October 23, 2002—The use of properly specified separate commercial carpet cushion “significantly” enhances carpet’s ability absorb sound, according to recent test results of an acoustic study. According to the study, carpet installed with commercial cushion as much as doubles the sound absorption when compared to carpet alone.
Results of the research showed that a commercial cut pile product direct-glued to a concrete substrate has an NRC of approximately .25 (1.0 represents 100 percent sound absorption), absorbing about 25 percent of the sound directed at it. NRC is Noise Reduction Coefficient, a measure of the effectiveness of a material in absorbing sound over several frequencies.
When a commercial bonded polyurethane carpet cushion was installed using a double-glue system with the same carpet, the NRC rose to .55—a sound absorption more than twice that of the carpet alone.
The new acoustical research was jointly sponsored by the Alliance for Flexible Polyurethane Foam (AFPF) and the Carpet Cushion Council (CCC) and conducted by Intertek Testing Services.
Intertek also measured the ability of carpet with cushion to lessen the sound transmitted between floors through the Impact Isolation Classification (IIC) test. A bare concrete slab, with an IIC rating of 19 improved to 58 with the addition of direct-glue carpet. When the same carpet was double-glue installed with bonded commercial polyurethane carpet cushion and tested, the IIC rating increased to 69, achieving nearly a 19 percent improvement over the carpet alone.
Test results were reveled at the October IFMA World Workplace conference in Toronto. For more information contact the Carpet Cushion Council.
