How Could an Acoustic Door Benefit You

Doors are often overlooked when soundproofing buildings, but can be a crucial point for noise ingress. Acoustic doors provide improved noise insulation through their specialised construction. This guide examines the specifications, types, and applications of acoustic doors for reducing sound transmission in homes, offices, and factories.

The Difference Between Acoustic and Normal Doors

While regular doors have hollow cores, acoustic doors contain dense materials like steel, wood, aluminium, or foam insulation inside a solid shell. Some models also have soundproof glass panels when visibility is needed. Fire-rated acoustic doors are available as well for fire escape routes. By significantly decreasing noise transfer, acoustic doors create privacy and quiet in homes, offices, factories, and other settings.

Acoustic doors are specifically designed to block sound transmission. They can reduce noise by up to 44 decibels (dB), compared to only 20 dB with standard wooden doors. This major reduction in sound is possible because acoustic doors utilize solid, noise-blocking cores and specialised construction.

Who Can Benefit From Acoustic Doors?

High-performance acoustic doors can bring benefits to a wide variety of environments and users. If you live in a shared house or building, then acoustic-rated doors can be used to minimise the sound transmission between areas. If you live in an area with excessive outside noise, then an insulated front door can be used to reduce the sound entering your house, much like double glazing.

They are also vital in a wide variety of office and work environments. For anyone looking to provide private spaces, such as doctor's surgeries or meeting rooms within an office, then an acoustic door can ensure the privacy of conversations that take place inside. In busy office environments, acoustic doors can be useful for reducing background noise, allowing employees to hold work conversations or use video conferencing without disturbance.

Acoustic doors will be hugely important within industrial environments. Factories or areas with heavy machinery will be able to reduce the noise passing between rooms using acoustic internal doors. This will benefit not just the office workers within these environments, but the general health of employees, by reducing the noise they are exposed to within their workplace.

An area where acoustic doors are absolutely vital is within sound recording environments like music recording studios. Any outside noise passing through could make the recordings unusable, so a thorough acoustic insulation solution is necessary.

What Are Acoustic Door Specifications

Acoustic-rated doors in the UK are typically sold with specifications of decibel (dB) reduction. The chart below should give you some indication of what noises will be curbed by different levels of dB reduction. As stated earlier, an increase of ten dB is actually the same as a ten times increase.

What Are the Best Acoustic Doors?

Finding the best acoustic doors is a fairly simple process, with doors sold according to the Sound Reduction Index, showing you specifically how much they will decrease sound passage in dB. Acoustic doors can be found with a Sound Reduction Index of 50 dB or more. Because acoustic doors can be made of a wide variety of materials, the best choice for you or your building project should take into account more than just the decibel reduction offered.

When looking for the best acoustic internal doors, you should consider the decibel reduction required, as homes will not need quite as strong a level as factories or recording studios. You should also consider the material and look of your new doors, as installing a solid steel door within a house may jar with the decor compared to a laminate door, and you would probably be looking for a single or double-glazed door within a glass partitioning wall. Finally, cost is something that should be taken into account, especially when ordering acoustic doors in bulk. The best acoustic door for you will meet your requirements in terms of sound reduction, look, and price.

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Additional Soundproofing Methods

When it comes to soundproofing doors, there are a few other things you can do. Sound can enter or escape a room through gaps at the bottom of a door. An option to reduce sound loss this way is to install door seals. Acoustic seals attach to the bottom of a door, connecting with the floor to help prevent both heat and sound loss, whilst still allowing the door to open. Another option is to install acoustic door thresholds, which operate in a similar capacity but are attached to the floor within a building. While these products are not always the most aesthetically pleasing, they can further bolster the acoustic insulation of a door. You can also manufacture doors with specific door frames built around them, allowing for a tight seal and reducing sound transmission.