Acoustic Glass: Reducing Noise Through Windows and Doors

Acoustic glass is a laminated pane — two thinner sheets of glass bonded with a PVB (polyvinyl butyral) interlayer, in some products a specifically acoustic-grade interlayer. Sound travels through glass largely as vibration, and the interlayer damps that vibration far more effectively than a single solid pane of equivalent thickness. Building the unit with panes of different thickness on either side of the cavity, known as an asymmetric build-up, adds a further improvement, since sound at different frequencies is disrupted at each pane.

Standard double glazing

Typically around 29–32 dB reduction

Acoustic laminated glazing

Typically around 35–42 dB reduction

Perceived difference

A 10 dB reduction is perceived as roughly halving loudness

• Bedrooms and studies facing a busy A-road or main street
• Homes near a railway line, where low-frequency rumble is the main issue
• Properties under or near a flight path
• Party walls or close neighbouring properties where sound transfer is a known issue
• Home offices and music or media rooms where quiet is a working requirement

Because acoustic glass is laminated, it also delivers the safety and security benefits of laminated glass: it holds together when broken, satisfying Part K critical location requirements and making the glass considerably harder to breach quickly. For a ground-floor window on a noisy road, acoustic laminated glass can solve two problems with a single specification.