What is acoustic treatment and why is it necessary?

Acoustic treatment is the process of optimising spaces for speech, recording, performing and listening. It can be incorporated during the build process or added retrospectively. Without suitable treatment, audio equipment used in regular rooms with common hard surfaces (e.g. plastered walls and ceilings) will not perform at a level anywhere near the standards specified by the manufacturer.

 
Untreated rooms affect sound in the following ways:

• Parallel walls, floors and ceilings reflect sound back and forth causing ‘flutter echo’. This masks the original sound, resulting in a loss of clarity.
• As the sound reflections collide with one another, some frequencies are amplified whilst others are reduced in volume. This ‘comb filtering’ effect seriously colours the sound, making the room inaccurate for recording and listening to music.
• All spaces vibrate naturally and amplify certain bass frequencies as a result. The size and shape of a room determines the nature of these ‘standing waves’ though the problem is most prominent in small rooms.

 
These issues have a profound negative effect on all sound related activities. For example, recordings are often inaccurate, unnatural and tiring to listen to; musical performances can be unbalanced and difficult to enjoy; communal areas such as offices and call centres can become noisy, making communication and concentration difficult.

Acousti Pro’s acoustic treatment products provide a complete ready made solution to all acoustic problems. For help in specifying a solution that is suitable for your space, activities and budget please call us on 01264 810108.

 What is the difference between sound proofing and acoustic treatment?

Contrary to popular belief, sound proofing and acoustic treatment are two totally different issues! Acoustic treatment deals with sound within a space; sound proofing deals with sound leakage from one space to another.

Speech, audio equipment and musical instruments are all sources of airborne sound in a building. Low frequencies such as those produced by subwoofers and larger speaker systems can also cause walls, ceilings and floors to vibrate. Vibration is then transmitted through the building’s structure into other rooms. This can also occur in reverse with external sounds such as road traffic noise entering a building from the outside as both airborne noise and transmitted vibration.

Effective sound proofing is achieved with specialist high-mass materials and approved construction methods that decouple different materials and contain air flow between spaces. For a complete range of solutions, you need look no further than Acousti Pro’s Sound Proofing and Vibration Damping. Feel free to contact us for guidance in selecting the right products and construction methods for your project.