One control room at Metronome musicfacultyof Confetti Institute of CreativeTechnologies, partofNottingham University,UK

The Covid pandemic and the enforced isolation it brought through lockdown periods made people consider many aspects of life they might have previously not contemplated. The most obvious of these were just being able to see family and friends whenever one wanted and the importance of hand washing. Compared to those kinds of personal priorities, acoustics and the need for some form of sound treatments were most likely not on many people's lists. But the reliance on video conferencing for work and business, as well personal calls, made these hitherto specialist areas important in improving audio quality and making for successful and less fatiguing online meetings.

While using a decent standalone microphone and being close to it was a relatively straightforward first step to a better sound, many people also experimented with putting mattresses or coats against doors to minimise any noise coming from elsewhere in the house. Closing the curtains also helped in both excluding the sounds of the outside world and reducing reflections from the windows. These basic, practical measures no doubt improved the general experience of many conference calls and may have made people think about sound quality a little more, but they also highlight a fundamental misapprehension about the nature of acoustics.

Sound Insulation

In this particular case, it is mixing up sound insulation, what people might generally think of as soundproofing, and sound absorption. While the mattress against the door will deaden any sounds from outside, it will not exclude them completely. It will, in fact, be more effective in diffusing sound in the room and preventing flutter echo; the 'tinny' noise caused by sounds bouncing off parallel surfaces. Chris Parker-Jones, founder and director of ParkerJones Acoustics, comments that real sound insulation can only be achieved when it is built into a space.

"I see this issue a lot with residential soundproofing," he says. "I get people phoning me about noisy neighbours on floors above, saying they're surprised there is still a problem because they already had a soundproofing company around to inject insulation into the floor void. The problem is that many of these companies are builders who just read what's on the label. There are so many products that are [sold as] 'high acoustic performance' and ‘soundproof'. There are even things like 'soundproof' paint but it doesn't really exist. Products are only 'soundproof' when the constructions they are used with lend themselves to being soundproof."

A classic example of this is the box-in-box build. This is based around a floating floor and acoustically isolated walls and ceiling, which effectively