07.12.2023
Plasterboard is often used on walls, ceilings, and floors. Plasterboard is also often considered as a good and a cheap soundproofing solution. In practice plasterboard adds mass efficiently and it can be part of a good acoustic solution, but adding just mass will not stop the sound energy travelling through the ceiling, wall, or floor. Following two important principles need to be always considered in a top-level soundproofing:
- Add Mass: High mass/density materials such as plasterboard can be used. Acoustic plasterboards have higher density than standard plasterboard. Also different plasterboard masses soundproof different frequencies and different masses are often beneficial.
- Add Attenuation: Ceilings, walls, and floors can be decoupled using springs to add sound attenuation.
InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products add attenuation by decoupling structures and function as low pass filters. We hear sounds from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. This range is also a commonly referenced audio frequency range. InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products attenuate noise from around 14 Hz upwards and improve soundproofing in the whole audio frequency range.
Below are shown calculated attenuation percentages for InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products. Table shows the attenuation percentage for the audio frequency range from 20 Hz up to 20 kHz for an average 25 kg spring load.
At the 20 Hz frequency InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products attenuate around 75 percent of the 20 Hz low frequency noise. At the 50 Hz frequency attenuation percentage increases to 95 percent and attenuation percentage continues to increase as the frequency also continues to increase. Below picture shows sound attenuation curves for 15 kg and 25 kg spring loads in a frequency range from 20 Hz up to 100 Hz.
In practice InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products enable top level soundproofing in the whole audio frequency range (20 Hz – 20 kHz). It is also important to highlight that soundproofing needs to be always done with care and soundproofing requires always good solutions for the entire space. A top-level acoustic ceiling does not enable good soundproofing, if walls and floor allow noise to travel through the structures. Also, air tightness must always be secured in good soundproofing.
As a summary top level soundproofing requires mass and attenuation. Plasterboard provides mass and InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products provide the attenuation by decoupling the structures. With low stiffness InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products attenuate noise already from very low frequencies upwards. This is also the reason, why InfiniSpring® Acoustic Products can be even used in the most demanding soundproofing applications: music rooms, recording studios, cinemas, residential and office buildings, nightclubs, concert venues, industrial developments, and laboratories.
In case of any questions please do not hesitate to contact us. Next we will introduce how InfiniSpring® Acoustic Hangers are dimensioned and used.
