Absorption coefficient table
Anything with mass absorbs sound. But it depends a bit which frequencies are absorbed by which material. Below you will find a list of some commonly used building materials and how much this material absorbs a certain frequency.
This is expressed as the absorption coefficient. This is a number between 0.0 and 1.0, where 1.0 means ‘absorbs everything’ and 0.0 means ‘absorbs nothing’.
Check out the tutorial ‘DIY Acoustics’ for more information about how to use this list!
| Material | 125 Hz | 250 Hz | 500 Hz | 1000 Hz | 2000 Hz | 4000 Hz |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acoustic foam (5cm) | 0,08 | 0,25 | 0,60 | 0,92 | 0,95 | 0,92 |
| Carpet (heavy) on hard floor | 0,02 | 0,06 | 0,14 | 0,37 | 0,60 | 0,65 |
| Fiberglass (10cm) | 0,39 | 0,90 | 0,99 | 0,98 | 0,93 | 0,87 |
| Glass (window) | 0,35 | 0,25 | 0,17 | 0,12 | 0,08 | 0,05 |
| Hardboard panel (2,5cm) mounted over 5cm air space | 0,90 | 0,45 | 0,25 | 0,15 | 0,10 | 0,10 |
| Plywood panel (1cm) | 0,28 | 0,22 | 0,17 | 0,09 | 0,10 | 0,11 |
| Rock wool (5cm) | 0,11 | 0,60 | 0,96 | 0,94 | 0,92 | 0,85 |
| Velour curtains, heavy | 0,14 | 0,35 | 0,55 | 0,72 | 0,70 | 0,65 |
| Velour curtains, light | 0,03 | 0,04 | 0,11 | 0,17 | 0,24 | 0,35 |
| Wooden floor | 0,15 | 0,10 | 0,10 | 0,07 | 0,06 | 0,06 |
