😳 quite distinctly.

Having just spent a lot of money redecorating, I am looking for the least disruptive solution. I have been reading about acoustic panels, like these:

https://gikacoustics.co.uk/product/gik-acoustics-circle-acoustic-panel/

Which come in lots of shapes, sizes and colours and are hung on the wall. But I'm confused at all the technical info so I'm wondering if anyone can advise me in layman's terms? Will these help dampen the low level noise from the other side? And how do they work? It seems that you place several on the wall, rather than having to cover the entire wall,but I'm confused as to how that would block noise?

This is on a feature wall so I was thinking of buying white ones and painting them the same colour, so they would be quite unobtrusive.

Can anyone with expertise/experience of acoustic panels help please?

antilles

There have been a few threads discussing noise from neighbours/soundproofing recently, have a search for those. In a nutshell (as I found out with a previous terraced house with similar issues) there is no easy or cheap solution as even if you were to block sound from a wall, it can travel around the wall and come through floors and ceilings (called flanking noise).

As far as I can see these acoustic panels are designed to absorb noise from within a room rather than blocking external noise - I do not see how they would block neighbour noise at all - and would have thought that even if they could, then hanging a few of them on the wall would make virtually zero difference - you would need to cover the wall with them I would have thought otherwise the noise would just go around them and through any gaps.

This might be useful: https://www.acousticalsurfaces.com/blog/soundproofing/blogsoundproofingsound-proofing-vs-sound-absorbing-the-difference-between-blocking-and-absorbing/

I also once rented a flat where I could hear the goings on next door, ended up moving to the other bedroom and playing music quietly to drown them out.

Davesnave

Those panels are not meant for the purpopse you wish to use thm for. They're for improving acoustics, like the 'UFOs' in the Albert Hall.


Sound deadening between two properties is difficult, for the reasons antilles mentions. To get a good reduction in sound transmission, you'd probably need a secondary wall, acoustically decoupled from the existing walls, ceiling and and floor, possibly with acoustic material in the gap. Even then, some flanking noise might still get through via the floor/ceiling.

Windsorcastle

Thanks both, I suspected as much but wasn't sure.

[QUOTE=Davesnave
Sound deadening between two properties is difficult, for the reasons antilles mentions. To get a good reduction in sound transmission, you'd probably need a secondary wall, acoustically decoupled from the existing walls, ceiling and and floor, possibly with acoustic material in the gap. Even then, some flanking noise might still get through via the floor/ceiling.[/QUOTE]

Would it be a major/costly job to build a secondary wall as you suggest? I haven't got most of my furniture in yet, so if I was going to do this, now would be the time.

Davesnave

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Would it be a major/costly job to build a secondary wall as you suggest? I haven't got most of my furniture in yet, so if I was going to do this, now would be the time.

Depends if you can DIY and if there are sockets that would need relocation etc..

Acoustic plasterboard is cheap, as is stud wall framing. What's needed is the knowhow to use it correctly. My builder tried to follow instructions, but didn't really understand the principles involved, so I gave up trying to guide him and relied on double thickness plasterboard for added density anda lot of rockwool!

We were only building internal stud walls anyway and the noise transmission levels ended up OK.

Grenage

I would do what Dave mentioned, but I'd use those high density rockwool batts designed for noise reduction. Get as much mass in there as possible.

antilles

When I did some research for my previous house I believe the best solution was something called resilient bars:

http://www.soundservice.co.uk/installation_resilient_bar.html

Basically these acoustically decouple the new wall as mentioned earlier. This could be done by a DIYer but sockets on the wall would complicate things as the cables may not be long enough to move them out, so you might need to get some professionals in.

You could also add mass to the wall as the guys have said earlier, in the form of a new stud wall with rockwall and sound proofing plasterboard - that might help considerably.

However based on my research, none of these solutions address the issue of flanking noise - you could spend a lot of money on a new wall, and the noise might still travel around it and come through the floor and ceiling. It's one of those things that is virtually impossible to test until the work is done unfortunately.

You can probably address any noise coming through the floor with thick underlay and carpet, plus sealing any gaps around the edges that the noise could come through. Ceiling is more difficult though.

Windsorcastle

Thanks so much for all the advice. I've done some research and this company does Soundboards which look promising, and are screwed to the wall. Then I'd need to skim and redecorate. I think I'd lose about 3cms on space but I can live with that. Any thoughts on these? I'm not sure they can be fitted in a first floor flat though due to the weight...

https://www.soundproofingstore.co.uk/walls#studwall2

antilles

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Thanks so much for all the advice. I've done some research and this company does Soundboards which look promising, and are screwed to the wall. Then I'd need to skim and redecorate. I think I'd lose about 3cms on space but I can live with that. Any thoughts on these? I'm not sure they can be fitted in a first floor flat though due to the weight...

https://www.soundproofingstore.co.uk/walls#studwall2

You could certainly give them a try but it's always difficult to predict whether these products will work or not until installed. Looks like they also need overlaying with acoustic plasterboard, which I find strange - if they are that good then why the need for acoustic plasterboard as well? But no harm in giving them a go - if not then rockwool between the studs would probably work just as well.

Zither

antilles wrote: »

You could certainly give them a try but it's always difficult to predict whether these products will work or not until installed. Looks like they also need overlaying with acoustic plasterboard, which I find strange - if they are that good then why the need for acoustic plasterboard as well? But no harm in giving them a go - if not then rockwool between the studs would probably work just as well.

I’ve looked at potentially installing this product /M20 heavy rubber panels in the past (haven’t gotten around to it yet) as I can hear next door’s TV/general chat from next door through the party wall. iMO I thought the reason for the rubber/plasterboard mix was because soundproofing works best with different materials involved so that the sound doesn’t ‘pass straight through’ a single layer of material (not very technical answer, I know). I presume the rubber would provide the density to stop the bassier sounds and the plasterboard to stop the higher frequencies (again not v technical!)

Sound proofing between houses seems such a constant frustration for neighbours that I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews/community feedback on this type of product. Or video reviews on YouTube. Even on the dedicated soundproofing forums there seems little information about these products or feedback on results on direct sound, flanking etc. Bit of a shame as I think most people (well, me at least haha) would be happy if we could say ‘this will typically reduce noise levels by 50%/70%’ etc before making the purchase without needing to understand exponentials like decibel ratings.

Wish there was a MSE soundproofing mega thread with more useful information in like in this thread so far!

Zither

Windsorcastle wrote: »

Thanks so much for all the advice. I've done some research and this company does Soundboards which look promising, and are screwed to the wall. Then I'd need to skim and redecorate. I think I'd lose about 3cms on space but I can live with that. Any thoughts on these? I'm not sure they can be fitted in a first floor flat though due to the weight...

https://www.soundproofingstore.co.uk/walls#studwall2

Would be very interested in your feedback / research if you investigate further.