Acousti-Board
Soundproofing for Schools, Universities and Classrooms
Few places in society rely so heavily upon soundproofing and acoustical treatment measures as educational institutions do. Between lectures and labs, quiet study sessions and socializing, students must be able to focus in order to excel. Classroom soundproofing reduces the amount of noise they must navigate, and can even improve success rates.
The Importance of Classroom Soundproofing
It should come as no shock to anyone that chronic exposure to noise can be incredibly disruptive. The results of numerous acoustic improvement case studies have demonstrated how noise impacts our ability to focus, makes communication more difficult, and even raises stress levels.
Let’s take a look at some of the primary reasons so many educational institutions are taking these necessary steps to improve their school’s architectural acoustics issues and bring noise levels down.
Minimizing Distractions
The ability to focus on our studies is one of the most important things a school can provide. By minimizing outside distractions, we allow students to pay attention more easily and engage in lessons more fully.
Improve Concentration and Learning
Many subjects of study require the use of critical thinking and problem solving skills. When students are disrupted by noise, the cognitive impact detracts from their focus and makes completing complex tasks more difficult.
Enhancing Communication
Clear communication is crucial in the classroom. Teachers need to be heard to be fully understood, and if they must strain to be heard, it can negatively impact their performance. Soundproofing provides the channels for clear speech and communication that can lead to improved outcomes.
Supporting Special Needs Students
Some students need a little more silence in order to succeed in school. Any physical or learning disabilities can make accessibility a challenge. Some may have trouble hearing, making it difficult to make out what the teacher is saying in loud environments. Other students may be sensitive to sound. These students can have trouble concentrating in noisy environments. Soundproofing classrooms puts all students on a level playing field, ensuring all of them get a quality education.
Soundproofing vs Acoustical Treatments
In order to properly address issue areas, it’s important to understand the difference between soundproofing and acoustically treating spaces. Each addresses specific issues, but they work wonderfully together to solve any type of noise issue you can think of.
Soundproofing
If your main issue is noise coming from hallways, other rooms, or outside, soundproofing measures are what will solve them. Soundproofing spaces properly involves adding mass and density to the walls, ceilings and floors, sealing any gaps and cracks, decoupling surfaces, and damping vibrational energy.
These measures are all intended to either make walls and ceilings more formidable barriers or disrupt pathways that vibrational sound energy takes to cross from one side to the other. Both inhibit normal sound wave behavior and help keep our spaces more silent.
Acoustical Treatments
If the main problem is acoustical issues creating excess noise within the room, acoustical treatments designed to absorb and eliminate sound wave reflections are the correct solution. They deliver both echo reduction and reverb reduction, bringing down the overall volume in the room.
Combining soundproofing efforts with acoustical treatments are the most effective way to eliminate excess noise, but it isn’t always necessary to use every tool at our disposal. Some solutions work better in specific spaces than others.
Read More: Key Differences Between Soundproofing and Acoustical Treatments
Classroom Soundproofing
Classrooms often suffer from sound leakage, due to their proximity to other classrooms. Those with concrete walls are less susceptible, but plenty of noise can still creep in through doors, windows, and any gaps or cracks in the facade. There are some very effective ways to tackle these issues.
Sealing Gaps or Cracks
One of the first things we should look at when beginning any noise reduction project is to look for any gaps or cracks that might be allowing sound to pass through. As a general rule of thumb, if air can pass through, so can sound. Sealing any gaps and cracks in walls or around windows and doors with acoustical caulk is sometimes all it takes to stop the sound leakage.
Get Better Doors and Windows
If you’ve got outdated windows or doors, they can also create pathways by which noise can enter the classroom. Improving them requires adding mass and sealing any gaps and cracks around the frames. There are simple solutions to each.
Doors
Interior doors often are not designed to block a lot of sound. Many newer schools are already fitted with doors made to block the barrage of outside sounds, but if yours aren’t, it’s time to invest in some heavier doors that are capable of keeping noise down.
Even heavy doors are not able to block all sound from passing through large gaps between them and their frames. To address this, we turn to door seal kits. Door seal kits are door soundproofing systems designed to close the gaps between the doors and frames. If you want to step it up a notch, choose a kit with an automatic door sweep. They automatically seal the gap below the door as soon as it closes, delivering soundproofing performance without dragging.
Windows
Old windows also allow for considerable sound passage. In order to combat it, many people simply replace the windows with a new set. New windows are designed with multiple panes of glass, separated by an air or gas gap. This combination delivers much better sound and thermal insulation than old, single-paned windows.
If new windows are prohibitively expensive, you can get many of the same benefits with a set of acoustic window inserts. They attach to the window frame securely, delivering a second pane of glass and air gap that are so crucial to both thermal and sound insulation. As an added benefit, window inserts preserve the vintage look of the windows in historic schools, helping them maintain their curb appeal and historic charm.
Install Drop Ceilings with Acoustic Tiles
Drop ceilings are incredibly popular in classrooms, and a majority of schools probably already have T-grid suspension systems already installed in most of their classrooms. Fitting them with acoustic ceiling tiles helps to absorb some of the sound coming from overhead, whether that’s from overhead classrooms or the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems overhead. They also absorb sound waves from below. This combination fights noise on multiple fronts and is easy to install, meaning you can save on labor costs in your budget.
Decoupling and Damping Walls
If your classroom features drywall or wood walls, there is a good chance that vibrations from one side can travel through the walls and enter adjacent rooms as audible noise. Decoupling and damping walls can stop this.
Decoupling walls is the practice of separating surfaces with a gap that helps to absorb and reduce vibrations that would otherwise pass through the structure and emerge on the other side. These options often involve serious remodeling projects, but represent the most effective means of classroom soundproofing.
