Turning Artwork into Sound Absorbers

I have some artwork hanging in my studio, my thought was to turn the pictures into sound absorbers. So I checked the material the pictures were printed on to see if I could breath through it.

owens corning, 703, sound absorbers
Picture sound absorbers hanging on the wall.

Since sound is waves of air, if air can pass through the material, it can absorb sound by putting absorption material on the backside. An easy check is to see if you can breath through the picture material, if you can, you are good to go.
Same principal as grill cloth for speakers, the sound from the speaker (which is waves of air) has to pass through the grill cloth.

I purchased some Owens Corning 703 1″ sound insulation and proceeded to cut the 703 so it would fit snugly into the back of the pictures.

owens corning, 703, sound absorber
Sliding 703 into back of picture.
owens corning, 703. sound absorber
Cutting owens corning 703 to fit picture with box cutter.

 

Next, slide the 703 into the frame on the backside of the picture.

To get more benefit, I attached felt, like goes on the feet of chairs, to hold the pictures off the wall. This allows sound waves to hit the 703 insulation from the back for more absorption.

owens corning, 703, sound absorber
Picture hanging off the wall on the chair felts.
owens corning, 703, sound absorber
Attaching chair felts on the bottom to hold the picture off the wall.

The slight bulge, caused by the insulation, will help with diffusion.

owens corning, 703, sound absorber
Front of picture bulging out for diffusion.

 

I know they don’t do a lot, but they add some color and it is better than sound hitting a sheetrock wall, every little bit helps!!

Comments are welcome!!

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