Acoustic Foam

Acoustic Foam

Acoustic foam is one of the most widely used soundproofing materials, second only to fiberglass. It is a cost-effective absorber, and a meter-square area of such treatment covering each reference point can make a big difference to the clarity of the speaker's tone. In a typical small setup, one can put treatment patches on each wall, the ceiling, the wall behind the monitors, and the wall behind the listener if that's within range.

The Structure

Acoustic foam is a lightweight material made from polyurethane, polyether or polyester, and extruded melamine foam. It is usually cut into tiles - often with pyramid or wedge shapes. You can place them on the walls of a recording studio or a similar environment to act as a sound absorber, thus enhancing the sound quality within a room. The foam reduces or eliminates echoes and background noises by controlling the reverberation that sound can make by bouncing off the walls. This type of sound absorption is different from soundproofing. Which typically keeps sound from escaping or entering a room. Therefore, people install this type of foam in large rooms like churches, synagogues, or concert halls. These rooms have large, flat spaces, and noise will bounce around. These sound absorbers improve the room's acoustics, thereby reducing noise in the room. Acoustic foam typically deals more with the mid and high frequencies. You need much thicker pieces of acoustic foam to deal with lower frequencies. Engineers often place large pieces of acoustic foam in the corners of a room, creating acoustic foam corner bass traps.

The Objective

The objective of acoustic foam is to improve the sound quality by removing residual sound in any space. This purpose requires strategic placement of acoustic foam panels on walls, ceilings, and floors, effectively eliminating resonance within the room. Therefore, the objective is to enhance the properties of sound by improving speech clarity and sound quality. For this reason, people often use acoustic foam in recording studios. The purpose is to reduce, but not eliminate, resonance within the room. The engineers place similar-sized pieces of foam, often in the shape of cones or triangles, on opposite walls. Acoustic foam is arguably the most popular type of treatment for voiceover talents. This is because of its use in generally smaller spaces. Due to the shape (triangles, pyramids, egg crates, etc.), it is often more effective for diffusing sound, reducing the reverb or reflections within a space rather than absorbing frequencies.

Source Texts

• Acoustic Foam