Do some spaces make it difficult to hear others? Whether it’s a noisy restaurant with bare walls and floors that can’t absorb sounds or your own home, which can feature spacious areas, how sound travels from room to room can be unpleasant for the ears.
Making some minor changes to your decoration can alter sound clarity and quality. If you are in a grand dining area with wooden floors, unadorned walls, and full, curtain-less windows - sounds will ricochet from these hard surfaces. As a result, what a person says will be heard with an echo. Improper Acoustics An echo alters how clear a person’s speaking voice sounds. When there are more things in a room - drapes over windows, rugs, carpeted floors/walls, tablecloths on a table - the sound becomes trapped and absorbs into soft surfaces instead of rebounding. The acoustics in a room can significantly impact a person’s ability to communicate effectively, no matter how well they can hear. There are so many simple ways to improve the acoustics in a space. Modern Design Trends Have Not Been Made with Hearing Problems in Mind What people enjoy looking at isn’t always great for the ears. Contemporary homes with open layouts intended for entertaining, no drapes or carpeted floors, minimalist designs, and vaulted ceilings can be harsh on hearing. If you or someone you live with has hearing loss, more drapes, furniture, and carpeting would be beneficial to absorb sounds throughout the home. Some materials, like fuzzy, soft, and textured items, absorb sounds. Other materials like brick, glass, and tiled surfaces reflect sound. Controlling noises in the bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry room is challenging. These rooms typically do not feature material that absorbs sounds. Bathroom: tiled floors and walls are a prominent feature in bathrooms. When the shower runs or a toilet flushes, the combination of tiles and these noises can obstruct hearing. Kitchen: tiled floors, walls, and other hard surfaces, plus steel appliances, will not absorb noises. The dishwasher, garbage disposal, kitchen hood vent, and various appliances create a lot of noise. Laundry room: these rooms store large appliances (washer and dryer) made with a smooth, hard surface. Knowing which areas of the home or other spaces may be distracting for someone with hearing problems should be considered if a conversation will take place. 6 Easy Ways to Improve Acoustics at Home You don’t need to gut and remodel the entire house. If you happen to be redesigning your home from the ground up, avoid an open concept and design the space while considering your hearing. Here are simple, inexpensive tips to enhance the acoustics in your home. 1. Install carpeting to the home. Carpeting throughout the house can make a huge difference. If it’s not in your budget or you don’t like having carpet throughout your home, use throw rugs instead. Be careful if you are prone to falls, as you may trip over them. You may secure the sides with tape and place a rubber backing underneath. The rubber backing can also help absorb sounds. 2. Use door sweeps. Door sweeps will block windy drafts and reduce sounds from noisy rooms. 3. Place more furniture in the rooms. Use padded options. More furniture reduces the echo and ricocheting noises. Large pieces that feature padding will help absorb noises. 4. Incorporate fabric. Place tablecloths on all of your tables. Use heavy drapes that absorb noise for the windows. Even simple things like lining drawers in the kitchen can muffle the clinking of silverware. Bumper pads can be attached to drawers, tables, and doors. 5. Hang art on the walls. Art on the walls works like curtains and wall tapestries. They double as being aesthetically pleasing while stifling the acoustics. 6. Put up dividers in the room. These pieces absorb sound and create the illusion of making large spaces feel smaller. Reduce Background Noise When You Can. Turning down the volume or turning off devices that make excessive noise can be beneficial during a conversation - whether in person or on a video call. It’s more challenging to hear consonant sounds when there’s background noise. Get Advice from Your Hearing Aid Provider. While going through your hearing aid trial period and programming for your hearing aids, let your hearing instrument specialist know which listening situations are difficult. Whether it’s a specific space or it’s due to a noisy environment, your hearing aid provider can program optimal settings so you can hear in any condition. Comments are closed.
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