Soundproof curtains or scam?

August 31, 2022 6:30 AM

Thanks to previous posts, I know truly soundproof curtains don't exist. But will these Quiet Curtains do an okay job of reducing high frequency noises and allowing me to sleep near the kitchen? And is this company legit?

I need some way to divide a bedroom from a kitchen, that will ideally reduce noise and can be removed during the day. (The noises in question: things like water and dishes in the sink, the sound of putting plates away, normal kitchen noises.) Quiet Curtains seems like they have a solution with lined curtains, but the company doesn't have much of an online presence, their social media all seems to stop in 2017, and I'm wondering if it's too good to be true? Suggestions for other soundproof curtains or similar barriers welcome!

posted by crookedneighbor to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

I have no idea about that company or those curtains, but the only thing that really cuts out sound is a lot of mass, so unless those curtains are filled with lead or something, they're only going to block out so much noise. Also, they're shown on open windows, but in use, they'd be on closed windows, which are already blocking out most of the noise. I wouldn't think they'd be anywhere near as effective separating an open space, which is what your case seems to be. And, a window is easy to cover with a curtain, as it can cover the entire thing with no gaps. Depending on your room situation and how you have to mount a curtain, you could still get sound coming through the top, sides, or bottom.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:27 AM on August 31, 2022

Maybe, but unlikely, unless you can seal it to the ceiling somehow (weight and excess fabric will do a good job on the other three sides.) You will still need significant white noise generator on your side.

"Proprietary vinyl" is just mass-loaded vinyl (MLV.)
posted by flimflam at 7:29 AM on August 31, 2022

Best answer: First, IANAA (I am not an acoustician).

I compared the lab results (absorption coefficients) of their best-performing fabric with an acoustic panel I'm very familiar with. (I have about 30 hanging in my music studio, including four hanging in the air to form a wall at the back of my studio, which opens into my house. Click on the Test Results tab.)

The absorption coefficient of the curtain at 2kHz is 1.06. The absorption coefficent of the panel at the same frequency is 0.97, which is probably not significantly different, perceptively.

While I can tell you that the sounds coming from my house are slightly less invasive/bouncy after having added 30 of these panels. That said, I can still hear everything happening in the house quite well. (Fortunately, I live alone, so it's not a problem for me.)

These curtains will do NOTHING for lower frequencies, which are more prevalent in the sounds you listed than you might think.

Also of note: I just did a whole bunch of research to treat my studio not too long ago, and no one in the professional audio community uses any kind of sound-absorbing fabric that I could find. If it worked, I imagine they would, because hanging panels is a BITCH. So I'm dubious of these claims, or at least of their real-world consequences. But again, IANAA.
posted by nosila at 7:31 AM on August 31, 2022 [8 favorites]

You will get very little sound attenuation with a removable curtain. I think white noise is the right idea in your situation. Mynoise.net has lots of good options.
posted by The Half Language Plant at 9:16 AM on August 31, 2022

I do use a variation of these curtains but my main purpose for them is as blackout curtains. I also have acoustic panels that I attached hooks to for easy removal (neighbours got into diy during quarantimes).

Either way, the essential problem is physics as mentioned above. The sound leakages are unavoidable if your plans don't have a plan for sealing most of the gaps at the edges. But if it's heavy enough it might work noticeably for your purpose. For example my door curtains, properly closed seems to muffle my media audio (and not let the cold air from the ac out). But 'muffle', not 'cancel'.
posted by cendawanita at 10:34 AM on August 31, 2022

Is there an existing wall or doorway between the bedroom and the kitchen? We hung sheets of Mass Loaded Vinyl over the glass windows of glass French doors between a bedroom and a living room TV. I was not super optimistic, but it works way better than I expected. It is noticeably quieter with the MLV than it was without the MLV.
posted by samthemander at 8:41 PM on August 31, 2022

Do you have a door on the room? Is it a big heavy solid core door with little to no gaps around it? If it's a modern hollow core door, I would advise swapping it out for a better door. I went from modern-ish apts with standard hollow core doors to buying a house that had old solid wood doors and the difference in sound transmission room to room was quite significant.

If you have the big heavy solid door you could further seal any air gaps around it to prevent the noise leaking in (even temporarily by using a rolled up weighted blanket at the base for example). Imagine noise is like smoke or water, anywhere smoke or water can get in, any minute crack, noise is doing the same. If you wanted to try mass loaded vinyl on the back side of the door that may help, but be warned, that stuff is very heavy and you'd need to figure out a way to properly attach it vertically so that it stays in place and doesn't gap or split.

I don't have any experience with and have never seen in person a weighted blanket, so I'm not sure if they would do what I'm thinking, but in addition to the door, maybe rigging up a curtain system with a couple of those so that the blankets are firmly sealed to the wall above and on either side of the door and solidly meeting the floor might help (though how to do this while still be able to open the door is a head scratcher, so maybe make it removable somehow?). I would make sure to have a window open or some other source of fresh air happening if you decide to go this or similar route.
posted by newpotato at 3:18 AM on September 1, 2022

Yes, what is already between your bed and the kitchen?
posted by rhizome at 1:04 PM on September 1, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks, all. There is nothing currently between the bed and the kitchen, and for building code reasons we're not allowed to put anything permanent there, hence the curtain compromise.
posted by crookedneighbor at 7:44 AM on September 4, 2022