Case Study

Soundproofing Audiologist Office

Posted on by Rachel
13
Mar

A local audiologist contacted Commercial Acoustics to assist with sound issues in the hearing booth. Patients weren’t able to focus on hearing tests which could potentially impact their results. The major complaints from patients included:

  1. HVAC noise and restaurant noise from next door.
  2. Being able to hear technician talking through the glass partition between the booth and patient room.
  3. Distracting noises in general during hearing tests.

Related: Importance of Noise Control in Hospitals or Other Healthcare Facilities

Distractions in the Hearing Booth

The hearing booth registered at 44 dBA at ambient, while the room itself was at 43 dBA.

The hearing booth registered loudly because it was rigidly connected to the drywall demising partition, and the HVAC above was loudly vibrating. Beyond that, the hearing test technician said that they could clearly hear dishes being stacked at the restaurant next door. Other complaints included the fact that the patient could hear conversations happening in the next room, while the technician gained information from the patient’s partner. The conversations and exterior noises caused difficulty for the patient to focus during hearing tests and bone conduction tests.

Soundproof Audiologist Office
As you can see from the photo above and the photo at the top of the page, there is a glass window on the door to the hearing booth, which is allowing sound to leak in. Along with that, on the wall adjacent to the office and the hearing booth, there is a restaurant and patients can clearly hear the clanking of dishes while going through their hearing test.

Apart from the connection of rigid materials, it is likely that sound was also traveling through the glass partition between the hearing booth and patient room, as well as through the door to the hearing booth.

How to Soundproof Audiologist Office

4 solutions were suggested to address the major sound complaints:

  1. The booth should be cut away from the demising partition, by a drywall contractor. This will reduce the HVAC noise traveling down the wall, and will also reduce the amount of sound heard from the adjacent restaurant.
  2. Adding a second pane to the glass window separating the booth from the room. This will reduce noise from the conversation between technician and patient’s partner.
  3. Add an STC-rated door into the entrance of the hearing booth. This should be air-tight, so that sound cannot slip around the gaskets into the room.
  4. Installing Drop Ceiling Noise Blokker on top of the ceiling grid, including fiberglass batt at office intersections.

The audiologist office chose to go with option 4 and installed EVA-based Mass Loaded Vinyl over the ceiling grid to reduce noise transmission between offices, and into the hearing booth.

Rachel