Is there a difference between sound insulation and sound absorption?
A. Yes. Sound insulation is the ability of material to stop noise created in one room penetrating to another. This is achieved in two ways, only one of which is desirable. Firstly, sound may be reflected back into the room in which it was created: this echo effect is characteristic of hard non-porous surfaces. It leads to a noisy environment in which speech and music are not clear because the listener hears the original sound repeatedly, but separated by time intervals, and at reducing intensities. Secondly, the sound energy may be converted into another form such as, initially, mechanical movement of the receiving surface, and subsequently to heat, this is sound absorption. Where present to a high degree, a quiet and clear environment in the room is achieved, and penetration into adjacent rooms is low. A good carpet/underlay combination can be very effective in achieving this. Q. What is impact noise? A. Impact noise is produced when an object strikes the floor. Some of the impact ene
