News Archive
Noise Control Market To Expand Through 2027
Noise pollution is best defined as any disturbing noise with a damaging influence on human or animal life. In the city and urban areas, this is caused by human activity, stemming from the use of machines and vehicles, but also compounded by poor urban planning, non-adherence to noise ordinance rules and from individuals creating noise. This form of pollution is categorised as...
Top 5 Tips For Choosing Acoustic Ventilation
The importance of acoustic ventilation is easy to underestimate. In situations like recording studios or concert venues, it's vital to bring clean air into the room. But in doing so, you need to ensure that you don't at the same time introduce unwanted noise elements. As soon as you make a hole in a wall or ceiling to allow air in,...
How Does A Duct Silencer Work?
There are few things more annoying than trying to get to sleep in a hotel room and having to make the choice between being kept awake by noisy air conditioning or being kept awake by being too hot. Similarly, conference facilities don't want heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) which is so loud it distracts from what the speakers have to say....
How Effective Are Acoustic Panels At Reducing (Office) Noise Levels?
Heightened noise levels, especially those in offices, can cause distractions and an unhealthy work environment. Sound seeps in through doors and windows, walls, floors and ceilings and can seriously affect stress levels and office productivity, with negative results. While unwanted noise levels can be tackled in a variety of ways, including providing quiet spaces and noise-cancelling headphones, the only way to...
What Is An Engine Noise Test Cell?
If jet engines pose noise issues on airport runways, imagine those of testing them inside factories and test facilities. A jet engine test cell (ENTC) must not only safely contain the noise and other health and safety challenges: the acoustics must also be elaborately controlled in order to extract accurate relevant data about component performance and vibrations. Hemi-Anechoic Chambers With modern...
How To Build Cost Effective Acoustic Panels
If you want to create your own home recording studio or cinema without breaking the bank, then building your own acoustic panels could be the cost-effective answer. Poor acoustics can make even the most expensive set of speakers sound tinny and cheap, while lack of sound absorption will ruin your home recordings. Using easily sourced materials and some basic DIY skills, you...
Acoustic Panels with Art
There's no reason for noise control acoustic panels to look bland and boring. Those large flat surfaces aren't just good at keeping noise out: they're also ideal canvases for art ideas. What's more, panels are just one of the forms that sound absorption can take - there are bubbles in an amazing range of shapes and dividers as well. You can complement...
Reverberation Time
One of the key elements in effective noise control is something called the reverberation time. This is effectively the way that sound echoes and the length of time that it takes that echo to decay. Reverberation can have a major effect on the acoustics of a room and how the sound within it is perceived. Let's have a look at why. Enclosed...
What is a Jet Blast Barrier or Deflector
When a military or civilian jet is about to take off, its engines can produce winds of up to 120 mph from its exhausts - as much as a hurricane. What's more, these winds can travel as much as 60 metres behind the plane. The danger to personnel and the possibility of damage to other planes seems obvious. And it's not just...
Importance of Controlling Noise in the Workplace
Do you work in an open-plan office where people are on the phone all day? Is your office as noisy as a crowded restaurant would be? Does the noise carry on for most of the working day? Then controlling noise in the workplace needs to become a priority. Noise at "Crowded Restaurant" Level Is Harmful If you do, you may be...
IAC Acoustics Audiology Rooms
The use of acoustic audiology rooms is important in the diagnosis and treatment of hearing issues. These rooms need to provide a comfortable environment for the staff who work there and a relaxing space for patients. They also need to provide noise reduction levels of 35 dB or more in order to offer a controlled testing space. Building an Audiology Room...
Testing With Hemi-Anechoic Chambers
Audio testing facilities come in a number of different forms. Most of these involve an anechoic chamber of some kind. These are used to isolate the test item from ambient sounds, but there are different types of anechoic chambers too, with both fully and hemi-anechoic chambers in use. What Is an Anechoic Chamber? At its simplest, an anechoic chamber is...
Acoustic Enclosures Packaging Market To Record Exponential Growth by 2027
An acoustic enclosure is the first line of defence when it comes to controlling noise levels in the industrial workplace. Using an enclosure can control the noise emissions of pumps and motors at source, reducing noise pollution without affecting the efficiency of equipment. The Rise of Noise Pollution The noise produced by industrial machinery can constitute a significant health risk to operatives...
What Does It Feel Like To Be In The Quietest (and darkest) Place on Earth?
What most people would consider as absolute silence is really not that silent at all. Even in a very still, peaceful room, there will be sounds near and far: traffic, plumbing, birds warbling and people coming and going. There will be all kinds of ambient sounds that you are probably generally not tuning into. Then there will be the sounds of your...
Glimpse Into Anechoic Chamber Used To Test Apple HomePod, iPhone and iPad Speakers
Such is the importance of sound performance in commercial products that big companies like Apple and Microsoft have turned to using an anechoic chamber to thoroughly test and design their latest products. Apple's new HomePod product underwent thorough design and testing using an echo-free chamber before its release on the market. It's a sign that good acoustic performance is absolutely paramount to...
The Acoustics of Great Music Practice Rooms
Music practice rooms are invaluable spaces for artists and musicians to practise their instruments and crafts away from critical judgement or interference from others. Inside these spaces, they can hone their instrumental and musical skills, perfecting existing material or working on something new and original. Isolation and relative solitude are just two benefits of music practice rooms - they are also useful for...
Quick Guide to Architectural Acoustics
Buildings and structures designed as living and working spaces, as well as healthcare locations, all have to ensure that they provide an acoustically comfortable environment. Depending on the purpose of the building, we may want to maximise or minimise certain sounds. In a concert hall or auditorium, the sound spectrum must remain clear without portions being distorted or missing. In an office...
The Difference Between Hemi-Anechoic Chambers and Fully Anechoic Chambers
The need for noise control and assessment technology has never been greater. Building regulations frequently require accurate assessment of noise at the planning stage and containment to specified levels thereafter. Development proposals often depend upon accurate calculation of machinery noise impacts, and individual appliances ranging from washers and dishwashers to lawnmowers and farm equipment must be accurately assessed for their operational...
Quick Guide to HVAC Duct Silencers
Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are ubiquitous in industrial, commercial and medical environments - but equally ubiquitous and well known to anyone who has worked in such environments is the noise given off by HVAC air ducts. IAC, in conjunction with acoustic consultants, engineers and contractors, has developed a range of different duct silencer technologies to meet the various specific noise-management requirements...