Whether it’s a school, office cubicle, hotel, hospital or home, research confirms sound levels play a major role in stress levels which impacts the overall health of people. Reduce sound and you enhance the atmosphere, impacting the way people think which elevates their experience.

Acoustical building materials are now an essential part of the design along with consideration as to how sound is transmitted, controlled and received within any space. The acoustics of any room should be designed according to the shape, size, ventilation, build quality and materials. Flooring options offer considerable benefits to improve the acoustics of any space.

Take into account the following when selecting flooring:

• Layout of the building — separating noisy activities from quiet activities and selecting a suitable flooring to reduce sound transmittance within the space and from footfall
• Utilise a high-performance acoustic underlay to outperform local Building Codes
• Substrate — timber substrates have much lower acoustic ratings than concrete substrates

Woodland Lifestyle have embraced the need to optimise acoustics by teaming popular hard flooring and floating flooring options with a superior underlay which can reduce sound within and noise transfer to other spaces.

Popular Metroflor Herringbone and Genesis hybrid ranges incorporate sound mitigating underlays within the planks and tiles. However, any flooring can be paired with a superior acoustical underlay to achieve more comfort and significant gains in the human experience. FloorMuffler can be used commercially or domestically and provides a STC (Sound Transmission Class) of up to 73dB and an IIC (Impact Insulation Class) of up to 74 dB — well above the Building Code’s G6 clause sound mitigation requirements of 55dB relating to airborne and impact sound.

Another rating, called the Delta IIC determines how a floor isolates impact noise and is used to compare products. FloorMuffler achieves an exceptional Delta IIC rating of 25db.

Take the knock test in the video below to experience the difference in impact noise utilising an acoustical underlay.

FloorMuffler is a world leader in acoustic underlay with 35 years of manufacturing experience in the USA. They have produced enough underlay to stretch around the world more than twice.

Alongside acoustic ratings, FloorMuffler includes a moisture barrier, thermal properties and superior compression strength to provide greater longevity to the floor covering.

Additional environment considerations include 100% recyclability and superior indoor air quality. The wellness factor of FloorMuffler extends even further with a contribution to the charities that research into the prevention of Breast Cancer. For every square metre of FloorMuffler purchased from Woodland Lifestyle, a percentage is gifted to the Floors for Cure Foundation. Spot the pink tape on every roll of FloorMuffler underlay.