Sound Proofing

• Soundproofing is any means of reducing the

sound pressure with respect to a specified sound
source and receptor.
• There are several basic approaches to reducing
sound
– increasing the distance between source and receiver,
using noise barriers
– to reflect or absorb the energy of the sound waves,
using damping structures
– or using active antinoise sound generators.
 Need
• High level noises generated out of machines and
other industrial equipment not only affects the
employees’ morale, productivity and
concentration but also can badly disturb people
living in the vicinity of the facility.
• Also such extreme and high intensity noise
increase fatigue, shorten the attention span and
can also result in permanent hearing damage.
• However, by installing appropriate noise control
materials at the site, one can considerably reduce
the damages caused by this excessive noise
NOISE AND ITS TYPES:
• Noise is defined as unwanted sound and may be due to frequency of
sound or intensity of sound or both.
• Noise from their origin point of view is of the following two types.

OUTDOOR NOISES
• These noise have source of origin outside the room or buildings
such as road traffic, railways , airplanes ,lifts , loud speakers
,moving machinery in the neighborhood or in adjacent buildings.

INDOOR NOISES
• These noise have their source of origin inside the room or building,
such as conservation of the occupants ,cisterns, in water closets ,
working of typewriters, playing of radios, gramophones.
 TRANSMISSION OF sound

• Any noise whether of outdoor or indoor origin is

transmitted through the walls ,frames , ceilings or
floors or an enclosure or through air.
• The noise is transmitted in the following ways .
•Through air .
•By the vibration of structure members.
• Sound transmitted when a surface is set into
vibration by the alternating air pressure of
incident sound waves.
• Air borne noises or sound is one which is
generated in the air and is transmitted the air
directly to the human ear .
• This type of sound travels from one part of the
building to anther or from outside of the building
to inside , through the openings such a door
,window , ventilators , keyholes etc.
• Sound transmitted through the solid media of building’s
structure as a result of a direct physical contact of
impact. As by vibrating equipment or footstep.
• Structure borne noises or sounds are those that originate
and progress in the buildings structure.
• These sounds or noises may be caused due to structural
vibrations due to any activity at around above or below
the structure.
• The most common sources of this type of sound are foot
steps , hammering ,drilling ,operating machinery etc.
• The levels of desired sound insulation for different types of
building and between the individual rooms or apartment of
a building can be achieved by the following constructional
measures of noise control and sound insulation.
 4 Elements of Soundproofing
1. Decoupling
– sound is nothing more than a vibration. The vibration
will travel easily if there is a nice solid direct pathway
to follow, we decouple the pathway, and the sound
vibration stops .

2. Absorption
– even though the wall framing is decoupled, the
vibrating air cavity will still transmit some sound
through the wall between the wall studs. Simple
fiberglass insulation will absorb some of this.
4.Add Mass
For sound to conduct through a wall, it has to
actually move the wall ever so slightly. A heavy
wall is harder to move than a lighter wall
• 5. Damping
– The last element for soundproofing. If we could
reduce the drywall from vibrating in the first
place, it would make the jobs of the mass, the
insulation and the decoupling easier and much
more effective
• It is established that a cavity wall or double wall construction is
better for sound insulation than a solid wall construction .
• A composite partition of cavity wall type construction by filling
the cavity or leaving the air space with some resilient material is
best for increasing insulation value or sound proofing rooms .
•This consist of two leaves of DOUBLE LEAFED CAVITY WALL,EACH LEAF10CM THICK BRICK
MASONARY
wall made of light material
,such as metal lath and plaster CELOLUX OR ACOUSTEX INSULATING BOARD

foreboards ,plaster boards

,plywood etc fixed on studs INSULATE IN GAP OR GLASS QUILT

with an air space in between COKE BREEZE CONCRETE FLOORING

CARPET OR LINOLEUM FLOOR FINISH

the air space of about 10 to

12 is kept between the leaves
of wall and staggered wooden
SAND

studs are provided as

RCC FLOOR

supports. FOUNDATION WALL

• These floors and ceiling are required to act as horizontal
barriers in the transmission o both air borne and impact sounds
or noises .
• In most of cases where the ceilings and floors construction is
of solid type like r.c.c floors they offer adequate insulation
against air borne sounds because of rigid and heavy
construction but offer poor insulation for structure borne or
impact sounds .
• This objective can be met by the following constructional
measures.
– Use of resilient surface material on floors
– In this method over the massive and rigid construction of floors
slabs ,a surface layer of resilient materials such as linoleum
insulation boards ,cork, asphalt mastic and carpet etc are
employed.
• The principal underlying the construction of a floating
floor is its insulation from any other part of structure.
• To achieve this an additional floating floor is made to
rest or float over the existing floor by means of a
resilient like glass wool ,quilt, hair felt ,cork ,rubber
etc, so that impact sounds and consequent vibration are
not transmitted to the room below it also improves
insulation against air borne sounds.
• Floating floor construction can be adopted for both
concrete as well as wooden floor and is described
below.
 Damping Compound:
The damping compound , Green
Glue Noise proofing Compound
can often be applied directly onto
the existing subfloor layer, if the
subfloor is not thick or if total
thickness is not a concern and you
want the extra mass for more
sound isolation, you can use
thicker sheets of medium-density
fiberboard (MDF) or oriented
strand board (OSB). Any sheets
that have damping compound
between them should then be
screwed together
• There are two main
methods of
soundproofing a ceiling.
– Hat channels.
These are lightweight
metal channels that
separate wall and ceiling
surfaces, preventing
airborne and impact noise
from traveling through
them. They provide a
frame to which drywall can
be attached..
 USE OF SUSPEVDED CEILING
WITH AIR SPACE
• In this construction ,a false independent
ceiling is connected below the solid or
wooden floor by means of metal hanger ,
acoustic clips etc with an air space in
between .
• The construction offer good insulation
against both the air borne as well as the
structure borne sound
• In case of window ,sound insulation of single
window is improved by making them as air
tight as possible by filling the air space at the
edges of such panels with sound absorbing
material .
• In case of door ,the transmission loss or sound
reduction increase with the increase in weight
,the sound insulation can further be improved
by packing the sound absorbing material in the
space between the jamb and frame .