The Difference between Sound Absorption and Sound Blocking
Sound is like water. It doesn’t have a shape or form, but molds itself to its surroundings. And like water, sound can be absorbed by some materials and contained by others.

Sound is vibration transmitted through a medium. When we think and talk about sound, though, we mean those vibrations in air molecules that can be picked up by human ears.

We have listed below some of the most common questions and their answers in hopes of providing basic knowledge related to noise, and noise control products and systems.

Read a little about what the terms mean or dive rightinto our acoustic products on the right. So what does it all mean? All soundproofing and noise control terms cover a lot of ground in the acoustics and noise control industry. All our products are broken into noise barrier materials – https://allnoisecontrol.com/SoundBarriers.cfm and noise absorption materials – https://allnoisecontrol.com/NoiseAbsorption.cfm. There are 2 main ways to deal with sound problems.

Noise control is an active or passive means of reducing sound emissions, often incentivised by personal comfort, environmental considerations or legal compliance. Practical and efficient noise control is wholly reliant on an accurate diagnosis of what is causing the noise, which first involves finding the source of noise. Once the source of noise has been found, the focus is reducing the noise at source by engineering means.

Noise Absorption Sound absorbers are soft, porous, open-celled materials such as foam sheets or fiberglass blankets and baffles that reduce the reflection of sound waves. Their sound absorption efficiency is rated by a “NRC” number – Noice Reduction Coefficient*. The HIGHER the NRC rating, the more EFFICIENT the product is at absorbing noise.

Noise Absorption
Sound absorbers are soft, porous, open-celled materials such as foam sheets or fiberglass blankets and baffles that reduce the reflection of sound waves. Their sound absorption efficiency is rated by a “NRC” number – Noice Reduction Coefficient*. The HIGHER the NRC rating, the more EFFICIENT the product is at absorbing noise.

Quoted from https://allnoisecontrol.com/glossary/index.cfm:
Acoustic Glossary of Terms and Definitions for soundproofing and noise control research, products and materials

Over the past 5 years, Gerber Products Headquarters in Freemont, Michigan has been contacting All Noise Control to provide a solution for privacy issues in their commercial office space in the headquarter building. Noise was traveling in and out of office units that required soundproofing solutions to improve office noise quality and especially privacy. In 2005 All Noise Control was proud to acquire Gerber as a new customer by offering them the ideal solution that fit within their budget and solved their needs. Since 2005 Gerber has been placing orders for Vinyl Barrier with All Noise Control for their soundproofing needs.

Noise Absorption Sound absorbers are soft, porous, open-celled materials such as foam sheets or fiberglass blankets and baffles that reduce the reflection of sound waves. Their sound absorption efficiency is rated by a “NRC” number – Noice Reduction Coefficient*. The HIGHER the NRC rating, the more EFFICIENT the product is at absorbing noise.
*NRC is a sound absorption rating. It measures a percentage of how much sound will not be reflected back from where it came. Based on a range from .05 to 1.0, where a NRC of 1.0 means that all the sound energy that hits that product passes through it and does not “bounce” back to its source. A NRC of .60 would reflect 40% of the sound back to the source and let 60% of the noise pass through it.