If you are watching movies, playing games at full volume, or maybe even playing instruments, you may be too concerned about the noise you are making. Better yet if you are living in an apartment, you don’t want to end up getting the neighbors all worked up. That’s why soundproofing wallpapers have become a huge hit in today’s stay-at-home market as more and more people are concerned about the noises the speakers may end up making. But does soundproofing wallpaper really work?
Soundproofing wallpaper does work because it is a layered wallpaper that tends to dampen certain sounds whenever the soundwaves bounce on the wallpaper. However, it won’t work to the extent that it will completely dampen loud music or sounds such that your neighbors won’t hear it.
Soundproofing wallpaper is certainly helpful to those who would want to minimize the sounds that everyone in the house or their neighbors can hear especially if certain sounds at a certain volume level tend to be audible to the person living next door. However, don’t expect it to be a magic solution when you are blasting your music or when you want to go full volume on your surround sound speakers. In that regard, let us get to know more about soundproofing wallpaper.
Does Soundproofing Wallpaper Really Work?
If you happen to make a lot of noise in your room or in your apartment to the extent that the people in your house or your neighbors next door tend to complain a lot, you might have thought about using soundproofing wallpaper. But does it really work?
Yes, soundproofing wallpaper works. But don’t be fooled by the name as it might be a bit misleading. Soundproofing wallpaper does not exactly soundproof the entire room or home but it does a really good job at decreasing the sounds that can pass through over to the other room especially if you live in a house or an apartment with walls that are paper thin.
In that sense, they are capable of dampening sounds such as when normal conversations that may be a little louder than usual can get through to the other rooms in the house or over to the other apartment unit in the building. It does not, however, totally soundproof your home or room because it does not prevent the loudest sounds from getting through the walls especially if you usually put your speakers on full blast or when you tend to make particularly loud merrymaking noises in your apartment.
How Does Soundproofing Wallpaper Work?
For you to understand the concept of soundproofing wallpaper, let’s first look at how sounds can travel from one room to another. When you are making sounds, you are making vibrations that travel in the air through soundwaves.
These soundwaves don’t necessarily travel from an opening to make their way to another room but they actually make it through the walls of your room to get to the other room because of how they create vibrations in the wall. The vibrations they create in the walls can resonate over to the other side as the wall itself produces sound waves similar to the ones produced in your room or apartment.
So, how does soundproofing wallpaper stop that? For starters, soundproofing wallpaper only works when you are using the ones that are actually made of high-quality materials that are capable of dampening the sound from a certain room or home. They work because they are usually made of thicker materials such as closed-cell polyethylene foam instead of normal paper.
Because of how thick polyethylene foam is and how it was made to dampen the vibrations in the air while acting as an insulator, they will decrease the vibrations that the soundwaves create on the wall because the soundwaves themselves have to first get through the thickness of the soundproofing wallpaper.
Think of it as a Kevlar vest cushioning the impact of a bullet. The vest won’t completely stop the impact of the bullet because it will still hurt the person wearing the vest but it does soften the blow to the extent that the bullet won’t be able to completely go through the vest.
In the same way, soundproofing wallpaper acts as a cushion that minimizes the vibrations made by the soundwaves on the wall.
Where Can You Use Soundproofing Wallpaper?
Soundproofing wallpaper can be used in almost any kind of room (living room, bedroom, basement), house, or apartment building as long as you are looking to decrease or minimize the sounds that can get through the walls of those certain spaces. But of course, you probably shouldn’t soundproof other rooms such as your kitchen, dining area, and your bathrooms.
However, soundproofing wallpaper is particularly useful in apartment buildings because, let’s face it, your family members living in the same house as you do are more patient with the sounds coming from your room than your neighbor next door are. In that sense, because of how some apartment buildings tend to have thin walls that allow sounds to easily pass through, you may be able to minimize the sounds coming from your unit by using soundproofing wallpaper.
Pros and cons of soundproofing wallpaper
| Pros | Cons |
| Affordable and not too expensive | Does not soundproof |
| Easy to install on most walls | Works best only when used together with other soundproofing objects |
| Comes with different appealing designs | Not quite durable |
| Decreases the noise you make while managing the acoustics | Doesn’t work well in humid places |
| Helps insulate the room | Not usable in all kinds of rooms |
| Resistant to fire | Won’t work against loud noises |
Best Soundproof Wallpaper Alternatives
If you feel like soundproofing wallpapers won’t be able to do the job right because you are making too much noise in your home, you might as well look for alternatives that can work just as well or even better.
A good alternative you may be able to use is acoustic foam panels, which are usually the ones that are used in recording studios to decrease the sounds made inside the studio while also managing the acoustics to make the sounds seem fuller.
Polyester foam panels also work well enough as cushions for the vibrations that loud sounds make. And, of course, something as simple as sealing certain openings and holes would be enough to actually soundproof your home especially if the openings and holes are the main culprits in allowing the sounds to pass over to the other rooms.
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