Sound Privacy

Privacy describes the perceived sound reduction across a wall. Privacy is a function of both sound insulation and background noise. Background noise is made up of services noise and environmental noise sources breaking in through the facade or open windows, vents etc.

If the background noise within a room is increased by 5 to 10 dB, the perceived level of privacy across a partition is also increased by 5 to 10 dB. Therefore, when looking at required sound insulation levels on-site, it is important to consider both the background noise in the receiver room and the sound insulation across the partition.

Sound Absorption

The loss of sound energy when sound waves come into contact with an absorbent material such as ceilings, walls, floors and other objects.

Good Hearing?

A typical person with good hearing can hear from about 20Hz to 20kHz (the audio bandwidth). A person's voice will usually range from 500Hz to 2kHz.