How To Soundproofing Your Child’s Room
Noise pollution particularly affects children and has been shown to cause sleep disturbances and cognitive development problems. Therefore, soundproofing room is the most effective and recommended measure to avoid it, and here we explain the best way to do it.
The constant excess of noise is a health problem today and, as recognized by the World Health Organization, children are one of the groups most at risk.
As they need more sleep during childhood, and the need for it to be deep and restorative for their proper development and learning capacity, makes them especially vulnerable.
As many times we will not be able to act on the source of the noise, soundproofing your child’s room is one of the most recommended measures . To do this, you have options at your fingertips that will allow a comfortable rest for the child and an absence of noise in most circumstances.
Soundproof A Room
When it comes to soundproofing your child’s room, we must start by reinforcing the weak point through which most noise penetrates: the windows .
Other solutions, such as acoustic wall panels, do not make sense (nor will they have effect) if we do not start at this critical point.
Because of how sound spreads, a small gap in a structure is enough for much of the outside noise to enter the room, and those gaps are in the windows.
In this sense, there is a wide selection of insulating materials that can be used to soundproof your child’s room.
Polyurethane foam, rock or glass wool, cellulose or PVC are the most common options. Although they all isolate noise and reduce noise pollution to a greater or lesser extent, the best option is PVC.
Due to its morphological properties, PVC is a natural sound wave absorber .
Very durable and easy to maintain, with many color and shape options, it is very important, yes, to make sure we use a quality PVC, which does not contain dangerous additives, such as cadmium or lead.
The window glass, obviously, also plays a role. Multi-layered glasses, joined by a butyral foil, have been shown to produce superior sound insulation than normal glasses.
Some windows may have, for even better insulation, an air chamber in which to introduce noble gases, such as argon.
Thus, the conjunction of a good glass, with a PVC structure in the window, can greatly reduce the noise coming from the outside, which is what usually prevents deep rest.
In special circumstances, when the building’s construction material is not particularly good, we can consider later placing acoustic panels on walls and even on the floor.
These panels absorb sound and one of the most common materials is polyester fiber.
A Comfortable Room
When it comes to soundproofing your child’s room, the need for a good night’s sleep means that this insulation is also thermal.
Along with silence, temperature is the other big factor that contributes to proper rest. Fortunately, PVC is, again, the best option , because it is not only an excellent acoustic insulator, but also a thermal one, maintaining a suitable temperature and preventing heat or cold from escaping.
In addition to ensuring adequate silence and temperature, it is essential that the child feels comfortable in his room , makes it his own and is a place that is always related to fun and rest.
For this reason, it is important to have a pleasant decoration and that even the child participates a little in it or in the arrangement of the elements of the room, so that it feels his own.
Finally, the importance of color at rest has also been demonstrated .
In a curious study of more than 2000 British homes, the color of the rooms was correlated with the hours of rest.
In it, it was found that those who slept better did so in blue rooms . The next best colors were various shades of yellow, green, or orange. On the other hand, purple, brown or gray were related to fewer hours of sleep.
In short, although we cannot eliminate the source of noise pollution, we can act so that it does not affect those we love the most and are most vulnerable, children.
Soundproofing your child’s room is a very effective measure. When it comes to soundproofing, the most important thing is always the windows and that is what we must act on first.
In the same way, we have other options, like the ones we have seen, to further improve the rest of our children and guarantee their well-being and adequate development.
