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ArrowZoom
A Complete Guide in Choosing Acoustic
Foam Panels

By: Arrow Zoom

www.ArrowZoom.com

Copyright 2016
All Rights Reserved

No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a

retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means: electronic, mechanical; photocopy; recording;
or any other, except for brief quotations in printed or
online reviews, without prior written permission of the
publisher.
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION

A. What is Acoustic Foam?

B. Features and Benefits

C. Different Elements of Acoustic Foam

II. PURCHASING GUIDE

A. Creating A Plan

B. Budgeting / Shopping

III. INSTALLATION GUIDE

A. 3 KEY Points in Any Room

B. Installation Method

IV. PROs and CONs of ACOUSTIC FOAMS

I. INTRODUCTION

A. What is Acoustic Foam?

Acoustic foam is an open celled foam used for acoustic

treatment. It attenuates airborne sound waves by increasing air
resistance, thus reducing the amplitude of the waves. The
energy is dissipated as heat. Acoustic Foam can be made in
several different colors, sizes and thickness.

Acoustic foam comes in a variety of sizes and can be

attached to walls, ceilings, doors, and other features of a room
to control noise levels, vibration, and echoes.

Many acoustic foam products are treated with dyes or fire

retardants.

B. Features and Benefits

1. Uses - The objective of acoustic foam is to improve the

sound quality by removing residual sound in any space. This
purpose requires strategic placement of acoustic foam panels
on walls, ceiling and floors, effectively eliminating resonance
within the room.
2. Acoustic enhancement - The objective is to enhance the
properties of sound by improving speech clarity and sound
quality. For this reason, acoustic foam is often used in recording
studios. The purpose is to reduce, but not entirely eliminate
resonance within the room. This is achieved by placing similar
sized pieces of foam, often in the shape of cones or triangles, on
opposite walls.
 3. Functionality - Acoustic foam is a lightweight material
made from polyurethane foam either polyether or polyester,
and also extruded melamine foam. It is usually cut into tiles -
often with pyramid or wedge shapes - which are suited to
placing on the walls of a recording studio or a similar type of
environment to act as a sound absorber, thus enhancing the
sound quality within a room.

Acoustic foam reduces or eliminates echoes and

background noises by controlling the reverberation that sound
can make by bouncing off walls. This type of sound absorption is
different from soundproofing, which is typically used to keep
sound from escaping or entering a room. Therefore, acoustic
foam is installed in large rooms like churches, synagogues,
concert halls. These rooms have large, flat space and noise will
certainly bounce around in the room. These Sound absorbers
are used to improve the acoustics of the room, which thereby
reduces noise in the room.

Acoustic foam typically deals more with the mid and high
frequencies. To deal with lower frequencies, much thicker
pieces of acoustic foam are needed; large pieces of acoustic
foam are often placed in the corners of a room and are called
acoustic foam corner bass traps.

C. Different Elements of Acoustic Foam

Getting your room to sound great with acoustic treatment

requires of a combination of 3 items:

1. Bass Traps to absorb the low frequencies

2. Acoustic Panels to absorb the mid/high frequencies
3. Diffusers to scatter the remaining frequencies
1. Bass Traps - The first and
most important element of
acoustic treatment to add to
your room is bass traps. Bass
traps actually are actually
broadband absorbers,
meaning theyre good at
absorbing mid/high
frequencies as well.
Which is why sometimes
bass traps alone can be
enough to get the job done.
In small home studio rooms
especially, where bass
frequencies can be
particularly problematic, bass
traps are a MUST-HAVE.

2. Acoustic Panels - Heres what they can do that bass traps

cant:
Because theyre thinner, and
offer more surface area with
less material, acoustic panels
can provide greater wall
coverage, for less money.
What that does is kill any
standing waves that may exist
between opposite parallel
walls. Which is the one thing
that bass traps cant really do,
since theyre primarily located
in the corners of the room.
3.Diffusers - Most folks today
believe that for smaller rooms,
Like those of most home
studios The effectiveness of
diffusion is greatly reduced, if
not neutralized. For project
studios, thats good news,
because it eliminates the
need for expensive diffusers.

II. PURCHASING GUIDE

A. Creating a Plan - Create a plan by taking the accurate
measurements of the wall. Use a tape measure to make careful
measurements of your wall. You may opt not to put acoustic
foam on the ceiling, but doing so will produce the best results,
both in terms of sound quality and sound deadening
capabilities. Measure the overall height and width of your room
to determine the amount of acoustic foam that is needed for
the job.

B. Budgeting / Shopping - If you havent figured it out by

nowbuying all this stuff individually can be a HUGE hassle.
Which is why buying it in bulk orders will make you spend less
money.

III. INSTALLATION GUIDE

A. 3 KEY Points in Any Room

Once your acoustic treatment

has arrived in the mail, youre
almost ready to start putting it
up.

First though, there 3 key areas of

the which we must define.