Damping is the conversion of vibrational energy into very small amounts of heat energy. Damping materials are placed between solid parts of the structure, preventing vibrations from passing from one to the other. Here are a couple of great soundproofing materials that work wonderfully.
Resilient Channels
Resilient channels are metal channels that are installed between the drywall and studs. They create a gap that decouples the drywall from the framing and helps reduce sound transmission considerably.
Mass Loaded Vinyl
Sold in rolls, mass loaded vinyl (MLV) is rolled out and tacked to the studs before the drywall is applied. This damps vibrational energy and reduces sound transmission. It may be applied to existing drywall and covered with a second layer of drywall, but make sure the structure is designed to handle the extra weight before going this route.
Read More: 4 Types of Sound Absorbent Materials For Schools
Lecture Hall and Auditorium Soundproofing
Lecture halls and auditoriums often deal more with echo and reverberation issues, due to their increased size. They are also places where speech intelligibility is crucial. Both lecture hall and auditorium acoustics must be designed to allow sound to permeate every nook and cranny so everyone inside can hear presentations or performances clearly. Here are some ways to go about making improved multipurpose space acoustics a reality.
Microperforated Panels
If you are after a more classic upscale look, you can’t go wrong with wood. It provides warmth and texture, and is a great material as far as acoustics go. It can get expensive to finish entire lecture halls with solid wood, but microperforated panels can meet your aesthetic and acoustic goals without breaking the bank. Microperforated panels can be used on both the walls and the ceilings, allowing you to improve auditorium and lecture hall acoustics from every corner.
Acoustical Ceiling Systems
When dealing with higher ceilings, it’s helpful to absorb sound waves as they travel overhead. They further reduce reverberation and deliver quieter spaces. Two popular options are ceiling clouds and baffles.
Ceiling Clouds
Ceiling clouds are essentially acoustic panels that are suspended from the ceiling. They absorb and damp sound waves, eliminating some of the reflections that lead to reverberation issues. They are available in an infinite combination of standard and custom finishes, meaning you can use them to create eye-catching focal points above the space.
Baffles
Sound baffles are linear planks that are suspended horizontally below the true ceiling. They create enough division between the spaces overhead and below that they can be configured to deliver a wide range of stunning results that provide as much acoustic benefit as they do aesthetic flair.
Gymnasium Soundproofing
Most gyms are built with concrete walls, due to the size of the rooms, but that doesn’t mean they are immune from noise exposure. Impact sounds from students running, jumping, bouncing balls, and slapback echo have an additive effect that can become almost deafening if not treated.
Part of what makes gyms so tricky comes down simply to gymnasium acoustics. They are large spaces with hard, reflective surfaces, making up a typically cubic layout. Absorbing sound waves and eliminating reflections will keep the noise down. Here’s how to do it.
High-Impact Acoustic Panels
One of the most common and effective methods of removing reflections from indoor spaces is the acoustic panel. They are available in many different makes and models, meaning you can find something that works for both your acoustic and aesthetic needs.
These sound-absorbing panels eliminate sound wave reflections at the point of impact, effectively reducing the number of sound waves traveling throughout the space. Choosing high-impact models of acoustic panels reduces the chance that they will be damaged in high traffic areas.
Ceiling Systems
Gymnasiums are another place that can benefit greatly from sound control near the ceiling. Attaching acoustic panels directly to the ceiling and the very top portions of the walls will help keep reverberation to a minimum. You can even use ceiling clouds here if you like, but make sure you use panels that are resistant to moisture if that is a requirement.
Get Advice and Experience from Your Local Pros
If you have little or no experience with soundproofing and acoustical treatment projects, it is always helpful to enlist the help of those who know what they are doing. Classroom soundproofing is too important to leave to chance.
Our team of pros at Acoustical Surfaces has decades of combined experience tackling soundproofing challenges on every type of project you can think of. We also provide the professional noise reduction solutions to make those projects successful. Contact us today for a consulation.
2 Comments
jchoy1021
I have a 2-car garage, unfinished, that I would like to sound-proof and use it as a band room for my sons. What would be an effective and economical way of doing it? Would the sound-proofing make it inbarable for the ban members to pratice due to the fact that the sound would retain in the room?
J.C.
Ted W
J.C.
Thank you for posting. Your question is a little tricky, but I will do my best to answer it as directly as possible.
“Sound Proofing” the garage should not change the ammount of echo and reverberation that the band members experience in the room. The only change that the soundproofing will have is the amount of sound that leaves the space will be reduced.
If it were my garage, I would absolutely go with the RSIC-1 Clip system. I have gotten more positive feedback from people who have gone this route than any of our other products. The system is going to require some construction on your part, but overall, performance compared to cost, this is going to be one of, if not THE, most cost effective solutions that we have to offer.
Dealing with the echo in the room is another story all together. If the band is practicing in a room with sheetrock walls and ceiling and a concrete floor, the sound in the room very well may be ear splitting. I would use the Three-Percent suggestion noted above and cover some of the walls with either the 1″ or 2″ thick Echo Eliminator panels. These panels are some of the most cost effective panels on the market. They would simply apply directly to the walls with adhesive.
My suggestion would be to look at the proposed project as a two phaze process. Deal with the “sound proofing” first INSIDE of the walls, and then “tune” the room with the acoustical panels after the drywall is installed, and you’ve taped, mudded, and painted.
I hope this helps, please feel free to call or E-mail if I did not adequately answer your questions, or if you woudl like a quote on any of our products.
Thanks,
Ted