Help Needed To Soundproof My New Office

[Ron Party]

Not necessarily a room acoustics issue but, I suppose, close enough...

My old office building is undergoing significant retrofitting and renovation and, sadly, I had to move. I used to be at the end of a hall in a corner office. I had the speakers pointed away from the rest of the floor and others tenants and, as such, I could play music fairly loud without disturbing anyone. It was not at all uncommon for me to not hear my office telephone ring. I'm using Mark Seaton's 8Cs and they play clear, clean and as loud as anyone in their right mind would care for.

I've moved into new office space, however, I no longer have the luxury to choose any volume I wish. The wall separating my office from the next tenant is pretty thin. I'm thinking there may be a relatively inexpensive product I could use. Opening the wall is not an option. I suppose I could attach something to the wall but it can't be permanent. Wall size is maybe 10'(h) x 20'(w).

Excuse the mess. I still haven't found a proper home for some of my belongings:

 

[dc655321]

Are headphones an option?

 

[DonH56]

Isolation is a fairly big deal, much harder than just using acoustic treatments. Treatment might help dampen the highs, but for bass it would be tough in that situation. The usual solution is to suspend inner walls and ceiling (and floor if on an upper floor) using something like Kinetics Noise Control IsoMax clips or similar things from Mason etc.

Can you request a different office?

 

[amirm]

As Don says, there is nothing you can do with add-on devices that makes a difference. Bass frequencies is what travels across that wall and lowering that requires construction, adding air gap with a new wall, etc.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

As others have mentioned, Ron, I’m afraid you’re hosed. Offices are not constructed with any kind of isolation in mind. With apartments, the shared wall between units will have totally separate header, footer and studs – i.e., two free-standing wall systems a few inches apart, to acoustically isolate the two units. Offices I have seen under construction, the shared walls between suites are built like the walls in your house – sheetrock on both sides of a single wall system. In my office at work, I can hear people talking in the next suite.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt