Room treatment ideas for annoying external noises

At a certain point, it isn’t room treatment, it is soundproofing.

I can measure the ambient noise in my room during the day and it is around 33 db, C weighted, on an uncalibrated SPL meter. (I have several and they are all within the same range). That’s quiet, but not dead quiet.

I can get there by inserting into the windows, sheets of melamine, sandwiched with mass loaded vinyl, which kills sound dead (like the roach killer). The extra few db of quiet might be important on a quiet record.

Measure your ambience noise when the system isn’t playing.

There are ways to quiet the room. But don’t think of it as "interior acoustics"- think of sound as the alien force trying to get into the room and block every point of entry with something that kills it. I’ve done it in several contexts- it is do-able- I have a compressor that powers my tonearm and it is in a silencer box that is lined with the stuff mentioned above. I did a walk in closet in NY with acoustic blankets and mass loaded vinyl against studs on top of dry wall, and plugged the pass through cable channels with Magic Eraser (melamine). I also sealed the door. You will hear any "leak-through."

Sounding proofing is entirely different than acoustic treatments. It’s not tuning, it is blocking and killing sound.

PS: the ’Hood chat board is a constant complaint against leaf blowers. It’s become political. Leaf blower wars.

PSS: the frig is different and has two aspects- the sound of the thing making ice and doing its thing- as they get older, they may get noisier- but it is mechanical, and the electrical jolt when the thing kicks on. Two different things, with two different solutions.

1) This is a structural sound transmission issue (AKA soundproofing, although there really is no such thing, just mitigation) so acoustical blinds, panels, diffusers are all simply wrong. Save those for where they are effective - in room acoustics.

2) Don’t ban leaf blowers, encourage landscapers to go all electric rechargeable. There’s still a whoosh, but no annoying 2-stroke noise.

Structural sound transmission mitigation has three basic rules - air leaks are sound leaks, gaps between vibrating components are a good thing and mass is your friend.

So start with the easy part, plugging any and all air leaks, including flanking noise (over the ceiling through the joist spaces is a good example), next pick your noisiest wall and add a layer (or two) of 5/8" sheetrock on resilient strips leaving a 1/8-1/4" gap all around. Fill the gap with flexible acoustical sealant. Seal all outlets and switches as well. Replace your doors with solid core door and add gaskets and sweeps on the bottom.

Inside, you can also replace an existing simple partition wall between your listening room and the kitchen or a bedroom with a stagger-stud wall (2X4s on a 2X6 plate, with studs on one side offset 8" so there’s no contact between inside and outside) between rooms, and finish with 1/2" sheetrock on one side and 5/8" over OSB sheathing on the other using acoustical adhesive to create a constraining layer, floating the sheetrock on resilient strips and sealing as above. Replace all windows with triple glazing. You could install a third layer of glazing inside the existing windows, but be prepared for fogging and condensation in most climates. As for adding mass, rock cladding, concrete, etc. can help, but are obviously very expensive.

And sometimes, starting over with a dedicated listening space in mind is the only answer.

Headphones

Or move to the country.