Modern homes these days tend to have an open plan layout with stripped floors and walls. This layout may be easy on the eyes, but it’s not a combination that is easy on the ears. Sound waves bounce off hard surfaces. This extends reverberation times and creates an echo.
When furnishing your home, you need to think about what you have to do to create a pleasant acoustic environment with zero echo.
Want to make your home more acoustically sound? Here are 5 tips to improve the acoustics in your home.
Contents
Put an adequate amount of furniture in the space
Sound waves need to be broken up, and the best way to do that is by using objects that are not soft. A coffee table, pedestal with plants, anything that has a hard surface in the room actually helps improve the acoustics, as it breaks up the sound waves. It is important to fill the space with enough furniture to create sound wave break points.
Absorb sound using soft materials
While sound waves bounce against hard surfaces such as windows, walls, ceilings, and floors. Using heavy duty rugs or carpets and hanging some curtains, will absorb the sound. The thicker the material, the better the sound absorption. A Bed or sofa usually works well as a sound absorbing element in the centre of a room.
Use walls smart – think angles
By placing tall, sound absorbing elements like a bookshelf, against a wall that is at a right angle, where the nearest sound absorbing element is located, e.g. a thick curtain. This can create a good acoustic environment. Speaking of bookshelves, fill them with books instead of ornaments. Books in large numbers work wonderfully as a sound absorber.
Home office
If you can, put your home office in a separate room. Doing this will enable you to be more focused than if you were working at the kitchen table in the middle of the house. Do you make phone calls or video conference calls? If you place a soft material in front of you this will make the acoustics of the call much more pleasant. In practice, this means positioning your desk in front of a curtain or bookshelf.
Staircases
In a staircase there are often several parallel walls, like a cube, where sound waves can emanate freely and create an echo. You can simply counteract this by hanging objects on the wall surfaces e.g. sound absorbing panels or small bookshelves that can break up the sound waves.
We hope you found these tips useful. If you would like to speak to an Audiologist, please call us on 8331 8047.
