Best Soundproofing Solutions for Therapists – SPP Weekend Picks

Every therapist has had that moment of deep discomfort when they realize they can faintly hear the session taking place in the room next to them.

Which, of course, also means those therapeutic neighbors can hear you and your clients, too.

Sadly, this is both all too common AND completely avoidable. For a few hundred dollars, most therapy rooms—even those with weird “drop ceilings” and the empty space above—can be made relatively soundproof WITHOUT trying to drown out the voices with even more noise from a white noise machine.

Here are our top picks for products that will help you cut sound transfer between rooms, including a decibel meter (first item below), which, for less than $30, tells you what solutions are actually making a difference for your team.

Acoustic Wall Panels are an easy way to check two items off your list at once… add some color to a room AND add some sound-absorbing textures to the space. These panels are incredibly helpful because they often sit at eye level with clients and therapists and keep their voices from bouncing off hard walls.

There are literally dozens of styles, shapes, and colors, so check out this list of best sellers from Amazon.

Door Sweeps and draft guards are some of the easiest, cheapest wins. They keep sound from escaping under the door and into the hallway, which can then be heard by people passing by and by clients in your waiting room. For less than $10, these are must-haves for every office.

Acoustic ceiling tiles are GOLD when it comes to cutting down on sound transfer between rooms in modern office buildings that use “drop ceiling” systems. That’s because, above those tiles, it’s literally wide open, with nothing separating the space between your room and the room next door. Acoustic ceiling tiles go above and beyond the standard tiles in most office buildings to ensure that sound doesn’t make it up into that space and start ricocheting around.

Acoustic blocks work by trapping sound that finds its way into the corners of the room. The sound-absorbing materials keep the sound from bouncing back out into the space and eventually out of the room and into other people’s ears.

Ceramic and/or encapsulated fiberglass insulation has been one of my go-tos for years, but you need to check with your landlord and your city building codes before you add it. A thick layer of this, rolled out above your ceiling tiles or layered like pancakes to create a barrier between rooms (above the wall that can support that weight), will deaden a lot of noise.

Foam lining to put inside your door frames acts just like the draft guard, in that it keeps sound from escaping around the door. Another easy install to cut out a few decibels.

Air duct insulating wrap will help the pipes that feed your room’s air vents from acting as one gigantic telephone that communicates sounds into the next space. Another one of those easy fixes that saves you some sound transfer.

Foam spraying and injection kits are NEXT LEVEL if you want to actually get some insulation into the walls, BUT this requires some extra work. With these kits, you can drill small holes in the wall, spray foam into the space, and let it expand/dry. You finish the process by painting over where you drilled and injected.

This fills in a ton of the open space that allows sound to transfer, but it is not for the faint of heart. Please, as always, check with your landlord and your local building codes

Lastly, a great rug goes A LONG WAY toward absorbing sound while also adding some warmth to your office. Here’s a list of the top-selling rugs on Amazon right now:

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