They are:

1. Trihedral corners shown in

the diagram as the red dots
2. Dihedral corners shown in the diagram as the blue lines
3. The Walls shown as the flat white surface area
Common wisdom states that in any room:

1. the trihedral corners get first priority for coverage

2. the dihedral corners get next priority
3. the walls get last priority

And heres why:

For best results, it makes sense to place acoustic treatment in

the areas which have the greatest impact, right?

Well at the trihedral cornersall 3 sets of parallel walls converge,

and any absorption located here catches room modes from all
3 dimensions, essentially working 3x as effectively.

The dihedral corners get next priority, since they work on 2

dimensions. And finally theres the walls, which only work on
one.

How to Set Everything Up

Step 1: Since bass traps offer the

widest range of broadband
absorption

It makes sense to put them in the

areas where they can have the
greatest impact.

Which is why the first step in setting

up your acoustic treatment is to
mount a bass trap at each of the
tridhedral corners.
Step 2: The next step is to fill in
the remaining corners with
acoustic panels.

To cover the dihedral corners,

simply bend them around the
edge as shown in the picture

And be sure to leave an air gap

for maximum low-end
absorption.

Step 3: Whenever two opposing

walls are parallel to each
other

Sound waves have a tendency

to reflect back and forth in the
same spot

Causing some frequencies to be

amplified, and others to be
cancelled-out.

To avoid this problem, mount your acoustic panels flat on the

walls, and be sure to spread them evenly thoughout the entire
room.

To get maximum effectiveness from a limited number of panels,

avoiding placing panels on BOTH points of opposing wallsand
instead, stagger their positions as shown in the above picture.
B. Installation Method

1. Lay the Pyramid Studio Foam out for your specific application
- keep in mind that you want the foam evenly distributed
throughout the room. Pyramid Foam is a modular design and
the seams dont always line up with the pattern.

2. Measure any areas that need to be field cut on the foam and
make the appropriate cuts
(examples would be around beams, doorways, or if a short
piece is needed).

3. After all the pieces have been field cut, put the material back
in the appropriate position on the
wall or ceiling and lightly mark the bottom and side of where
each piece will be lightly with a
pencil to ensure straight application.

4. Glue each piece individually with PL Polyurethane

Construction Adhesive. Create a perimeter around the outside
of the material staying 1 away from the edge. Create an X
pattern across the center of the material.

5. Line the material up with the lines you marked in Step 3 and
press firmly against the material
compressing the foam. Repeat step for remaining pieces of
foam
IV. PROs and CONs of ACOUSTIC FOAMS

PROs

A. Reduce noise pollution - Just like light, sound waves can pass
through even the smallest hole or opening in holes, walls, or any
material. Acoustic foams are installed to reduce noise pollution
as they remove echoes and background sounds not by
blocking the sound but by absorbing it. Acoustic foams are
used to control the reverberation sounds make and this is quite
different from soundproofing.

B. Enhance sound quality - Acoustic foams are cut in tiles with

pyramid or wedge shapes. They work not only to absorb sounds,
but also to enhance the quality of sound and speech in a room.
Dealing with both mid and high frequencies at the same time,
acoustic foam can also be counted as a type of cost-friendly
heat reduction facility that is placed in corners of the room or
wherever optimal sound mixes are needed as bass traps to
minimize sound echoes. Reducing the amplitude of the waves,
acoustic foams dissipate the sound energy as heat. To enhance
this effect, there must a good measure of air gap between the
foam panels and the walls. This uncovers a wider surface area
of the foam panels to incident waves thereby expanding the
amount of absorption.

C. Improve rooms design - Acoustic foam is made from open

cell polyurethane foam, and this can provide better aesthetics
looks when it comes to room designs. There are a variety of
colors and textures of acoustic foam and you may want to
incorporate the theme to your homes interior design. Some
people choose to apply a contour effect to add sophistication
and elegance in the room. In addition, acoustic foams also are
available in different sizes and thickness and these can be
attached to walls, ceilings, doors and other features of a room.
CONs

Not effective when incorrectly placed - Another disadvantage

is when acoustic foam is not placed right or when a gap is left
unsealed. Often homeowners decide to follow basic instructions
per online guide and check that all acoustic panels are
covering the gaps or opening around the door completely, but
this may not be enough. When incorrectly placed, acoustic
foam does not absorb much sound and it tends to just bounce
or reflect back the sound waves from one wall to another. Hiring
professionals to do it can guarantee that acoustic foams will
work to its full ability.

Conclusion
Before designing a room, it is important not only to look after the
leaks, flooring, wall paint, ceiling height, and many of the
fixtures. To treat and control sound coming in and out of the
room, you know that setting up curtains is not the brightest idea.
Rather, installing acoustic foams that attenuate airborne sound
waves should be part of the plan from the start to effectively
eliminate resonance within the room. It is an inexpensive way to
soundproof the walls or decrease the volume of desired area in
your home.
Online Purchasing

At Arrow Zoom store, we offer different styles and designs of High Quality
Acoustic Foams. Visit us at www.ArrowZoom.com to get the finest Acoustic
Foams today.

Our helpful and

friendly customer
supports are there
to assist you on
your visit. We are
waiting for you
there!

Shop now
www.ArrowZoom.com