Sound-Deadening Privacy Chair

[jyl]

CHAIR

I am interested in making a “privacy chair” that is enclosed on sides, back, and top but open in the front - kind of like the “Easter Egg Chair” idea https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-4guvhdjn31/content/image/fi_image/EasterEggChair-Black_Detail1.jpg but it doesn’t have to be rounded - actually for ease of building, ideally wouldn’t be.

The goal is to deaden ambient room sound for the occupant as much as possible, without fully enclosing the person, as well as visual privacy.

I’m thinking this could involve sound damping materials and shape. A sound from the front would still reach the occupant’s ears, but the chair would somehow absorb that sound so it doesn’t reflect off the inside of the chair, and would also block sound from every direction other than the front?

How would you go about doing this?

Could one, without being an engineer, incorporate active noise cancellation similar to a pair of Bose headphones?

[jyl]

Something like this chair I sat in tonight, but much better sound deadening - that one was just a plywood box with some thin fabric.

I’d also want a recessed shelf for coffee and book, maybe a reading light.

[unclebilly]

You could build it as shown and put in a bunch of these sound deadening panels… About $1 each on amz.

[javadog]

Why?

Earmuffs work better than any chair would and are better for you than noise-cancelling headphones.

Why go to the trouble, unless yo can't think of any other way to fill your time?

[zakthor]

I had use of an expensive corporate sound deadening room. The silence was soooo comfortable.

I was psyched and wanted to ‘do’ a room in my house. My boss laughed, said id poop myself if i learned what it cost. He said you start with the foundation, then the suspended floor…

[jyl]

It is an idea for an interesting seat to have in a coffee shop - one or two of these amid the other normal chairs and tables.

[javadog]

My humble opinion would be that it is not feasible. There are some good videos on YouTube, which you could watch to learn the basics of acoustics and sound absorption.

[jyl]

Oh well.

I might pursue something shaped like that, as a selfie background - apparently that is a thing with coffeeshops etc.

[cabmandone]

You can buy some really nice looking acoustic wall panels but they're pricey. I've been trying to figure out what to put on the walls in my media room that look nice and won't set me back a crazy amount of coin.

[javadog]

Lots of DIY educational videos on YouTube. One such guy:

https://m.youtube.com/@AcousticFields

[masraum]

Originally Posted by zakthor

I had use of an expensive corporate sound deadening room. The silence was soooo comfortable.

I was psyched and wanted to ‘do’ a room in my house. My boss laughed, said id poop myself if i learned what it cost. He said you start with the foundation, then the suspended floor…

I've chatted with a guy that worked for a company that made software for voice stuff. He was a doctor of something. He told me about the noiseless room that BT has in the UK and how after a short period of time your own heartbeat seems really loud in your ears, and yeah, to get to crazy levels of quiet all sorts of stuff is required. I think a lot of those things have crazy thick concrete walls, suspended floors, and that sort of thing. I think you could make a room fairly quiet if you had the desire, but it wouldn't be cheap. For instance, there are places that sell drywall that's 1.5" thick (think about how much a 4x8 sheet of that weighs!). You can't pick that stuff up off the shelves at the big box stores. But you could do double, decoupled walls with insulation, multiple layers of multiple sorts of materials, etc.... The hard part would be silencing sound coming through and around the door and HVAC vents. Anywhere that air flows, sound flows, so under a door (needed for HVAC), through HVAC ducts, through/around outlets/switches, etc....

Probably a good way to go about it would be to look into recording studio builds. There's a lot of stuff online found sound deadening/proofing.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cabmandone

You can buy some really nice looking acoustic wall panels but they're pricey. I've been trying to figure out what to put on the walls in my media room that look nice and won't set me back a crazy amount of coin.

I assume you're looking to cut down on echos?

My understanding is that the various types of bumpy panels reduce reflected sounds inside the room, but don't really do much to stop sound in the room going to the next room. If you're looking for that, then a second layer of drywall would help (go with the thicker, heavier fire-rated stuff instead of the 1/2" light weight stuff, the extra mass will help cut down on sound transmission). If you really want to go all out, build a second wall inside the room that's spaced out from the first wall.

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by masraum

I assume you're looking to cut down on echos?

Yep! Room is 24x30 with 15' ceiling. There's a lot of space. I want to cut down the echo but it's gonna get spendy to do it.

[kach22i]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundproofing

Mass is the only way to stop sound. Mass refers to drywall, plywood or concrete. Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV) is used to dampen or weaken sound waves between layers of mass.

Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV), imagine a throwing a baseball into a shower curtain - it works similarly.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

You could build it as shown and put in a bunch of these sound deadening panels… About $1 each on amz.

Those are for upper frequencies only, mid and low frequencies are much harder to tame.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by masraum

Probably a good way to go about it would be to look into recording studio builds. There's a lot of stuff online found sound deadening/proofing.

Yes, and two channel stereo rooms where people take the topic seriously.

One should know the difference between keeping sound in and or out of the room, verses treating the frequencies in the room for best resolution.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by kach22i

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundproofing


Mass-loaded vinyl (MLV), imagine a throwing a baseball into a shower curtain - it works similarly.

I've used some MLV and by itself is not impressive. It would just be one small part of a system.

[javadog]

You have to separate the issue into it's component parts. Some things reduce sound transmission through panels/walls. Some things reduce sound reflections, or disperse the reflections. Some things absorb the sound energy and convert it to heat.

Seldom does any particular thing do more than one thing.

[vash]

No clue. But that ladies smile is extraordinary. Infectious I bet.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by vash

No clue. But that ladies smile is extraordinary. Infectious I bet.

You notice I'm trying to stay far away.