When we think about the benefits of wood, and specifically mass timber construction, we often think about the cost, the quick on-site construction times, the beautiful aesthetics and the environmental impacts. What we may overlook is the acoustic advantage that mass timber construction provides – and thankfully there are many.
Sound Dampening
Wood has an inherent, natural ability to dampen sound. You may have noticed this if you have ever stood in a forest and listened. This natural noise control makes mass timber prefab an excellent choice for applications that will be sensitive to noise, include locations such as libraries, music studios, or even high traffic busy locales.
Mass timber prefab buildings also benefit from noise reduction from unwanted noise around the building and on-site. Typical noises like the buzz of an HVAC system or the noise of cars passing by are mitigated thanks to the acoustic properties of wood in mass timber. This allows occupants to better focus on the task at hand, and not have to listen to the constant rumbling that other building materials do not hide.
Room to Room Acoustics
Inside a mass timber construction there are also benefits of dampening the noise from room to room. Imagine having a large gathering in one room, and it being silent one room over. When designing a mass timber building, engineers are able to work with the dampening abilities of the wood to ensure that noise control is silently addressed.
Mass timber construction is becoming one of the preferred modern design choices for many reasons. Make sure if you are considering a new building that you choose mass timber construction.
