Here’s part 2 for soundproofing massage rooms and studios, written by Julie Marciniak, owner of North Pointe Body Therapies and our Durham, North Carolina FasciAshi Instructor. Part 1 of this post is for those of you who are fortunate enough to build your space from the floor up. That’s the only opportunity you have to address noise reduction because that’s when you can choose certain methods that STOP THE NOISE from getting through the wall. If you are renting or buying a space with walls already intact, however, then the only option for soundproofing your massage studio is to address noise absorption. Read on to learn how Julie manages this “hush-hush” issue!

Noise absorption reduces the vibration of sound or prevents it from bouncing around.

Ways to do this are by using soft surfaces such as carpets, upholstered furniture, acoustical ceiling tile, and soundboards.

Noise Reduction Soundboards

There’s tons of info and companies that you can order from online. I ordered my first two boards to test the waters and see if they helped. They did, but I have three treatment rooms, a foyer, and an ashiatsu training studio and I would have spent thousands of dollars if I purchased all the boards that I needed. So my next project was building my own. Or rather my handyman build the frames, and I wrapped them in batting and burlap. This link is the exact site I used to make mine. For a little more than the price of the two I bought, I made 6 larger ones. It took a little time and effort, but I think they turned out pretty good. I used decorative fabric to tie into my decorating scheme.

Just recently I found this cool little acoustic tiles at Home Depot. The price is a lot more reasonable that the fabric ones, they come in different shapes, sizes, are paintable and easy to hang. I used Command™ velcro strips on the supplied impale clips to mount them to the walls and the ceiling. No wall damage when I’m ready to take them down!

Sound Absorbing Rugs, Fabrics & Doors

Rugs and fabric are a great way to help with sound absorption. In our foyer, we were having problems with sound traveling down the hallway to the treatment rooms.

Doesn’t matter how many signs you have up, some just have a difficult time using their “inside” voice. ::Eye Roll::   Like, it’s a massage studio people….

Anyway, where there’s no option of putting a door up to block the noise from traveling, you can use fabric. So we took a 1×3 board, created a valance, and custom made a lined curtain and voila! It works great! A little ‘S hook’ on the side holds the curtain up for our handicap/wheelchair clients.

Another doorway around the corner was for my ashiatsu training studio. For this hallway, we decided to go a little heavy duty and put a type of barn door up from a salvaged 3-panel wooden screen I had. Again my handyman came to the rescue. He cut up one panel and clamped it to the two for the height we needed. We purchased barn door hardware, and I wrapped one side in batting and burlap again. So not only do we stop the noise from leaving the room, but the fabric side helps with sound absorption as well.

All the Noises of the Rainbow

Last but not least, there are white noise machines. These can be used to mask audible voices so while you may hear someone talking in the next room, you most likely won’t be able to understand what they are saying. I have two different ones. One I purchased for $49 from Bed Bath & Beyond (find you a 20% off coupon or look on Craigslist) and another one I purchased from a client who works with Lencore.  It’s a company that supplies systems to hospitals, doctors offices, etc to mask sound and maintains privacy. These units can be built into the ceilings and walls! It’s pretty nice I’ll have to say, and it’s my favorite; which is why it’s in my treatment room, but it costs three times the price. Ouch!

I didn’t realize there were different colors of sound. Did you? There’s not just white noise; there’s pink, blue, brown, purple; you name it. Has something to do with levels of frequency. The Lencore unit is pink noise versus the cheaper unit from ‘Bed, Bath & Beyond’ is white noise. Seems that pink noise is closer to nature sounds than white noise. I guess that’s why it’s my favorite!

Well, there you have it! It was frustrating sometimes trying certain things to find out it had little to no effect in reducing sound and sometimes we hit the jackpot. Overall, I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out, and noise isn’t an issue like it used to be. Classes were loud and disruptive while my other therapists were seeing clients, and now they can hardly tell we’re there!

I hope I’ve given you a few ideas on how to creatively help control the noise and sound level in your massage studio. If you have any cool ideas that have helped soundproof your massage studio, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!