Sound proof booth for room in flat?

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hi all

I'm looking for some suggestions on how to build/purchase a sound proof booth for a flat. Similar to what you see in offices/co-working spaces - doesn't have to be 100% sound proof, but sufficient enough to dampen the noise.

I don't need anything fancy - basically would like to have as small of a footprint as possible - so would be a standing booth.

Some ideas I've seen are here , here , here , and here - range from 5-8kchf which is pretty high considering they're made for industrial office use. Plus, they're outside CH so would have to pay import tax on top of that.

edit: one is in Zurich with a showroom but it's still overengineered for what I need

I'm looking for something for personal use so I can hope in when I'm on conf calls and not wake the kids.

Any ideas of CH based vendors or alternatives would be appreciated.

2
One idea is to use old duvets as the insulation material. works well but is quite thick.

3
Back in poor college days, we used cheap foam mattresses that are like egg cartons and nailed them to plywood. I have no idea if those mattresses exist here, but if they do they probably aren't cheap.

4
Hornbach has egg crate foam pieces, ca CHF 30 for 100x200

And when I popped over to the site to check my recollection, I found this, acoustic foam:

https://www.hornbach.ch/shop/Schalli...9/artikel.html

You can also find egg crate foam mattresses at Ikea, I use the Kinderbett size to make dog beds for arthritic mutts. However, they seem to be more expensive than in years past - now listed at CHF 49. I seem to remember paying something in the 20s.

5
Eggcellent! (sorry, had to)

That, combined with a room divider from IKEA or similar would probably do. I don't think OP needs a whole sound booth, just something to help block enough sound.

6
You could try soundproofing your kids bedroom door first, just insulating the open space in the bottom (and on the sides if there is) could be enough and is very cheap.

7
Your last example is actually EUR 3,000, which you then remove the German VAT from. (and of course add Swiss tax)

That sounds ok to me and more preferable than the DIY solutions.

8
I could never work in a space like that. What about ventilation?

9
I would look for vocal booths (yes, they're called vocal booths in German as well).

Something like this: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/vicousti...white_mate.htm or this: https://www.houseofsound.ch/vicousti...1-1-black.html or even just this: https://www.thomannmusic.ch/the_t.ak...oth_bundle.htm or even this https://www.thomannmusic.ch/the_t.ak...ocal_booth.htm

You may even find a secondhand one somewhere.

10
Swiss VAT is 7.7%, all EU countries are at least 2x that, so you actually would pay less, not more.

Tom

11
Could you wear something like this when on your conference calls?

12
Based on my experience - kids especially small ones - are not really disturbed by voice except when it suddenly starts our of nowhere , plan background noise to grow as it does in normal day and I had my ones sleeping on my arms when I had toughest of the conversations and arguments on the phone .

make sudden noise in middle of the night in forrest and they all up - drop a hammer in busy next to their bed and they sleep like an angel - it's all about "the delta" and not absolute values..

13
Thx for the responses. Soundproofing my kids room is not acceptable - obviously need to hear them.

@Dare - great recommendation, will look into those products further.

14
You wait until they're older.

Admittedly not on a business conference call but on a video call to my elderly mother a few years ago, my young son walked into the room, looked at the screen at his grandmother, calmly said "F**k off!" to her and walked out again.