What is impact absorbing flooring for noise reduction?
Impact-absorbing flooring made from PU-bound rubber granules reduces impact sound and the structure-borne sound it generates. The elastic floor covering absorbs impacts and reduces their transfer to the substrate.
Impact sound occurs when walking, jumping, moving furniture or setting down weights cause a floor or storey slab to vibrate. These vibrations travel through solid building components as structure-borne sound and can become audible as airborne sound in other rooms.
Structure-borne sound can also be caused by machinery and by installations fixed to the building. It may have causes and transmission paths other than impact sound, so it cannot be reduced by a floor covering alone.
Under load, a floor covering made from rubber granules deforms elastically. This deformation transfers the load to the substrate less abruptly, reduces the peak force and, through the covering’s internal damping, further weakens the remaining vibrations.
Sound-insulation tiles reduce excitation of the substrate from footsteps, jumps and impacting objects. Where higher requirements apply, multi-layer flooring systems with functional layers of differing elasticity can further reduce impact transmission. Their effectiveness depends on the properties of each layer, the load applied, and the existing floor or slab structure.