As Karl Pilkington once said amusingly said: “It's the one thing you can't escape, noise. Your ears never turn off, they're always there. There's always sound. Like, your eyes, you can close them. My eyes close all the time. If I don't like the look of something, they close before I even thought about if I want to see it or not. Me ears, they seem to be interested in everything, even though I'm not."
Noise affects us all – we are bombarded by it as we go about our daily business. From traffic in the street to mobile phones going off at the restaurant we are all exposed to unwanted sound.
Even when we are in the sanctuary of our own homes we can often not escape it. Many people experiences problems due to noise caused by noisy neighbours. A common problem, and certainly something that we get a large number of telephone calls about here at Sound Reduction Systems, is noise generated by surround sound cinema systems, hi-fi, modern flat screen televisions, and games consoles, which often now have a surround sound output on them. Such electronic equipment is very affordable these days, you can even pop down to your local supermarket and pick up a 5.1 surround sound cinema system for around £200.00 or so.
Obviously once the user has plugged their shiny new equipment in and is enjoying a movie or video game they are experiencing the fantastic, high quality dynamic sound but often, in many cases without realising, they are creating a noise nuisance for residents in the adjacent terraced or semi-detached homes. Separating walls and floors are very rarely designed or built to cope with the level of sound, especially the bass frequencies, that modern audio equipment is capable of.
Further problems often occur where neighbours’ routines differ. More and more people these days do shift or part time work and so find themselves up late and trying to get sleep during the day.
What can be done? Let SRS’s acoustic experts assist and guide you to a domestic soundproofing solution. The best thing to do, if you have a noisy neighbour or are planning on buying the latest surround sound cinema system, is give us a call on 01204 380074 or email us at info@soundreduction.co.uk. All the advice that we offer is free of charge and comes from Institute of Acoustics registered, qualified acousticians.
For separating walls and ceilings SRS manufacture Maxiboard, a high performance acoustic building board. Further details and specifications can be found online here:
A full range of products is available including acoustic flooring, soundproofing for walls, and ceilings so why not get in touch to discuss your requirements?
A demonstration of Maxiboard can be viewed below:
With the correct soundproofing specification and with a little common sense and sensible use of the equipment everyone can live their lives as they so wish, in perfect peace and harmony!
