Acousti-Board
How to Soundproof an Office
Soundproofing office spaces delivers significant benefits for employers and employees alike. This simple practice can both increase productivity and keep everyone in the office healthier and happier. But how does such a simple step deliver such profound impacts?
To understand the reasons soundproofing an office makes such a big difference, it’s important to understand how sound waves work and how too much exposure to them impacts our moods and physical health.
Why Soundproofing an Office is So Important
Chronic exposure to loud sounds has long been proven to create focus and productivity issues. That noise keeps us distracted, making it harder to focus on the tasks at hand. The ultimate outcome is that we miss deadlines and turn in mediocre work.
Excess noise can also increase stress levels, leading to more serious health complications down the line. Chronic stress can result in serious cardiovascular issues and other health problems, including damage to hearing health. Hearing loss and tinnitus may not sound like serious issues when we’re young, but they can be incredibly annoying and even lead to an increased likelihood of developing dementia in our older years.
Noise reduction measures can and should be taken to reduce the chances of ill health effects. We can effectively reduce the amount of noise in any indoor space through a combination of soundproofing and sound absorption measures, which are two essential parts of reducing office noise.
How to Make an Office More Soundproof
Now that we know a little bit about why soundproofing an office is so important, let’s take a look at some of the key soundproofing concepts that will allow us to reduce indoor volumes and protect our employees’ health and hearing.
Let’s begin by looking at the difference between the two, then move on to the ways they work together to create more soundproof spaces. Once you understand that, choosing the right products for your office becomes much easier.
Soundproofing vs Sound Absorption
Effectively reducing noise in any space requires that we take a surgical approach to tackling noise issues in the right way. Neither soundproofing or sound absorption materials are capable of handling all sound issues in a space on their own.
Soundproofing
Soundproofing materials are meant to stop sound waves from passing through physical barriers like walls, ceilings, and floors. The most common methods include adding mass and volume, damping vibrations, and decoupling surfaces. Used together, these concepts provide professional soundproofing that keeps everyone happy.
Sound Absorption
Sound absorption materials, on the other hand, are designed to reduce the amount of noise bouncing around inside of the room. Sound waves continue to travel until they strike an object. Once they strike an object, they are either reflected or absorbed.
Reflected waves will continue bouncing back and forth until something absorbs them, which is where sound absorption materials are so important. They remove these waves from the equation and keep the room quieter. This method of office acoustics improvement and noise reduction not only protects the hearing of those inside but also takes some of the load off of our soundproofing measures.
Assessing Your Office Sound Needs
Before beginning your soundproofing project, it is important to understand what kinds of sources are contributing to the bulk of the offending noise. This will show you how to soundproof office rooms properly. Airborne and impact sounds are treated a little differently, and keeping inside sounds vs outside sounds at bay requires slightly different approaches.
Airborne vs Impact Noise
Airborne sounds are created by things like voices and radios. These sounds originate in space, and that’s where they live until they reach a solid object. Reducing airborne sounds is the job of acoustical treatments or sound absorption materials.
Impact noises are created by things like people walking, moving furniture around, or doing anything that creates sounds originating from impacts on solid objects. These noises can be reduced through acoustical treatments, but also rely upon traditional soundproofing measures to keep them from entering adjacent spaces.
Inside vs Outside Noise
If you deal with a lot of noise that creeps in from outside, soundproofing measures may be the most important focus of your project. These include things like increasing the mass and volume in our walls and doors to provide a more substantial defense against sound passage, as well as sealing any gaps and cracks that allow sound to pass into the office unimpeded.
For noises that originate inside the office, sound absorption measures are generally more appropriate. These materials absorb and trap sound waves, helping to prevent the echo and reverberation that can cause speech intelligibility issues and raise the overall volume in indoor spaces.
Read More: How to Reduce Echo in an Office
Soundproofing Techniques for Different Office Layouts
Identifying the best approach to tackling noise issues is largely dependent upon the layout of the office itself. Big, open office spaces will be treated differently from a more compartmentalized office layout. That said, the more creatively you use the space, the fewer treatments may be required to get the results you’re after.
Setting up conference rooms and meeting rooms away from high-traffic areas like stairwells, elevators, and windows near busy streets will minimize the amount of sound you need to defend against. That is a great starting point, but we cannot run from every noise, so we must prepare for the inevitable. Here are a couple of office soundproofing techniques for different types of spaces.
Closed Rooms
When we have the advantage of solid walls and closing doors, traditional soundproofing products are usually the most effective. They will prevent conversations and other ordinary office noise from disrupting business in adjacent rooms. Introducing acoustical treatments will also prove effective, as they keep the overall volume down.
Open Floor Plans
Open floor plans require a slightly different approach. As there are no walls to create individual areas, we must create them ourselves with acoustical materials and tools designed for enhancing office privacy. Two of the most useful are white noise machines and partitions.
White Noise Machines
White noise machines are intended to mask speech and provide privacy. By competing with our voices, they help prevent clear reflections and echoes from bringing our conversations to the ears of others in the space. White noise machines are often used in medical facilities, financial institutions, and any space where privacy is of paramount importance.
Partitions
Dividing open spaces with absorptive partitions is another way of creating privacy. They are great for creating individual working spaces, and their absorptive nature allows our conversations to stay where they belong.
