5 ms·

When I was in a similar situation I ended up paying for a few hundred dollars worth of acoustic foam for the walls. It didn’t stop everything, especially stoppi

When I was in a similar situation I ended up paying for a few hundred dollars worth of acoustic foam for the walls. It didn’t stop everything, especially stopping noise from upstairs neighbors, but it was still a huge help. It’s unsightly though. The kinds that are actually nice to look at as wall decoration are super expensive.

zamadatix 7y ago
Did you do a before and after dB measurement? I'm curious on quantitatively how well it worked as I was thinking of doing the same thing but I talked to a few musician buddies and read many things like https://acousticalsolutions.com/how-to-soundproof-acoustic-foam-does-not-block-sound/ https://acousticalsolutions.com/how-to-soundproof-acoustic-f... & https://soundproofcentral.com/soundproof-foam/ https://soundproofcentral.com/soundproof-foam/ and all seem to agree foam stuck on a wall is for echo not soundproofing so didn't try it out. Also many reported that things like mass loaded Vinyl on it's own isn't that great either. It seems that on top of foam panels on the wall in a sandwich fashion is the best but that was too much cost for me to try.
- naravara 7y ago
  I didn’t measure it unfortunately. It definitely didn’t stop everything, I could still hear a lot of stuff, but it just dulled it enough that it was easier to tune out. I think most of the sound was actually echoing through the ductwork and leaking past gaps in the doors rather than going through party walls so if it was actually possible I’d try to get in there. Ideally though, the soundproofing needs to happen in the room where the sound is happening rather than in your space. The building I’m in now reserves the right to require you to put rugs down if your neighbors complain. When I got a dog I put a bunch down so the downstairs neighbors didn’t have to deal with the constant patter of his feet.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
  Yes - foam will damp higher frequencies, but do nothing at all for bass. The only way to eliminate bass is with a combination of mass - multiple layers of Rock Wool, Roxul, and such - with air gaps and some extra stand-off damping. It's usually possible to make a positive difference, but if it's a serious problem a workable fix - better, but not perfect - will eat up a lot of room space. The real problem is that most apartments and houses are built cheaply and building codes for acoustic isolation aren't nearly aggressive enough. They seem to stop at the level which makes conversations hard to hear, which isn't much help when people have TVs and/or subwoofers.
  - toxik 7y ago
    My flat in Stockholm, Sweden was built within the last year, the landlord cheaped out on things like stoves but the damn walls are THICK. Maybe it’s necessary for our winters, but it really gets it quiet. Also cellphone coverage is near zero away from the windows. I guess it’s quiet in multiple spectra.
- djmips 7y ago
  Apparently a vacuum or a void filled with Helium even a small one will stop sound. Probably impractical but it's an interesting idea.
  - toxik 7y ago
    I imagine the sound of a compressor would outweigh the noise :-)

zamadatix 7y ago

Did you do a before and after dB measurement? I'm curious on quantitatively how well it worked as I was thinking of doing the same thing but I talked to a few musician buddies and read many things like https://acousticalsolutions.com/how-to-soundproof-acoustic-foam-does-not-block-sound/ https://acousticalsolutions.com/how-to-soundproof-acoustic-f... & https://soundproofcentral.com/soundproof-foam/ https://soundproofcentral.com/soundproof-foam/ and all seem to agree foam stuck on a wall is for echo not soundproofing so didn't try it out. Also many reported that things like mass loaded Vinyl on it's own isn't that great either. It seems that on top of foam panels on the wall in a sandwich fashion is the best but that was too much cost for me to try.

naravara 7y ago
I didn’t measure it unfortunately. It definitely didn’t stop everything, I could still hear a lot of stuff, but it just dulled it enough that it was easier to tune out. I think most of the sound was actually echoing through the ductwork and leaking past gaps in the doors rather than going through party walls so if it was actually possible I’d try to get in there. Ideally though, the soundproofing needs to happen in the room where the sound is happening rather than in your space. The building I’m in now reserves the right to require you to put rugs down if your neighbors complain. When I got a dog I put a bunch down so the downstairs neighbors didn’t have to deal with the constant patter of his feet.
TheOtherHobbes 7y ago
Yes - foam will damp higher frequencies, but do nothing at all for bass. The only way to eliminate bass is with a combination of mass - multiple layers of Rock Wool, Roxul, and such - with air gaps and some extra stand-off damping. It's usually possible to make a positive difference, but if it's a serious problem a workable fix - better, but not perfect - will eat up a lot of room space. The real problem is that most apartments and houses are built cheaply and building codes for acoustic isolation aren't nearly aggressive enough. They seem to stop at the level which makes conversations hard to hear, which isn't much help when people have TVs and/or subwoofers.
- toxik 7y ago
  My flat in Stockholm, Sweden was built within the last year, the landlord cheaped out on things like stoves but the damn walls are THICK. Maybe it’s necessary for our winters, but it really gets it quiet. Also cellphone coverage is near zero away from the windows. I guess it’s quiet in multiple spectra.
djmips 7y ago
Apparently a vacuum or a void filled with Helium even a small one will stop sound. Probably impractical but it's an interesting idea.
- toxik 7y ago
  I imagine the sound of a compressor would outweigh the noise :-)