Most of us have seen ads for noise-cancelling headsets. These special headphones are made to not only let us listen to music, but also to substantially reduce the noise from other sources. They may be used to cut lawnmower noise, the sound of airplane engines on a long flight, or any type of constant background noise that interferes with our music or just our peace and quiet. Now if only we had noise-cancelling rooms in our home. While it’s difficult to make most rooms as noise-resistant as those high-tech headphones, there are treatments we can apply to the rooms in our home that will help make them quieter.

In general, hard, flat surfaces tend to efficiently reflect sound back into the room. Walking through a room that is empty of furnishings, especially one with a hardwood floor provides a great example of this. Footsteps and other sounds seem amplified by the reflections. The first thing we can do to make a room more quiet, therefore, is to add soft, irregular surfaces. Carpeting is step one. Using long, heavy drapes along the windows will help, too. Adding upholstered furniture breaks up and helps absorb sound waves as well.

In short, furnishing a room as we’d normally furnish any room is a good step in the right direction. After that, acoustic ceiling tiles can be applied to minimize reflections from that surface. Then acoustic room treatments in the form of wall panels can be added to any remaining open expanses of wall. Most acoustic wall panels can be upholstered to match the room colors so as not to detract from the room’s aesthetics.

If the offending noise is coming from outside the home or from adjacent rooms, then acoustic insulation can be applied inside the wall cavities to help form a barrier between the room and the source of the noise. This need not be limited to the walls, but can also be placed in the ceiling or under the floor. Some types of acoustic insulation may also be a good insulator for temperature as well if placed inside exterior walls.

Short of wearing noise-cancelling headphones throughout the home, these are the best ways to reduce unwanted noise and to keep the home quiet on the inside. These acoustic treatments can be used in rooms used for music listening or home theater, the dining room to enable polite dinner conversation, or in the bedroom to help make it as quiet as possible for light sleepers. Anywhere in the home where there is too much noise from external sources can be treated and improved by applying the right acoustic room treatments.

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