Soundproofing a Wall

Sound Proofing Challenge:

Our goal is to block the transmission of sound from bleeding through a common wall.    We want to protect one room's noise from the next with a soundproof wall.

Sound Control Treatment:

Your ultimate goal is to impair the wall's ability to conduct vibration.    This is accomplished by adding two components to your wall assembly.   The first is density, the second is disconnection.   The combination of these two ingredients will help force the collapse of your sound wave inside your wall, and can trigger up to a 90% drop in sound transmission.  

Your treatment will depend on your starting point.  Tell us what stage you are at:

My wall is finished

My wall is not yet built

My wall is exposed framed

Acoustic Result:

As we simulate in our Sound Chamber, this sound insulation treatment can reasonably trigger a 10-12 dB drop in noise levels bleeding through a common wall.   Much of the success of a sound isolation wall will depend on the quality of the installation, the disconnected framing techniques, and the number of holes in your wall surface that will impair your noise reduction efforts.

Open air holes in a wall are called "flanking" paths for , and will serve to deteriorate results.   They include switch plates, electrical outlets, supply vents, return vents, light cannisters, pipes, windows, doors, and a host of other possible paths that can not block noise bleed.   For soundproofing common walls, If you frame the wall properly, line it with dB-Bloc, and minimize the flanking paths, you can trigger up to a 90% drop in noise bleeding through.