Noise Control- Different Ways To Lessen The Effects Of Undesired Sound

By Author: Kevin Richard
Total Articles: 240
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Getting effective methods of noise control is an ongoing concern in various industrial and manufacturing environments. It is because extreme noise levels and environment vibrations can have negative long-term results for both sensitive equipment and human beings.

If excess vibration and noise aren’t somehow palliated in the work ambiance, they may lead to higher operating costs. For example, workers exposed to high levels of unrestricted noise will possibly experience adverse physical and psychological ramifications like loss of hearing, higher stress levels and migraine headaches. These conditions may then lead to higher turnover rates and there is more lost time from work. Moreover, costly and sensitive machinery may also be negatively impacted and may cause repair, higher maintenance and replacement costs as a result.

The basic types of noise control

There are four basic types of noise control. They are sound absorption, sound insulation, vibration isolation and vibration damping. Each of these works quite differently and are better ...
... suited for some situations than others.

The first type of noise control is sound insulation. This happens when a solid barrier is introduced to a work space in an endeavor to palliate the amount of noise and vibration of that environment. This solid barrier assists in lessening the echo of the offending sound waves by blocking them. The harder the solid barrier is to penetrate, the greater is its effectiveness as a form of noise control will be. Thus, very dense materials like steel and concrete are frequently used for this purpose.

Sound absorption by the sound enclosures is based on the premise that energy can neither be destroyed nor created. Rather, it can only be converted into another form. With this type of noise control, the energy found in the sound waves is just transformed into heat. A noise reduction is a natural by-product of this process as the conversion of sound wave energy into heat energy strikingly lessens the amount of environmental noise left in the ambience.

Not perplexingly, porous materials are most effective option for this process. Like a sponge, these materials are basically able to absorb the extra sound in the surrounding air. Hence, highly permeable materials like noise enclosures are great for this type of application.

Vibration damping is used to control extra noise and vibration associated with solid surfaces, instead of the actual sound waves.

Vibration isolation is another type of noise control. As the name suggests, this technique involves safeguarding an area or its inhabitants from the source of undesired vibration or noise. Adding a physical barrier to the work space in the form of sound blankets is the most common technique of achieving this and can be quite efficient as long as the barrier is able to adequately block the area to be safeguarded from the source of the offending noise.