Most of us enjoy a quiet home, a quiet office, a quiet hotel room, etc. Besides enjoying “the quiet” for quiet’s sake, many of us may not know the advantages of silence. We at Soundproof Windows know the value of a little peace and quiet. Noise, or lack thereof, can affect sleep, productivity and general happiness. Many of us long for quieter environments but think they are difficult, costly or a pain to achieve. This is simply not the case! In this article, we’ll discuss some of the maladies associated with noise pollution, the benefits of quiet environments and exactly how easy it is to create a quieter space.
Noise Pollution Isn’t That Bad For Sleep, Is It?
Noisy neighborhood parties, lawn care, pedestrians, school kids, traffic, construction and more all contribute noise pollution into homes. These types of noise are obviously problematic for insomniacs, but many may not know that disrupted and poor-quality sleep can have negative repercussions, too.
According to Sleepscore.com, an organization of “sleep experts from institutions like ResMed, Harvard, AASM and Apple”, poor sleep can be just as detrimental as limited sleep. Here’s what they had to say:
“Noise tends to be most disruptive during your light stages of sleep, which occur at the beginning of the night and in recurring periods throughout the night. It’s also possible for noises to rouse you from deep sleep and REM sleep. To get the sleep that you need, it’s important to protect your sleep environment against unwanted sound for the duration of your night’s rest. Noise at night can prevent you from falling asleep initially, and sounds during the night can wake you leaving you unable to return to sleep. Even noises that don’t wake you can have a detrimental effect on sleep quality.While you snooze, the sleeping brain continues to register and process sound. Noises can create restlessness in sleep even if they don’t wake you fully, and these interruptions affect sleep quality and the movement from lighter to deeper stages of sleep.”
Your Noisy Space Reduces Productivity
The office workers of today often don’t reap the benefits of actual offices. Many office workers, for better or worse, work in open-plan designs. This type of environment may foster collaboration, but crunch-time projects usually benefit from quiet, focused environments.
Many offices must also reconcile being close and accessible to their clients with working in a part of town that is “peaceful”. Most urban offices are periodically subject to construction sounds, pedestrian noise and the relentless honks and profanities associated with traffic congestion.
According to Resonics.com, an acoustics consulting firm, “Loud sounds and prolonged exposure to certain noises trigger physiologic stress responses in our bodies – such as spikes in blood pressure and heart rate.”
The same organization referenced a study form the British Journal of Psychology suggesting that reading and writing productivity plummets when exposed to background noise.
According to the Washingtonpost.com:
“Another clue came from a study of children whose schools were located near West London’s busy Heathrow airport.
“We found a straightforward linear effect from aircraft noise and impairment in reading on standardized tests,” said study leader Stephen A. Stansfeld, a professor of psychiatry at Queen Mary’s School of Medicine and Dentistry in London, noting that the close correlation strengthened the case that noise was to blame.
But it was a “natural” experiment in Germany that helped clinch the case, when the old Munich airport was shut down and a new one was opened at a distant site. Tests done on third- and fourth-graders — before that switch, soon after it and again later on — showed that students near the old airport initially scored lower than others on tests of memory and reading but improved after the airport closed, while their counterparts living near the new airport saw a decline in scores after the switch occurred.”
Science has spoken on the topic of noise! Noise negatively impacts sleep, increases stress hormones and reduces productivity.
Sound Proof Installation is Difficult, Messy and Expensive, Right?
Soundproof windows do not remove or replace your existing windows. Rather, they rehabilitate your existing windows! There is no need for window replacement.
Our soundproof windows are second windows placed behind your existing windows. Our windows insulate, stop drafts, soundproof and more. They open and close just like your existing windows and offer more benefits than replacement windows – at a significantly lower cost.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no construction mess or down time to install our soundproof windows.
Our no-hassle installation takes only hours per room to install our soundproof windows. Our process is simple, straightforward and fast. We also provide a very clean installation with little, if any, mess.
Creating and maintaining a quiet environment for your bed room, home, office, school, hotel room and every other noise-prone space can benefit from our soundproof windows!
Give us a call at 877-438-7843 or use this form to obtain your free estimate!