• Bass Traps
• Acoustic Foam Panels
• Church Acoustics
• Studio Acoustics
• Home Theater Acoustics
• Restaurant Acoustics
• Room Acoustic Treatments
• Bass Traps

Robert Frost once wrote “Good fences make good neighbors.” In other words, good neighbors don’t intrude upon each other’s space. In urban areas with apartment buildings and condominiums, it could be said that good acoustic insulation makes good neighbors.

One of the most common complaints apartment dwellers have about their neighbors is the amount of noise they make that can be heard through the walls into the next apartment. That noise can be loud voices, loud music, the sounds of the television, dogs barking or any number of things that can be heard from one apartment or condominium to the next. Even though the neighbors themselves are intruding, the noises they make very well may be.

While it is nearly impossible to contain one hundred percent of the sounds within one’s one apartment, the amount of sound that leaks through to or from the neighbors can be greatly reduced with the application of the right acoustic room treatments. It may seem obvious that a good thick carpet can reduce noise that travels from the apartment through the floor to the unit below, but it actually does more than that. Soft surfaces absorb sound. A carpeted room will tend to be much quieter than a room with hardwood floors, for example. Add some acoustic insulation to the walls in the form of either upholstered panels or rigid fiberglass panels such as Owens Corning 703 and you’ve well on your way to making better neighbors.

Acoustic insulation and room treatments work both ways. Whether it’s you or your neighbors who are responsible for the offending noise, adding acoustic insulation to your apartment will help reduce noise both leaking out and cut down on noise that penetrates your dwelling from outside.

As another benefit of outfitting your own rooms with acoustic room treatments, proper installation of bass traps and acoustically absorptive wall panels can actually make a dramatic improvement in the quality of sound from your stereo or home theater system by reducing room effects. Room effects are the distortions caused by sound waves reflecting off hard surfaces within the room and becoming either unnaturally boosted or artificially muted across portions of the audio spectrum.

For those buildings where commercial spaces are collocated with residential apartments, acoustic insulation can be even more important. An urban church, for example, may occupy the lower level of an apartment building. While church acoustics may play a big role in the worship services, the sounds of the choir or the sermon should not intrude into the apartments with the other tenants who happen to live in the same building.

Like Robert Frost’s fences, good acoustic barriers make good neighbors. If noise has been an issue between you and your neighbors, consider adding acoustic insulation and room treatments that will cut down on the transmission of sound between apartments.