Good Thinking

Sound-absorbing curtains let the light shine through

Sound-absorbing curtains let the light shine through
"Quelching" noise as well as light and translucent, a combination that has been lacking in the market until now
"Quelching" noise as well as light and translucent, a combination that has been lacking in the market until now
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"Quelching" noise as well as light and translucent, a combination that has been lacking in the market until now
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"Quelching" noise as well as light and translucent, a combination that has been lacking in the market until now
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Acoustic tests with the new sound-absorbing curtain in a normal living room: measuring the reverberation time with a loudspeaker and microphone
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Acoustic tests with the new sound-absorbing curtain in a normal living room: measuring the reverberation time with a loudspeaker and microphone
Sound absorption measurements in Empa's reverberation room, show that depending on the frequency, the new curtain absorbs up to five times more sound than typical lightweight curtains
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Sound absorption measurements in Empa's reverberation room, show that depending on the frequency, the new curtain absorbs up to five times more sound than typical lightweight curtains
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Heavy curtains made from thick material such as velvet are often needed to keep noise out of indoor environments, but Swiss researchers have come up with another option. The Empa researchers, in collaboration with textile designer Annette Douglas and silk weavers Weisbrod-Zurrer AG, have developed lightweight, translucent curtains which are five times more effective at absorbing sound than their conventional counterparts.

Following on from her 2005 Swiss Textile Design award winning work on acoustic walls for open-plan offices, Annette Douglas came up with the idea of the curtain. Douglas took her ideas to Empa acousticians who developed mathematical models of a fabric. Weisbrod-Zurrer silk weavers were then brought on board to manufacture various samples to test and optimize the acoustic properties of the fabric. Douglas translated these findings into weaving techniques, incorporating the flammability and translucent characteristics required. Weisbrod-Zurrer then refined the manufacturing process to ensure the curtains exhibited the acoustic attributes. "Acousticians are pretty astonished when they see the readings we are achieving with the new curtains in the reverberation room. The weighted sound absorption coefficient is between 0.5 and 0.6," said Kurt Eggenschwiler, Head of Empa's Acoustics/Noise Control Division. "In other words, the new textiles 'quench' five times more sound than conventional translucent curtains. The new curtain genuinely absorbs sound, noticeably improving the room acoustics – and its design is also very high quality."

Sound absorption measurements in Empa's reverberation room, show that depending on the frequency, the new curtain absorbs up to five times more sound than typical lightweight curtains
Sound absorption measurements in Empa's reverberation room, show that depending on the frequency, the new curtain absorbs up to five times more sound than typical lightweight curtains

Curtains made from the material allow natural light through but also maintain privacy and their use is being targeted at offices, restaurants, hotel lobbies, seminar rooms and auditoriums.

The material is now finding its way onto the the market and has generated "massive" interest according to Eggenschwiler.

Source: EmpaProduct Page: Weisbrod-Zurrer AG

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5 comments
5 comments
Daniel Beach
Perfect for filtering out the sound of those violins as you\'re being stabbed through your shower curtains!
iverson
wow, this is absolutely the great curtain. solve both the noice and light problem. it will be popular, but what is the price for it? if the price is good, i think that is definitely a great thing to buy.
Mhocking
Looks promising, but what sort of thermal performance are we talking about? Curtains aren\'t just for light and sound :)
Stuart Halliday
So pathetic at reducing traffic noise then...?
Mr Stiffy
Nice material - but it's very poor on the low frequency ranges.... like the "clump, clump, clump" in hard soled shoes across the wooden floor boards, or the rumbling of trains, traffic etc., or the idiot with the LOUD sub-woofer....
The bottom E of a piano is 27Htz - that this does not kick in for effective absorbtion, until about 200 Htz...
This is good and genuinely useful... but I'd like to see it become more effective in a full frequency range.