I'm still working on my window plugs (see posts
at the end of this post) but am moving
one step at a time to see how each step affects the
soundproofing. I'm not having much luck.

I started with two layers of foil insulation since
this helps with the heat insulation, acts as padding
to keep the plugs from damaging the window frame, and
might help to make things airtight. Also, I don't
have to paint the plugs since they're not exposed.

(BTW, foil insulation is terrific material--cheap,
light, easy to install, portable. Thanks for the
suggestion.)

I created boxes from 2x4's and plywood. I was
surprised that a layer of plywood offered almost
no help in containing sound.

I added three layers of sound absorbing board (which smells
very bad) interleaved with two layers of drywall. Although
I haven't filled in the cracks around the window plug, I'm
amazed at how much sound still passes through the window plug.
I can't believe that filling the cracks will make much difference.

My expectation was that a dense, airtight barrier would
contain sound by reflecting the sound waves back into
the room. Sound waves passing through the first barrier
would be partially absorbed by the sound board, and the
remaining wave would reflect back from the second layer of
drywall. Again, remaining waves would have to pass through
soundboard and would hit the plywood. This is about 3 inches
of material that a bullet might not penetrate.

I'm using this newsgroup post which describes the difference
between containing sound and absorbing sound, similar to the
post above.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=e...gh %404ax.com

It might help if I replaced the sound board with drywall
to increase the density, but I'm at my limit as far as
what I can lift.

Since I'm skeptical that ensuring that it's airtight will
help much, any other suggestions?

Also, any comments on why the plywood or my current plugs
aren't helping much?

Thanks

xyz wrote:

I want to do temporary soundproofing by making a window plug for
a 4' by 5' window, and I'd appreciate suggestions.

By "window plug" I'm referring to a box-like object filled with
insulation that provides both sound deadening and weather insulation
that I can set in the window frame.

xyz wrote:

Thanks for the responses

The reason that I need to soundproof is that I have a
sleep disorder called night terrors where I scream in
my sleep. I feel really bad about disturbing my
neighbors.