Professional soundproofing improves home comfort and privacy by eliminating noise transfer through shared walls and blocking intrusive outdoor noise.
Whether you’re building a dedicated home office, a professional music studio, or are simply tired of hearing the constant rumble of I-81 truck traffic and local construction, our specialized acoustic solutions can help.
A majority of homes across Northeast Pennsylvania suffer from insufficient insulation and air sealing, which, in addition to driving up utility costs, fail to muffle noise.
Homes in metropolitan areas like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre deal with the expected noise pollution from traffic, but the construction of the interstate system and Turnpike has also brought that noise to homes in Dallas and Clarks Summit that are close to the highway.
Even in remote areas like Roaring Brook and Tunkhannock, noise from wildlife, such as crickets and frogs, can be enough to disrupt sleep.
For remote workers and creatives who require a quiet space to work in their own homes, noise transfer between rooms from children, pets, and appliances can be enough to disrupt work and cost you sleep.
Professional soundproofing targets the source of noise and insulates your home, room-by-room, to eliminate three common sources of noise:
- Airborne Noise: Sound moving through gaps, vents, and thin wall surfaces.
- Impact Noise: Vibrations traveling through floor and ceiling structures (footsteps, dropped objects).
- Flanking Noise: Sound that “leaks” around barriers through connected building components like ductwork or shared joists.
The result is a quieter, more comfortable home that supports better sleep, workflow, and privacy for any purpose.
EnergySmart goes beyond standard mass-loaded vinyl sheets you can buy at the store, employing advanced acoustic materials, including polyurethane foam, epoxy, silicone, felt, and polyester fiber, that eliminate audible noise entirely and install discreetly behind walls.
Get a free inspection and estimate to see how professional soundproofing can benefit your home in NEPA.
How Professional Soundproofing Benefits NEPA Homeowners
- Reduced road and traffic noise: Targeted wall and window treatment stops highway, rail, and street noise from penetrating interior living spaces
- Room-to-room sound control: Acoustic insulation and decoupled wall assemblies reduce noise transfer between bedrooms, home offices, and common areas
- Better sleep quality: Eliminating the low-frequency rumble and impact noise that disrupts sleep even through closed doors and standard insulation
- Improved home office performance: Sound-isolated rooms reduce distractions and background noise on calls and video meetings
- Higher resale appeal: Soundproofed homes in noisy areas fetch better appraisals–buyers near busy roads specifically seek noise mitigation
- Coordinated with energy upgrades: Soundproofing materials and air sealing work together, delivering minor energy savings as a secondary benefit
Outdated Construction Practices Leave Your Home Vulnerable to Noise Leaks
Behind your walls, hollow framing gaps act as echo chambers, turning your private living space into a shared environment where you are forced to hear every neighbor’s conversation and every passing truck. This lack of acoustic privacy creates a persistent state of low-level stress, making it impossible to truly relax or focus in a home that feels vulnerable to the outside world.
Common sources of sound leaks in homes across the region include:
- Shared Wall Joists: In duplexes and row homes, these act as structural bridges, carrying vibrations and muffled voices directly into your living room.
- Unsealed Outlets & Switches: These tiny gaps allow private conversations to pass through walls with zero resistance.
- Gaps in Floor Joists: Without proper decoupling, every footstep on the second floor is amplified into a thundering impact noise for those below.
- Thin Window Assemblies: These are the primary weak points that fail to block the high-decibel, noise pollution of I-81 truck traffic.
Even standard insulation, such as fiberglass batts or loose-fill, can dampen noise but will not block it out entirely. Without a dedicated soundproofing solution, you will continue to hear noise pollution between rooms and from the outside, compromising your privacy.
Expert Acoustic Soundproofing that Provides Complete Room-By-Room Privacy
Our soundproofing services utilize a professional-grade toolkit, including polyurethane foam, epoxy, silicone, high-density polyester fiber, and decoupling clips, to target noise at the molecular and structural levels. By combining these materials, we address the three pillars of acoustic control: Absorption, Deflection, and Decoupling.
- Acoustic Absorption for Home Offices: High-density mineral wool and polyester fiber absorb sound waves within wall cavities. This eliminates the hollow echo common in older homes in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, ensuring professional audio for remote work.
