Soundproofing

All the other suggestions plus I have some thoughts too. You're going to find it rather difficult to stop the noise. As one poster suggested, solid studs would provide a bypass route for the noise, so it is best to have the ( massive as possible ) plasterboard partition supported by studs which have no direct contact with the wall. It would be even better to use resilient mounting for the stud where they do attach ( to the ceiling and floor presumably ). Gaps are to be avoided, so a means of making the gap between the partition and the surfaces it terminates at as small as possible without actually being solidly mounted to the surfaces ( another bypass route ): a labyrinth seal perhaps, with 3 laminated sheets of 10 mm plasterboard forming a U seal, as it were, on the edges, to a resilient seal attached to the walls/ceiling/floor. All very complicated, and anyway noise can still bounce off other surfaces in the room and go via the other walls. My mother is slightly deaf and I gave her a teletext TV so she can turn the subtitles on ( page 888 ). She likes the text, it isn't such a chore reading it as you might think.

Anyway, one more sugestion, to save messing around, bring the partition forward to envelop the TV, that is, put it in a TV cabinet, only make one yourself, or modify it. The design could reflect sound that exits the rear of the tv and send it forwards, so your parents could turn the volume down and still hear it as being the same volume. Also, if you construct the tv cabinet yourself, you could make it of quite massive materials, or of sandwich construction, with an inner and outer shell separated with rockwool or somesuch. Probably best to steer clear of wood, as it's not massive, unless you line it with 2mm lead, as someone suggested. Other ideas, shagpile carpet to absorb reflected sound before it gets to the party wall, or wallhangings etc. There's no simple answer!

Andy.

Reply to
andrewpreece
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Hi all,

Have a bit of a problem, elderly parents living in a mid terrace 100+ year old house and the neighbours on one side object to the telly being too loud. The TV is situated in the corner of the room in alcove next to chimney breast and would not be easy to move anywhere else in the room. What I would like to ask is what would be the best way of reducing the noise level through the wall? I thought of putting 4x2 wood, stud style, against the alcove wall and fix a sheet of plaster board to this resulting in a 4" gap between existing wall and plaster board and perhaps filling this gap with some form of insulation.

What would be your thoughts on this?

Any advice gratefully received

regards Jess

Reply to
Jess

Two sets of wireless headphones would be cheaper and less hassle for everyone.

Reply to
BigWallop

Problem with soundproofing is that it is difficult to do: o You need mass -- to knock out the low frequency

---- 2mm lead sheet

---- mass-loaded rubber sheet (not as good, 5kg/m^2) o You need closed-cell foam -- to knock out the high frequency

---- must be closed cell, dense heavy stuff

---- cheapest can be decent underlay (lots of mass & surface area)

Sound will circumvent thro: o the smallest hole - such as under the floorboards o any rigid connection - such as thro joists/wall

So... o Keep any soundproofing solution cheap, but *effective*

---- treating the source is *far* easier than the effect o Consider remote speakers *away from the TV* but near them

---- many TVs have speaker ports on the rear (eg, Sony)

---- pick up a SCART -> cheap-amp -> cheap-speakers (on Ebay) o Tweak the bass/treble for them

---- bass is very easily transmitted through walls

---- you can some of the bass out (old age = muffled hearing)

Wireless headphones are a good idea, however they may not like them and just turn the TV up. The solution is perhaps to move the sound source closer to their ears & mute the TV. Resist temptation of valve-amp & electrostatic headphones :-)

You need to do a google for Sound Proofing, and look for the various methods of implementing their products (mass+foam). They indicate the very important notes of not short-circuiting any sound-proofing (and so rendering it completely useless :-)

o Remember sound falls off rapidly with distance o Move the sound source closer to them, small decent speakers

---- so noticeably less volume needed re neighbours

---- and noise source is not pointed 1ft from them (re TV speakers) o Read carefully how to avoid short-circuiting sound proofing

Reply to
Dorothy Bradbury

You could do that, plus use sound insulating plasterboard.

I think it is not much more expensive than regular stuff.

Rob

Replace 'spam' with 'org' to reply

Reply to
Kalico

Hi,

Would be worth going round if possible to find out where the sound is coming through the most.

A search on Google Groups will come up with plenty of ideas:

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common way would be lining the alcove with 2 layers of plasterboard joined with staggered joints and fixing it at the floor and ceiling.

One way to go could be to hook up a cheap '5.1' speaker system to the TV with the satellite speakers next to where your parent sit. Then the volume won't need to be so high for your parents to hear it properly.

cheers, Pete.

Reply to
Pete C

Do they wear hearing aids? If so you can install an induction loop in the room (as used in churches, auditoria and at selected cashier points in banks)and use tha aids switched to T

Malcolm

Reply to
Malcolm Race

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 21:10:10 +0000 (UTC), a particular chimpanzee named "Jess" randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

A better solution would be to construct the stud wall separate from the wall, fixed only to the floor & ceiling. Fix two layers of plasterboard to it to add mass. Leave a gap between the insulation & the original wall. Use a denser sound-block mineral fibre insulation rather than quilt.

Reply to
Hugo Nebula

I have read all the posts so far and all offer good advice but at a cost either in the wallet or convienience.

I would have a look at the TV source.... is the speaker facing the viewer??? Sound is a bit directional, as one poster said it is a good idea to move the sound source closer but that again is not really practical unless speaker wires can be routed easily.

Rather than sound proofing I would go for the sound enhancing from the source, you could build some simple sound 'horns' that direct the sound better therefore reducing the volume required. For instance on a normal tv the speake or speakers are near the back, instead of soundproofing the entire room just build a little plywood or mdf right angled box that has sound insulation around it, the sound will be projected inside the box and out towards the listener and not the wall.

Even if the TV is really old and doesn't have external speaker outputs it would surely make sense to pay a local guy with a little electronics knowlege to open the telly and connect some external speakers rather than spend alot of cash on building and the hassle of doing it

Paul

Reply to
paul

Once the sound has left the cabinet - ie loud enough for the aged parent - it becomes essentially omni-directional so will go 'through' the walls in the normal way. Your idea might be fine to deaden the sound from a piece of machinery which was an unwanted sound, but no use in this case.

The only inexpensive way is to add an extension speaker or speakers and site them close to the listening position. Small cheap mains powered PC speakers could be adapted to run off the SCART socket, if the TV doesn't have extension speaker sockets.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Change the TV ?

In a rented flat I had problems from the flat below with TV blaring through, then one day it seriously reduced. Found out they had bought a 28" widescreen TV to replace their smaller portable. They probably had to have the sound up high on the portable to hear (and allow me to hear !!) but not so load (or was more directional) on the 28" new one.

Reply to
Ian Middleton

I am starting to have a similar probelm with my Mum, God bless, her as I notice the TV volume gets turned up quite a bit when I am not in the room. I have investigated RNID kit, very expensive, that is supposed to overcome this but a friend who has hearing problems tells me that it works for some but not for others... and you can't try before you buy. Maybe, as someone stated, some decent wireless headphones would be a first step.

Reply to
John Smith

Certainly, better quality speakers etc give intelligibility at lower levels. However, a larger TV may get people sitting further from it...

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

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