Using Acoustic Panels To Make A Room More Quiet

Have you ever wished your room was quieter, that you could somehow shut out all the noise coming in from outside? Well, you may not be alone in this as many others experience this same exasperating reaction to noise coming in from neighbors, traffic, and other unwanted sources outside of our control.

On the flip side, have you had your neighbors getting really pissed at you, knocking on your door, and asking you to keep things quieter in your apartment? Again, you are not alone in this as this is a pretty normal occurrence in many places. According to this article here, this is one of the complaints that landlords and apartment managers get the most.

There are a number of ways that this can be managed which is a relief. In this article, we shall look at how to make your room quieter using acoustic wall panels.

Understanding Acoustic Room Treatments

Acoustics is a pretty wide and confusing topic. We shall however do our very best to keep it very simple.

If you speak with an acoustic expert about treating your room acoustically, you will learn that there are two aspects to it. There is the aspect known as isolation and there is treatment.

Isolation

This deals with the process through which sound is totally prevented from coming in or going out of a room. This is usually achieved using a number of processes which include creating a vacuum by building a room in a room, using materials that prevent the movement of sound waves, and more. The cost of achieving this is usually pretty high.

Treatment

This is a much more common process that you will find in many TV rooms, home studios, and the like. This has to do with the management of the listening space to achieve a tamer or more controlled movement of sound waves known as flutter echoes.

By strategically positioning materials like acoustic panels such as the Autex Cube, bass traps, and diffusers, you can make your listening space more enjoyable and tame. If you are interested in exploring this kind of treatment you can learn more here: https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/acoustic-treatment-101/.

Having looked at the two types above, we want to focus on the use of only acoustic panels for the purpose of making a room quieter.

What are Acoustic Panels?

Acoustic panels are simple materials that absorb mid to high frequency sound waves. This is usually the frequency range of most of our daily human interactions. This means that they can absorb some part of our talking, singing, music, noise from traffic, dogs barking and more. They however cannot do much about low frequency rumblings.

Note that these panels will not totally absorb these sounds. They can only reduce them. By how much they will do so will depend on a number of factors which mainly have to do with the material involved and the thickness of said material.

How they Help in Making a Room Quieter?

So, let’s begin to look at how we can make a room quieter with these panels. First, understand that whatever you do to reduce the level of the sound will also affect the level of the sound that leaves the room.

The reason we are making this clarification is so we know that the same solution that keeps your room quiet will also be part of the solution for ensuring sound from your room does not disturb your neighbors.

If your goal is to reduce the level of noise that is coming in from outside, then first, you need to identify the points from which the bulk of the sound is coming in from. A good example is a window or windows. By placing these panels on your room’s window(s), you can make it more quiet.

This is because when sound is coming in from outside, it hits the panels which then absorb some of the sound, only allowing a reduced amount go through. Again, how much will be let through will depend on the factors we already mentioned above.

For someone who wants to ensure too much sound does not go out of the room, you can also place panels on the windows and in addition to this, place some panels strategically around. The panels on the windows will reduce the amount of sound that leaves the room while the panels on the walls inside will reduce the amount of sound that moves around in the room prior to even getting to the windows or doorway.

Sound travels through your walls and ceiling. If you have panels on these, it will reduce the amount that can travel through them.

We hope these bits of information help you make your room quieter.