What’s the Difference in Absorptive Sound Walls and Reflective Sound Walls?

Along many of the neighborhoods located next to freeways and major interstates, there is usually a wall erected to help dampen the sound of constant traffic. You’ve seen these before. It’s meant to be an effective way to manage sound levels in residential areas.

If you’ve ever been on the other side of those walls, you’ll know that it’s still possible to hear the trucks and cars passing by just a few feet away. The noise might be reduced, but it’s still noticeable.

Those sound walls, also referred to as noise barriers, are meant to simply reflect the sound away. As sound waves bounce off the wall, they scatter in different directions, making the noise that reaches the neighborhood significantly lower.

It’s not enough to simply put up a wall; these manufacturing centers need a better way to manage noise reduction.

What’s the difference in absorptive sound walls and reflective sound walls, and why does it matter for urban sprawls?

What Is Reflective Sound Walls

A basic sound wall is any inhibitor between the direct line-of-sight of a noise and its recipient. It’s meant to shape the sound waves or direct them in some fashion.

Typically, these are solid walls made from masonry or concrete. The sounds that hit the wall are bounced back and reverberated elsewhere.

Purpose of Sound Walls

To create sound barriers or an obstruction that minimizes pass-through and reflected sound. While most traditional sound walls such as concrete do an adequate job of minimizing pass-through sound, they are also typically highly noise-reflective, and bounce noise back away from them in unpredictable and annoying ways. The noise reduction systems we have to offer are walls that offer a different method of managing noise.

Our noise barrier actually absorb the sound without allowing the wave to deflect from the barrier. The sound waves are trapped within a panel with sound-diffusing materials inside, essentially cancelling out the sound.

Reducing Manufacturing and Industrial Noise Control

A power plant noise barrier, a foundry or any other type of industrial noise work space helps to not just reflect the sound, but to actively kill it before it can disturb the urban centers outside the barrier.

In many cases, the reduced noise levels created by our noise absorbing material allow your machinery to operate at safe levels, respectful of the public around it.

Our noise barrier walls are solutions to your ever present need to mitigate and dispel the offensive sounds at the job site. Continue a healthy relationship with the city and the public with a noise barrier that meets your abatement requirements.