There are many reasons why you might want to stop noise from leaving a room. For instance, if you love to play loud music, preventing noise from leaving will ensure that your neighbors won’t be disturbed by your playlist.
Unfortunately, sometimes it’s very hard to contain noise inside a room because most walls and doors are simply too thin. However, after reading this guide, you should understand how to dramatically reduce the amount of noise that’s escaping from your room.
How to Stop Sound From Leaving a Room
1. Soundproof the Doors
The first thing I recommend that you do is soundproof the room’s doors with inexpensive weatherstripping tape. Before you even consider taking on the walls, the floors or the ceiling, the door is always the first thing you should soundproof. Doors can be a major sound leaker, as noise can easily travel through them. Plus, cheap doors are usually made of thin materials that are completely hollow.
Another thing you should keep in mind is that a poorly fitted door will have big gaps around the frame that will allow airborne noise to freely enter your room.
Installing weatherstripping is very simple, particularly if you buy stripping with self-adhesive attached. All you’ll need to do is peel the backing off each piece, press it tightly into place, and you’re finished!
Alternatively, you can also hang soundproof blankets or curtains over the door. The only downside to this is that it’s not aesthetically appealing, so I only recommend doing this in a room that’s in a hidden area.
2. Use Soundproof Curtains
By the time you’re finished with your doors, a lot of the sound will be unable to escape the room you’re working on. However, to make things much better, using a noise reduction curtain will help absorb sounds and echoes in the room.
Soundproofing curtains can’t completely block noise from escaping, but by using these, you’ll absolutely experience a reduction in the amount of noise that’s able to travel out.
There are lots of different soundproofing curtains to choose from, but instead of searching around, I recommend that you go with the NICETOWN Thermal Noise Reduction Drapes (click here to see the current price online). I’ve personally used these curtains myself, and I can guarantee that they’re worth the buy.
You may also want to check out my reviews of the best soundproof curtains.
3. Soundproof the Walls
If you’ve tried all the steps above, and none of them seem to be as effective as you want them to be, then your problem may be that your walls are too thin. There are two effective ways to go about sound-dampening the walls: You can either go straight for the Green Glue and drywall sandwich, or simply install some acoustic foam panels.
Adding Drywall by Using Green Glue
Using a Green Glue and drywall sandwich is probably the most effective way to dampen noise. Green Glue is a product with soundproofing properties that works best when it’s applied between two hard surfaces. It’s actually one of the most successful products when it comes to soundproofing.
To use it to make a drywall sandwich, you’ll need to place the Green Glue on your existing drywall and place another layer of drywall on top. You can also add another layer on top of that, if you’d like.
This method is a bit costly, in comparison to using acoustic foam, but it’s also considered more effective.
Installing Acoustic Foam Panels
If you’re on a budget, this is probably the best way to go. If the noise in your room is too loud, though, using acoustic foam won’t do much to stop it from leaving. Acoustic foam isn’t very good at blocking sound; in fact, it’s much better at improving the acoustics inside a room. However, you can use acoustic foam panels to keep some of the noise you’re making from going through the walls.
There are many types of acoustic foam panels on the market, and even though most of them work well, I personally think Foamily Foam Panels are the best (check out the price online).
4. Soundproof the Ceiling
Ceilings are often the most difficult area of a room to soundproof, but if your goal is to stop as much noise as possible from escaping, then you might want to install some foam panels up there. Adding acoustic foam panels will ensure that sound doesn’t bounce or pass through the ceiling.
5. Use Bass Traps
This can be a great idea if you’re trying to contain some low-frequency sounds. Bass traps are acoustic energy absorbers that have been designed to dampen low-frequency sound.
You’ll usually see bass traps in the corners of recording studios, because that’s where low-frequency sound buildup usually takes place. If you place all your traps in the corners, they’ll absorb the largest amount of bass sound possible.
What I really like about bass traps is that aside from keeping sound in the room, they also help prevent sound waves from bouncing around.
6. Obtain a White Noise Machine
While using white noise may not seem like the right choice for this type of project, it’ll work if you use it correctly. With this method, the best way to prevent noise from escaping a room is to play the white noise outside (instead of inside) the room. In fact, if you want the sounds in the room to be unhearable from the outside, you should play the white noise directly outside the door.
For more information, here’s an article on the best white noise machines.
Conclusion
If you follow the steps above, you should be able to block noise from escaping your room. Doing this may take a lot of time, but I can assure you that it’s worth the hassle. Also, the more money you’re willing to spend on the project, the better it will be.
If you have any questions, feel free to let us know by leaving a comment in below. We wish you the best on your soundproofing journey!
image: Pexels
