Image

Focus on Acoustics: Keeping Bowling Alley Noise in the Gutter

April 1, 2010   
Modern bowling alleys have transitioned from the stale, smoky lounges of decades past to family entertainment centers that offer a variety of activities. Frequently, bowling alleys are now part of larger buildings such as shopping malls and even mixed-use developments
Image

Focus on Acoustics: City Noise Ordinances, Navigating a Sea of Noise

April 1, 2008   
As our population increases and expands, “noise pollution” has been increasingly recognized as a serious and growing environmental and health problem, with consequences ranging from stress and anxiety to permanent hearing loss. Thankfully, noise ordinances have been put in place
Image

Quiet Curtains: A Product with Potential

February 1, 2008   
Draperies and curtains have long been used as a cost-effective, aesthetically pleasing, and adjustable means of acoustic treatment within a room. The thick, heavy fabric provides useful sound absorption and reverberation control, especially at middle and high frequencies. Quiet Curtains
Image

Helipad Solutions

October 1, 2007   
Corporations, television stations, police and firefighters use helipads, even high-end residential estates. The noise from the helicopters as they approach, land, and take off can be extremely disruptive to anyone within earshot. At Thorburn Associates our Engineers can provide the
Image

Soundproof Windows?

January 1, 2005   
It’s late at night and you’ve just settled down to sleep, when the neighborhood dog starts barking – loudly. At first you try ignoring it, then as it continues, you try covering your head with your pillow. Just as you
Image

Restaurant Acoustics

May 1, 2004   
During the last 20 years we have seen a number of different acoustical issues in retail / shopping areas – everything from blender noise for a juice bar at a now defunct Mexican restaurant chain prototype, to a restaurant so
Image

Residential Sound Isolation

June 1, 1994   
We frequently get calls from owners and tenants who wish to improve the sound isolation between apartments and condominiums, particularly in older units.  The call often begins with, “I want something I can spray on to the wall to soundproof
Image

Tech Notes: Hydraulic Pile Drivers Work Out of a Tight Spot, Quietly

September 1, 1993   
Driving piles is typically considered one of the noisiest, most disruptive activities at a construction job site.  The increased noise and vibration levels can disrupt ongoing client activity as well as adjacent neighbors.  However, new hydraulic pile-driving equipment may change