subject: Soundproofing A Medical Practitioners Room [print this page] Considering the confidential nature of the conversation between a patient and the doctor, it is imperative that the cabins are made sound proof such that the conversation can not be heard in the adjacent rooms. The following article will encompass soundproofing tips and techniques employed by industry experts to produce sound isolation between common rooms in a hospital.
The sounds from the medical room can be stopped from escaping by adding weight to the surface of the wall. A combination of adding density to the cabins walls, and disconnecting it to force the collapse of the sound wave, can produce up to 90% elimination of noise bleeding straight through the wall.
Disconnection is a simple exercise. This can be done by adding a thin set of resilient channels up the wall, and drywall over it. The density component is also simple to install, and can be done by adding a thin layer of mass loaded vinyl to the wall to impede the vibration prior to adding the furring strips. This layering method is an accepted one. The steps are pretty simple. You need to start by stapling dB-Bloc to the finished wall, and then run the horizontal resilient channels up the wall every 16" on center, and add a new layer of 5/8" drywall.
The next step in the process is to take care of the leaking. The plenum space in most office building carries common air space above all the rooms, and like wise in a hospital setting. The objective with soundproofing a medical office, is to ensure that after the walls are properly insulated for sound bleed, the ceiling system should be treated for leakage. Most commercial grade ceiling tiles do not have the density required to block sound. However there are heavy, finished ceiling tiles which you could drop into the grid. Adding density to a ceiling tile system will result in stressing the grid, hence it is necessary that the hangers used to support the grid are tripled up on.
Another avenue for the sound to escape is the doors. Normally the doors leading into each of the medical office settings are heavy, dense doors. However if they are not you could consider replacing them.
Another point to consider in regards the sound panels and wall coverings. Sound panels will absorb echoes within the room, they will not block the sound from bleeding out of the room. Most sound panel treatments are designed to enhance the inner room acoustics, and will not isolate one room's noise from the other.
The essential point is that most of the soundproofing treatments are applied after the room's are finished and the acoustical problems are discovered. While the ideal way should be to target sound reduction at the time of construction of the medical office.
