Comparison

Absorption is far less effective than insulation as a means of noise control. Also, good absorbers are generally poor insulators and visa versa.

Acoustic absorption for example will do little to improve the insulating property of a wall or partition. However, it can be used to good effect to improve listening conditions in spaces and is an effective means of controlling reverberation time, hence reverberant sound levels in a space.

A prime example of this is fast-food establishments that tend to employ hard, easy to clean, surfaces, which also tend to be extremely noisy. A similar effect may be observed in some manufacturing process spaces, which have much the same requirements.

Noise control is a diverse science and is generally taken on a case-by-case basis. In most industrial applications where total containment is not possible because access is required, a combination of absorption and insulation is used.

When partial containment is employed the performance of the structure is more a matter of the degree of containment rather than the actual materials employed. Therefore, even a lightweight barrier can provide a useful degree of screening from a piece of machinery, without materially affecting access to the equipment.