Steps to Creating an Acoustically-Optimized Environment in Your Home

Whether you are walking into an empty room for the first time, or you are just sick of hearing echoes in a living room that you have had for a while, the decision to acoustically optimize your home is a big one. It doesn’t matter if you are simply adding a few things here and there to a small space to improve your sound, or if you have decided to completely overhaul the entire home, the steps that you need to take in order to acoustically optimize your environment remain relatively the same. Acoustic Geometry looks at some of the steps that you can take, and some of the materials and methods you can use, to start your acoustical optimization journey in the blog below. Read on for more. 

Why Should I Put Acoustical Treatments In My Home? 

Before you start, it is critical to establish why you want to acoustically treat your home. Think about it this way: on the first day that you toured your home or moved in when it was just four walls and whatever carpet or hardwood the previous owners left, it didn’t feel like a home. Adding your own personal touches as well as personal accents are what took that space from a concept to reality. It is the same with acoustics. Often when moving into a home, the cavernous, empty spaces make you feel like you are in a museum or warehouse of some sort. Adding deflection, absorption, and diffusion throughout your home is like adding the couch that you inherited from your grandparents. It adds a personal touch and gives the space an overall warmer feeling that, in the end, makes living in the house a much more positive experience. 

It’s not just about feeling at home, though. Acoustic treatments in your home have been proven to have numerous health benefits. Noise pollution from outside and inside the home can cause a ruckus that is distracting, making it difficult to focus on tasks in the home. Outside noise can also lead to higher levels of stress, especially if your new home is near a main road, an airport, or train tracks. Noise pollution has also been shown to increase agitation and interrupt brain function, whereas silence promotes the healthy development of cells in the brain. Finally, as a society we have enough on our mind that is keeping us awake at night. Don’t add noise pollution or loud, echoey sounds from your home to that list. Acoustical optimization can help you and your family sleep better. 

How to Start Acoustically Optimizing Your Home

Now that we know some of the benefits of acoustically optimizing your home, let’s look at some of the steps to take towards building a better sounding space. 

1. Identifying Where You Need Acoustical Treatment

The first step is to identify where acoustical treatments would be beneficial in your home. This can be done in a technical way by measuring noise levels in different rooms, or done in a more casual way by simply walking around and listening. Some things to consider are the echoes in a room. If you walk through your dining room or kitchen and you can hear your footsteps echoing into other rooms, that might be a sign that acoustical treatments could help reduce those echos and make your kitchen a more acoustically-optimized space. Another easy way to do this is just by being aware as you move from activity to activity. Watching a movie and the sound isn’t quite right? Woken up on a weekend by the neighbor’s lawn mower? Practicing drums in the garage and keeping your family awake? These are all things that can be solved with the right acoustic materials.

2. Identify What You Need

As we have discussed in other blogs, there are many different types of sound optimization depending on your end goal. Often people will say “soundproofing” as a catch-all term, but this is not necessarily correct. You are not building a home to keep all of the sound inside, you are building a home that blends and absorbs sound in order to create a more pleasing environment. Looking at a combination of absorbing acoustic solutions in order to reduce the amount of overall noise, or diffusing solutions to help the sound disperse more evenly as it reflects around the house, or even panels that are designed to reflect sound in a certain way are all legitimate solutions that you should consider when building your acoustic home interior.

3. Gather Materials

Now that you have identified where you would like the acoustic treatments to go, and what exact kinds of solutions you need, it’s time to find the materials. This can be a difficult and exciting process. Exciting because many of these solutions will be in your home for years to come, and provide acoustical performance as well as artistic and aesthetic accents to build your home around. Choosing colors and styles can be a fun and engaging activity for you and your loved ones as you improve your home. This process can also be difficult. There are many products on the market that claim to be “budget friendly soundproofing” or “acoustic materials” that are no better than hanging a poster on the wall. Sometimes it can seem daunting to dive into the acoustic materials market. 

Even when you find effective solutions, they can be expensive, and some are fragile and don’t last long or contain allergens. If you are looking for materials that can help you create an acoustically-optimized space in your home, work with the professionals at Acoustic Geometry. 

Acoustically Optimizing Your Home With Professional Materials for Professional Results

Acoustic Geometry has decades of experience in the acoustic optimization and sound absorbing industry. Our goal is to bring residential projects professional-quality acoustic materials at a price point that is reasonable and attainable. Our materials are lab-tested to not only perform at the highest quality, but also withstand the test of time. When you work with Acoustic Geometry, you aren’t getting solutions for just tomorrow, but for the life of your home. Additionally, our materials are simple to install, and our technicians can help you work on any size project, from a corner in your living room to acoustically optimizing your home from top to bottom. Don’t waste time when it comes to your space. Work with Acoustic Geometry today for results that look as good as they sound. Explore all of our products by visiting our website.