Additional guidance about soundproofing your home

You will need to ventilate your property to prevent damp and mould, to prevent overheating and to remove stale air and smells. Traditionally, this would be done by opening windows but a standard open window offers very little in the way of sound attenuation.

The information below describes other ways of ventilating your property and describes some non-standard window types which offer better sound attenuation when they are open.

Trickle vents

These are small openings which are fitted within the frames of doors and windows which allow air to flow into a room. Standard trickle vents can easily be replaced with acoustic trickle vents which contain insulating material which reduces the amount of noise which can enter through the vent.

The degree of sound attenuation provided is described by the Dn,e,w rating. The higher the number, the better the sound attenuation.

Through wall vents

These are often referred to as airbricks and are vents fitted to walls which allow air to flow into a room. This can easily be replaced with acoustic vents which might have a noise attenuating cowl, noise attenuating duct, or both.

Again, the degree of sound attenuation provided is described by the Dn,e,w rating. The higher the number, the better the sound attenuation.

Mechanical ventilation

Mechanical ventilation systems are highly effective at ventilating rooms, or even whole properties, so that there is no need to open windows. Some systems simply force fresh air into the room but more sophisticated system might contain heat recovery or even have a cooling function.

If you are looking to install a mechanical ventilation system, make sure that the inlet and outlet do not provide a pathway for sound to enter rooms from outside. This can be done my placing these upon quieter facades or by using noise attenuating cowls, using noise attenuating ductwork, using silencers within the ductwork, or a combination of these measures.

You will also need to consider the noise from the system itself when selecting, and designing the system, as some of these can be quite loud.