FEATURE OH SO QUIET Oh So Quiet Poppy Szkiler, MD and Founder of Quiet Mark, explains all


about the programme she set up to find the quietest products and highlights the importance of sound-insulated flooring in residential spaces.


With noise pollution considered by the World Health Organisation to be the second biggest threat to public health after air pollution, it’s important that people choose products that help them create a more peaceful soundscape for living.


I founded Quiet Mark with my mother (Gloria Elliott CEO of UK’s Noise Abatement Society) to help with this in 2012. Our programme now tests products in a range of categories from all over the world and awards the quietest among them, or the most effective at sound-insulation, the ‘Quiet Mark’. The Quiet Mark logo on packaging and at POS enables consumers to identify products that have been tried and tested in real life situations and are the best available to help them to create a quieter home, work or living environment.


It’s strange that with noise nuisance being such a big issue for residents of all types of homes, in particular flats and terraces, we have yet to give sound design the attention it deserves. When it comes to designing interiors or carrying out refurbishments, homeowners often overlook valuable opportunities to improve the sound performance of their home through their choice of acoustic treatments. Retailers can play a vital role in educating them about the options available.


Flooring is an essential area and I believe sound insulation is just as important a factor when choosing a floorcovering as durability and aesthetics. Getting it right can have a dramatic effect on aural comfort and how you experience a room every day; and acoustic design, though often unseen, has a powerful impact on wellbeing.


Consideration of the sound-insulation qualities of floorcoverings can revolutionise the soundscape of a living space, with the latest generation of acoustic floorings being capable of noticeably reducing surface generated noise. By diminishing the ambient noise inside a room and the sound transmission between spaces, acoustic flooring can positively transform the experience of everyone who enters the space.


While floorcoverings featuring the texture and warm colours of the natural wood are a perennial design favourite, the disadvantages of real wood or laminate wood as flooring materials include


22 | Tomorrow’s Retail Floors


poor slip-resistance and noise creation. Walking across wood surfaces in shoes can cause a noisy clamour, while the sound of children running around can be annoying for close neighbours. Homeowners and private landlords can cleverly reduce complaints considerably by simply choosing acoustic flooring.


Certain environments make the impact of sound much worse. For instance, it is particularly difficult to contain sound in buildings where architectural features and interior design incorporate materials with minimal sound-absorbing capability, such as glass and metal. In multi-storey buildings, especially those with wood and laminate flooring, noise can travel easily from storeys above and adjacent rooms.


In addition, living and working trends are changing. There are more people working from home, increasingly families are accommodating multiple generations under one roof – to overcome the issue of caring for older generations and to avoid the costs of moving. Dividing larger spaces to create more rooms and privacy for individuals, or extending into the loft, makes it complex and challenging at times to control the transmission of noise.


Putting acoustics higher on the agenda of interior design check-list will significantly help tackle these problems. Specifically, choosing flooring materials that reduce impact sound will contribute to enhance relaxation and the comfort of modern living spaces. With the benefits clear, what are the best ways to drive enhanced acoustic performance via the choice of floor covering?


Soundproofing a floor often involves installing acoustic underlayment and mats underneath your chosen floorcovering. This reduces the effects of airborne noise from televisions, stereos or speech and impact noise from footsteps and furniture being moved. However, if the problem is solely impact noise, underlayment on its own may be enough.


The floor covering itself can be sound-absorbing carpet or vinyl. As a general rule, thick floorcoverings are more soundproof, so it follows that denser carpets and cushioned vinyl are more effective than standard alternatives.


www.tomorrowsretailfloors.com


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