- High-Mass Deflection for Traffic Noise: We apply heavy, specialized epoxies to deflect low-frequency energy from I-81 truck traffic and heavy machinery, keeping the rumble outside.
- Precision Sealing of Acoustic Flanking Paths: Sound travels like air. We use specialized acoustic silicone and foam to seal the hidden gaps around electrical outlets, baseboards, and plumbing penetrations that act as microphones between rooms.
- Integrated Spray Foam Barriers: For maximum efficiency, we pair soundproofing with spray foam insulation. This creates a seamless air seal that stops airborne noise (voices, music, sirens) while simultaneously eliminating drafts and energy waste.
- Commercial Multi-Unit Mitigation: Ideal for property managers in downtown urban centers, these applications ensure privacy between apartment units, increasing tenant retention and property value.
With free inspections available, our expert team can construct a custom acoustic solution to soundproof parts of your home or your entire home for greater privacy and comfort.
Why NEPA Residents Trust EnergySmart for Air Sealing Services
- 4.7-Star Rated Soundproofing Company: Trusted throughout Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and the Poconos.
- Premium Material Selection: Strategic use of polyurethane foam, epoxy, silicone, felt, and polyester fiber that block and absorb sound waves..
- Free Inspection and Estimate Get a free assessment of your home’s acoustics for a custom solution tailored to your home.
- Diagnostic Approach: We identify flanking paths that DIY treatments often miss.
- Integrated Solutions: Soundproofing coordinated with air sealing for a quieter, more energy-efficient home.
FAQs
What is soundproofing and how does it work?
Soundproofing is the process of reducing unwanted noise transmission into or within a space by addressing the specific pathways sound uses to travel. It works through four principles: adding mass to resist sound pressure, decoupling building surfaces so vibration cannot transfer through the structure, absorbing sound energy within wall and floor cavities, and damping vibration at the panel level. Effective soundproofing applies these principles together in an assembly tailored to the noise source.
How is soundproofing different from acoustic treatment?
Soundproofing reduces sound transmission between spaces: stopping noise from getting in or out. Acoustic treatment controls sound within a space, reducing echo, reverb, and flutter. They use different materials and serve different purposes. Most homeowners dealing with noise complaints or unwanted exterior noise need soundproofing, not acoustic treatment.
Can I soundproof my home without major renovation?
Yes, in many cases. Adding mass-loaded vinyl over existing drywall, applying damping compound between a new drywall layer and existing surfaces, sealing acoustic flanking paths at perimeters and penetrations, and upgrading door seals are all non-demolition improvements that produce meaningful STC gains.
What is STC and how much improvement can I expect?
STC (Sound Transmission Class) is the standard rating for how well a building assembly blocks airborne sound. A standard interior wall has an STC rating of 33 to 38, meaning loud speech is clearly audible through it. Adding resilient channels and an additional drywall layer with damping compound can push that to STC 52 to 58, at which point loud speech is reduced to a murmur and normal conversation is inaudible. Each 10-point STC increase corresponds to roughly a halving of perceived loudness.
Does soundproofing also improve energy efficiency?
Often yes. Many soundproofing improvements overlap directly with air sealing and insulation — acoustic caulk seals the same flanking paths that air leaks use, and dense-pack acoustic insulation fills wall cavities more completely than standard fiberglass batts. Homes that receive soundproofing upgrades commonly see measurable reductions in heating and cooling costs as a secondary benefit, particularly in older NEPA homes with significant existing air leakage.
How do you diagnose where noise is entering my home?
EnergySmart uses a combination of noise source assessment, visual inspection of common flanking locations, and, where appropriate, sound measurement tools to identify entry points and transmission pathways. Common diagnostic findings in NEPA homes include unsealed rim joist areas that transmit exterior noise into the structure, electrical outlets on exterior walls without acoustic treatment, and HVAC ductwork that transmits sound between floors.
What NEPA areas do you serve for soundproofing?
EnergySmart provides soundproofing services throughout Northeast Pennsylvania, including Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Clarks Summit, Dickson City, Moosic, the Poconos, and surrounding communities in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, and Wayne Counties.
