"When do I need acoustic panels vs soundproofing solutions?" We hear it all the time. It’s common to mix up soundproofing and acoustic treatments, because they both involve doing a sound treatment. But they deal with different aspects of sound. Think of it this way—soundproofing is all about keeping sound in or out of a room, while an acoustic treatment is about improving how sound behaves inside that room.

WHAT IS SOUNDPROOFING?

To put it plainly, soundproofing is the isolation of sound between spaces by blocking it from transferring from one space to another. Sound behaves a lot like water, looking for the weakest point and leaking out. Soundproofing is about plugging the leak, which requires adding mass, sealing the space airtight, and isolating structures, particularly in floor-ceiling assemblies.

Whether it’s noise from your kids’ band practice bouncing into the next room, or footsteps coming from upstairs keeping you up at night, you’re going to want good soundproofing solutions.

WHAT IS AN ACOUSTIC TREATMENT?

On the other hand, an acoustic treatment is about improving the quality of sound within a space. Instead of worrying about noise from the outside world, this is all about how sound behaves inside your space. The goal of an acoustic treatment is to improve speech intelligibility and quality of sound by managing how sound is reflected and absorbed to reduce echo and reverb. There are two primary types of surfaces to think about: reflective surfaces and absorptive surfaces.

Reflective Surfaces

Reflective surfaces are often rigid surfaces that reflect most of the sound that hits them. Most building materials are reflective (concrete, metal, wood, glass, gypsum) and result in sound bouncing all over the place in a room. You hear that bouncing sound as echo or reverb, which reduce sound clarity and speech intelligibility.

Absorptive Surfaces

Absorptive surfaces are soft materials like acoustic panels, baffles, clouds, and even thick carpet and soft furniture that help reduce reverberation by absorbing sound waves, giving you a much clearer, pleasant sound experience. The thicker the material, the more it will absorb and the better it will be at absorbing lower frequencies. If reflective surfaces are the disease, absorptive surfaces are the cure.

How to Choose between Soundproofing and an Acoustic Treatment

So how do you know which one you need? It’s actually quite simple. If sound can be heard from an adjacent space or people can hear you from an adjacent space—then you need soundproofing. If the issue is poor speech intelligibility or sound quality due to sound bouncing around, you need an acoustic treatment.

The good news is that we know how to solve for both! Now that you know the difference . . .

When soundproofing a space, you need to understand the principles, identify the weak points, and address the issue with effective soundproofing materials and solutions.

THE KEYS PRINCIPLES OF SOUNDPROOFING

There are some basic principles to soundproofing a space, and they’re the soundproofing expert go-to’s when building an isolated space.

Add Mass

The more mass you add to a surface, the harder it is for sound to pass through. This can be done by adding layers of drywall or using soundproofing materials like mass loaded vinyl. With this, no acoustic panels and acoustic foam do NOT soundproof as they're not dense enough.

Create an Airtight Seal

Like we said, sound behaves like water and loves to sneak through cracks and gaps, so seal any gaps around windows, doors, and even electrical outlets. You shouldn’t expect a leaky room to be soundproof any more than you should expect a leaky ship to float.

Isolate Structures

One of the more advanced techniques in soundproofing is decoupling. This is the principle of separating the floor, walls, or ceiling from the structure so that sound vibrations can’t pass through as easily. Rubber is an excellent isolator and is one of the most common ways to isolate two structures.

IDENTIFYING THE WEAK POINTS AND TREATING THEM

Identifying your weak points allows you to use the core principles to create sound-isolated spaces. To start, the most common weak points are your doors and windows. After doors and windows, you start getting more into construction involving your walls, floors, and ceilings

Door Soundproofing

It’s exceptionally common to hear noise through doors, because they’re designed to open. There is usually an airgap beneath doors, and there are often sealing issues around the sides. Couple that with hollow core doors, and it’s no wonder we have so many customers calling in for help soundproofing their doors.

We’ve taken our years of experience helping customers and translated that into our door soundproofing guide.

Window Soundproofing

If you hear a lot of noise through your windows like traffic noise, you’re not alone. In our decades of experience, we’ve compiled the data and found that about 81% of residential customers complain about traffic noise through their windows. Because glass isn’t a very dense barrier for blocking sound, noise is able to pass right on through, ruining your quality of rest and relaxation.

Again, we used our decades of experience to provide all the best solutions for soundproofing your windows here.

Wall, Floor, Ceiling Soundproofing

When you are hearing noise like TVs, people talking, music, and everything else from the other side of the wall, you need to soundproof your walls. Use our guide to help you soundproof your walls to whatever level of noise blocking you want.

If you’re tired of hearing footsteps from above – or hearing complaints about yours – soundproofing your floor-ceiling assembly is the best way to isolate spaces between floors. Read our floor soundproofing article and ceiling soundproofing article for the in-depth look, depending on which side of the assembly you want to treat.

Other Soundproofing

There are also various flanking points that often get overlooked like around penetrations like outlets and air vents. Check out our article to gameplan how to soundproof your HVAC!

When you have a space that borderline pains you to be in because of the echo and reverb, it’s obvious you need to do an acoustical treatment. It’s important to do an acoustical treatment in rooms like gymnasiums and other rooms with tall ceilings to make them more bearable, and it’s even more important if you want to perfect the sound within a space like in a recording studio!

Generally speaking, adding absorption into the space and also covering reflective surfaces like hardwood floors, bare walls, and ceilings will go a long way toward improving the acoustics in your space. For help building a custom acoustics plan, check out our acoustic room treatment article and give us a call us for a free acoustical analysis.

ACOUSTICAL TREATMENT OPTIONS

There are different acoustical treatment options to choose from depending on the space you have and what you’re trying to accomplish.

Acoustic Wall and Ceiling Panels

Acoustic wall and ceiling panels are made from sound absorbing materials like cotton, cellulose, wood-wool, and more. They’re a great way to cover reflective surfaces AND add absorption into the space. Thicker materials will also help with low frequency absorption, a key component to pro audio acoustics. We also have fire rated acoustic foam that can be used to help control reverb.

Acoustic Baffles and Clouds

These absorptive panels are one of the premier acoustic ceiling treatments. They’re hung from the ceiling and do a great job getting more absorption into a space with six exposed sides. They’re commonly used in large, open spaces with high ceilings, though can be suspended close to the ceiling as well.

Check out our catalog of acoustic baffles and our catalog of acoustic clouds!

Acoustic Ceiling Tiles

Acoustic ceiling tiles (ACT) are a popular pick for offices and schools that need a budget-friendly way to add absorption into a room with a drop ceiling grid.

At the end of the day, both soundproofing and acoustic treatments can make a big difference in your space. The key is knowing which one to prioritize based on your specific noise issue. If you’re still unsure or need a little extra guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Second Skin Audio—we’re here to help!