Hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to noise is well documented. Excessive noise also has an adverse effect on personal health and well-being, ability to perform quiet tasks, and productivity in general. Because land is becoming scarcer, buildings are being constructed closer together and closer to noise sources such as highways, railways, and airports. As a result, sound or acoustic control is becoming increasingly important.

Concrete walls provide a buffer between:

• Outdoor noise and the indoor environment in a building
• Highway noise and neighborhoods with a sound barrier
• Indoor noise between adjoining apartments or other spaces as a separating wall  

The greater mass of concrete walls can reduce sound penetrating through a wall by over 80% compared with wood or steel frame construction. Although some sound will penetrate the windows, a concrete building can be two-thirds quieter than a wood or steel frame building. Concrete panels also provide effective sound barriers separating buildings from highways or industrial areas from residential areas.

Compared to a typical wood frame wall, only about one-quarter to one-eighth as much sound penetrates a concrete wall. Acoustics experts would describe loud speech on the opposite side of a frame wall as “audible, but not intelligible.” On the opposite side of a concrete wall, a listener would “strain to hear” loud speech. Through some concrete walls, loud speech would be “inaudible.”

The reduction of airborne sound through a wall is called sound transmission loss (STL). The frequency or pitch of sound has a great effect on sound transmission, since low frequency sound will transmit through a wall more readily than high frequency. Laboratory tests for sound transmission loss are determined over a range of frequencies. Sound Transmission Class (STC) is a single number used to rate walls, partitions, doors and windows for their effectiveness in blocking sound.

A 2 x 4 wood stud partition wall with ½ in. gypsum wallboard on each side has an STC of about 35. With the addition of furring, insulation, and wallboard, STC values up to 63 are obtained for 6 and 8 in. thick concrete walls. Bare concrete and masonry walls have STCs in the range of 45 to 50. Standard flat panel ICF walls generally have STCs in the range of 55 to 60. A subjective description of STC values is presented in the table.