Noise Isolation - Why and How?

The main centers of noise pollution are in cities. Moreover, improper urban planning multiplies the intensity of noise and its impact on residents. Unadapted to modern realities, the layout of old cities also creates noise problems.

Speaking about the dangers of noise, we usually imagine a very loud sound (the noise of the highway, the noise of airplanes near the airport, loud music in headphones or in cars), which over time "kills" our ears, making it all the less acute that can lead to partial deafness. However, there are other mechanisms of the impact of noise on our health and behavior - so, being exposed to noise for a long time, a person may experience irritation, headache, impaired coordination in space, and become more vulnerable to neuroses. By the way, the complete absence of sound in the environment also does not lead to anything good, the benefit is that there is sound almost everywhere and such harm does not threaten us.

Where we live directly affects our exposure to noise pollution. The noise in the suburbs is less than in busy areas, but the proximity of the airport in the suburbs changes everything (although the government is interfering here, adjusting the operating mode of the airports and the minimum distance to population centers). At the same time, modern European cities are gradually freeing their central areas from car traffic, which, of course, does not cancel other sources of noise: crowds, loud neighbors, public transport. Having your own home also reduces exposure to noise, but even in their own homes, people resort to one effective means - sound insulation.

Sound insulation is a technical solution that reduces the level of noise, both falling into a house or an apartment from the outside, and outgoing from the inside. You hear less, you hear less. When installing sound insulation materials are selected and calculate how to optimally install these materials.

When installing insulation, two basic types of noise are taken into account: air and shock. Air noise is a sound that originates in the space of a room: it’s a conversation, a dog barking, music, the work of a food processor. Impact noise is the sound that occurs in the building material itself. For example, when hitting the wall, when drilling the walls, floor or ceiling, when walking. When moving furniture, slamming doors or windows - there is also a shock noise.

Most often polymeric materials, mineral wool are used for insulation. It is important to consider what material was used in the construction of the building - concrete or brick - the best options. When soundproofing due to a particular annoying noise, it must first be found. To do this, the ventilation shafts, holes in the walls, sockets and other sound penetration paths are investigated and isolated.

Usually both in the secondary housing and in new buildings they make the main sound insulation of the interior and interroom walls, since a significant part of the noise - "air nature". In the presence of impact noise, which is transmitted through the material of the walls and ceiling, insulation of the floor and ceiling of a special material that absorbs their vibration is used. It is most difficult to isolate the ceiling - if the floor is not isolated in the apartment from above - it is impossible to get rid of the impact noise from there. The most radical option is the complete soundproofing of a single room or all rooms.

In European new buildings - that is, in new areas - they are already considering protection from noise at the level of organization of urban space, but this depends on specific areas and on their price category, somewhere developers are trying to save as much as possible. In the old districts, the environmental supervision authorities closely monitor the situation, and the construction of old houses is often well insulated from the sound itself. In any case, the decision about the need for sound insulation is taken by the tenants themselves on the basis of their feelings and preferences.