ABSTRACT
Sound waves in air can be remarkably difficult to stop. Air is a fluid of considerable substance. There are essentially four aspects to sound isolation: mass, rigidity, damping and distance. A great influence on the ability of any structure to provide sound isolation is that of damping. Damping is the degree to which a propagating wave within a material or structure is internally absorbed, normally by the conversion of the vibrational energy into heat. Most floor isolation systems are based on the mass/spring/mass system. The situation of floor floating is complicated enormously when the structural floor is itself significantly resonant. Such can typically be the case when a ground floor studio is sited over an underground car park, or when studios are stacked one above the other in the same building. Internal reflexions can be set up between the layers, which can add resonant, re-reflected energy to the forward-going propagation.