Key Soundproofing Products
No matter what kind of space we are soundproofing, there are key products that are used in nearly all of them. They are designed to trap and absorb sound waves, as well as retrofit the structure to prevent sound passage from one side to the next of the barriers that separate each space.
Materials that Add Mass and Density
One of the most important steps in properly soundproofing any space is to add mass and density to the walls, floors, and ceilings. One product that works equally well in all these locations is Mass Loaded Vinyl, or MLV.
Mass Loaded Vinyl
Mass-loaded vinyl is typically rolled out before top layers like drywall and flooring. It’s an easy enough process that anyone with a few basic tools and a rudimentary knowledge of how to build simple structures can accomplish it without hiring outside labor. This is one of the most cost-effective soundproofing solutions on the market, making it one of the go-to products for most situations.
Heavier Doors and Windows
Inefficient doors and windows are another problematic aspect when soundproofing. Old windows and interior doors are not built with enough sound blocking ability to make them effective, and replacing them represents a vast improvement.
Replacing dated windows with a new set is one of the most effective means of improving their performance, but can get expensive quickly. Fitting them with window inserts will provide many of the same performance improvements at a fraction of the cost.
Likewise, replacing interior doors with heavier soundproof doors will increase the mass and density enough to block a whole lot of sound passage. Studio doors are specifically built for this purpose and perform exceptionally well, but simply upgrading to solid wood or metal doors will also improve the soundproofing ability exponentially.
Sound Damping Materials
Another concept that’s crucial in soundproofing spaces is sound damping. Since energy can neither be created nor destroyed, we must convert vibrational sound energy into something else if we want to take it out of the equation. Sound damping materials do just that.
Acoustical Insulation and Green Glue
Using acoustical insulation and green glue inside office walls and ceilings are effective means of transforming vibrational energy into small amounts of heat energy to take them out of the equation. Acoustical insulation eliminates reverberation within the wall cavity while green glue separates solid objects like drywall and studs to break the pathways sound vibrations use to get from one side to the other. Installing these types of materials between quiet spaces and noisy areas will help foster focus and increase productivity.
Acoustic Panels and Ceiling Tiles
For sound absorption, most people turn to acoustic panels and tiles. They are made of dense, absorptive materials that are easy for sound waves to pass into but hard for them to escape. The materials help dampen sounds in a range of frequencies and reduce reflections that cause acoustical issues like echo and reverberation.
Acoustic Panels
Acoustic panels are a great option for office spaces because they are sold in a wide range of styles, many of which can act as attractive art pieces, capable of being custom printed to match any interior decorating scheme or to match your brand.
Acoustic Ceiling Tiles
Acoustic tiles in drop ceilings and other ceiling systems work in largely the same way, but are intended to handle overhead noises and reflections as they travel across the open space. They may be affixed directly to the ceiling or suspended to create stunning focal points.
Gap and Crack Fillers
Gaps and cracks in the facade can represent real weaknesses that can create significant sound leakage, especially in older buildings. If gaps and cracks aren’t well-sealed, sound can easily pass through with nothing there to stop it. As a general rule of thumb, if air can pass through an opening, so can sound. Sealing any and all of these areas is essential if you want to keep inside and outside sounds where they belong. Two of the most effective methods are acoustical caulk and door seal kits.
Acoustic Caulk
Acoustical caulk is applied in the same way as other types of caulk but are made of latex rather than silicone, meaning they stay flexible for the long haul and will not shrink or crack as the building settles or after years of extreme temperature fluctuations. Sealing any gaps and cracks with acoustical caulk will improve thermal efficiency and soundproofing efforts for years to come.
Door Seal Kits
Door seal kits provide a very similar kind of benefit in the areas where we cannot seal gaps with a permanent product, the areas between the office doors and their frames. Door seals are meant to seal off any gaps once the door is closed, preventing sound passage. Choosing a kit with an automatic door sweep will allow the door to open and close cleanly, while creating the seal once it closes.
Installation and Maintenance of Soundproofing Systems
Many people these days are eager for DIY office soundproofing projects that improve their spaces. While some soundproofing products are perfect for DIY enthusiasts, some are a little more difficult to pull off properly and are best installed by professionals that know what they are doing.
Most sound absorption products can be installed relatively easily by anyone with basic tools and a little gumption. Soundproofing products, however, are often more involved. Some of them, installed improperly, can even weaken the structure. If you are adding significant weight or taking walls, ceilings, or floors apart, make sure you consult with a professional to ensure you aren’t creating potential problems.
Maintaining acoustical treatment and soundproofing products for offices is an important part of keeping them functioning properly for years to come. Occasionally clean any dust or debris off of them, and if they are particularly soiled, make sure to wipe them clean with water and a soft cloth, making sure to dry them completely to prevent mold or mildew from forming. Use a small amount of gentle cleanser if necessary, but spot test them in an inconspicuous location before applying to the whole panel.
Conclusion
There are lots of great benefits that go along with soundproofing an office. It can help keep the people who work there happier and healthier, and more productive to boot. If you are going to soundproof the space yourself, make sure you are using the right products and techniques to get the results you’re after. If you have questions, make sure to consult with professionals.
We know all the ins and outs of soundproofing an office properly. We also carry all the best soundproofing materials for offices, as well as the expertise you need to make your next project a success. If you are ready to upgrade your office with quality soundproofing products, reach out to Acoustical Surfaces for a consultation.
