Abstract:
Lightweight floors over wood and metal joists are notoriously noisy. Both impact and airborne noise are intrusive. A unique technique has been developed that allows the use of hard surface materials such as vinyl, hardwood, or tile without compromising sound isolation attributes or economics. Recent subjective and objective testing of floor and wall systems that utilize constrained layer damping technology demonstrate significant promise. Lightweight wood wall and floor/ceiling assemblies utilizing these principles exhibit a perception of quiet solidarity typically found in expensive concrete systems. This paper presents a series of tests comparing conventional plywood and gypsumboard systems with similar assemblies containing constrained layer damped subfloor and wall materials.