Sound SolutionsLearn
Understanding the way sound passes between materials can transform your entire plan of assembly — and reveal your most efficient options. Start with the difference between acoustics and soundproofing, then explore as deep as you'd like.
Seven ways into the library
Soundproofing Step-By-Step
Good, Better, Best wall and ceiling assemblies — how to layer insulation, damping, and decoupling for real results.
Sound Frequency Guide
Interactive acoustics module — see how frequency, wavelength, and room modes relate, with a live waveform and tone generator.
Soundproofing Basics
How sound is measured (dB, STC, IIC), why low frequencies are stubborn, and how mass, damping, and decoupling tame them.
Acoustics Basics
Absorption, reflection, and diffusion — the panels, bass traps, baffles, and clouds that shape a room's sound.
Acoustic Room Mapper
Sketch your room in 3D, place treatment where it matters, and get a kit estimate you can download or send to us.
LEED & Air Quality
LEED-certified, low-VOC soundproofing — earn credits toward certification without compromising indoor air quality.
Data Sheets
Manufacturer spec sheets and technical documents for every product we sell — STC/IIC ratings, install guides, and compliance data.
Soundproofing
Understanding the distinct scope and differences between Acoustics and Soundproofing is essential when addressing noise control solutions. It can mean the difference between solving resonant echo within a room, or blocking sound from entering through the wall.
Soundproofing focuses on preventing noise from leaving or from entering a space, by controlling how sound travels through walls, ceilings, and structural connections. Acoustics by contrast focus on shaping the dynamics and absorptive functionality of the space within a room. Understanding this distinction will inform the decision to treat the room with acoustics, soundproofing, or a combination of both for the most effective solution.
Read more about soundproof assemblies & strategiesAcoustics
Acoustic Designs are intended to treat echo, reverberation, and sound reflections — often used to improve clarity, comfort, and speech intelligibility within echoic rooms.
Many spaces suffer not from sound escaping, but from excessive reflection and buildup inside the space. Panels, bass traps, baffles, and clouds shape how energy moves through a room — tuning it for music, speech, or calm.
Read more about acoustic design techniquesMeasuring Sound
Throughout our site you'll see references to dB, STC, and IIC. Understanding the difference between these three ratings will help you with research or references made outside our site.
Sound pressure levels define sound intensity, while STC and IIC ratings evaluate airborne and impact noise performance across assemblies. These metrics are often misunderstood or conflated, leading to diminished results. Call our office if you’d like to discuss further. (415) 864-4440
Learn how acoustic ratings translate to real-world resultsTriple Leaf Effect
As drywall vibrates back and forth, the air inside the cavity oscillates with compressed and decompressed pressure — forcing movement onto any center leaf surface.
When this happens on both sides of a center surface, that leaf is forced to vibrate at a greater amplitude than the surrounding walls — causing resonant amplification and a spike in vibration transference back through the exterior walls with cyclical growth in volume.
Understand more about this effect and how to avoid itGlossary of Terms
A working vocabulary for the physics, materials, and methods used across the site. Filter by letter or search for anything specific.
- AbsorptionA
- A property of materials that reduces the amount of sound energy reflected. Introducing absorbent material into a room's surfaces lowers the sound pressure level by preventing reflection of energy that has already entered the space.
- Absorption CoefficientA
- A measure of a surface's sound-absorbing ability, defined as the fraction of incident sound energy absorbed or otherwise not reflected. Values range from ~0.01 for marble slate to nearly 1.0 for long absorbing wedges used in anechoic rooms.
- Acoustic TraumaA
- Damage to the hearing mechanism caused by a sudden burst of intense noise, or by a blast. The term usually implies a single traumatic event.
- AcousticsA
- 1) The science of sound — its generation, transmission, and effects, audible and inaudible. 2) The physical qualities of a room (size, shape, background noise) that determine the audibility and perception of speech and music within it.
- Airborne SoundA
- Sound that reaches the point of interest by propagation through the air.
- Ambient NoiseA
- The total of all noise in the environment other than the noise from the source of interest. Used interchangeably with 'background noise'.
- DampingD
- The dissipation of vibrational energy in a material or assembly, converting it into low-grade heat. Constrained-layer damping compounds (e.g. Green Glue) between two rigid panels are a common method.
- Decibel (dB)D
- A logarithmic unit used to express the ratio of a sound pressure level to a reference level. Every 10 dB roughly corresponds to a doubling of perceived loudness.
- DecouplingD
- Mechanically separating two sides of an assembly (with clips, channels, or a separate stud row) so vibration cannot bridge directly from one leaf to the other.
- Flanking PathF
- Any sound path that bypasses the primary assembly — through shared framing, floors, ductwork, or penetrations — and undermines the rated performance of a wall or ceiling.
- IIC (Impact Insulation Class)I
- A single-number rating of a floor/ceiling assembly's performance against impact noise (footfall, dropped objects). Higher is better.
- Mass LawM
- The principle that doubling the mass per unit area of a single panel improves transmission loss by roughly 5–6 dB across most of the audible range.
- MLV (Mass-Loaded Vinyl)M
- A dense, limp barrier used to add mass to walls, ceilings, floors, ducts, or pipe wraps for improved airborne sound isolation.
- Reverberation Time (RT60)R
- The time it takes for a sound to decay by 60 dB after the source stops. Long RT60s produce echoic rooms; short ones produce dry, controlled spaces.
- STC (Sound Transmission Class)S
- A single-number rating of a wall or partition's airborne sound isolation performance across a standard set of frequencies. Higher is better.
- Triple Leaf EffectT
- A resonance created when three panel layers with two air cavities are stacked, causing the middle leaf to vibrate at higher amplitude and reducing low-frequency performance.