What is soundproofing?

What make an effective soundproofing system?

Soundproofing is a very common term especially in the online market place where many manufacturers are keen to convey the effectiveness of their acoustic materials and systems. Many manufacturers, including ourselves, use 'soundproofing' as a keyword in search engine optimisation as it is a popular search term with domestic customers looking to reduce coming through from the neighbours.

Often, when people refer to soundproofing they are usually referring to sound insulation, meaning the performance of a given product or structure to resist the passage of sound through it.

Products that are effective at reducing the transmission of airborne noise are always heavy - high mass/weight is crucial. Our best products for improving airborne sound insulation performance in domestic environment are Maxiboard for walls, Maxiboard for ceilings, Acoustilay 15 for floors, and Maxideck for floors.  These products range from 15kg per m2 to 27kg/m2, so are all high mass products. 

Acoustic isolation products such as resilient bars should always be used to achieve as much performance as possible from a given mass. A good example of a high performance soundproofing system is the Maxi 60 ceiling system by SRS.

Materials that are effective at reducing the transmission of impact noise through floor always have resilience to them. A good example of a high impact sound insulation performance system is SRS Acoustilay, our biggest selling acoustic underlay

Good practice also suggests the use of absorptive materials, such as our Maxi Slab product, within walls and floor/ceiling cavities. This helps to aid the decay of sound within the cavity but is only truly effective when used as part of a complete specification.

The following is good practice when it comes to acoustic design.

Good practice:

• Heavy floors
• Heavy ceilings
• Heavy walls
• Isolation/decoupling
• Air-tightness at junctions
• Joist stiffness
• Deep voids
• Cavity damping