Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Sound and Vibration

Journal of Sound and Vibration 330 (2011) 3783

doi:10.1

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsvi

Book Review

Sound Insulation, Carl Hopkins. Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK (2007). 648 pp., £55.99, ISBN: 978-0-7506-6526-1

I should open this review with a confession—I am an acoustic consultant. I have not had to think about the waveequation, differentiation or angular frequency in several years, and most of what I know about sound insulation I havelearnt ‘‘in the field’’ and from my mentors in consultancy. As such, I found the first chapter of this book and the seeminglyendless succession of equations therein incredibly daunting!

Having said that, I am glad that I persevered, as this book presents not only detailed theory, but a wealth of practicalinformation. In the preface to this book, Carl Hopkins notes that ‘‘the intention is to enable the reader to tackle manydifferent aspects of sound insulation by providing a textbook, and a handbook, within a single cover’’. In this aim he hascertainly succeeded.

Hopkins presents sound insulation as a puzzle to be solved, and in the course of this book sets about describing andexplaining each of the pieces of that puzzle. After the opening chapter discusses sound fields in rooms and cavities as wellas at facades, Chapter 2 moves on to examine waves in beams and plates which can be seen as the fundamentalcomponents of that sound insulation puzzle.

Chapters 3 through 5 are highly practical, leading the reader through a discussion of measurement methods, and adiscussion of the merits and drawbacks of competing methodologies. There is practical advice on assessing flankingtransmission in the field, as well as a thorough treatment of the airborne and impact sound insulation properties ofnumerous materials and constructions including different forms of glazing, floors and wall linings. The final chapter allowsthe reader to finally complete the puzzle by combining flanking and direct transmission to view the overall picture.

The book contains a number of graphs and illustrations which are well chosen and placed to enhance the reader’scomprehension of the text, which is of particular benefit to the equation-phobic. The text is clear and highly readable andeach chapter is thoroughly referenced for those who wish to explore a topic in more depth.

There is a short but invaluable appendix detailing indicative material properties of gases, building materials, resilientmaterials and wall ties, allowing the reader to apply the equations presented within the book to real-life challenges.

For anyone researching or studying the field of sound insulation, this book will be their trusted companion. Forconsultants, this book offers an opportunity to understand why those things we so often see in the field actually happen,and helps us understand more easily how to resolve or avoid issues.

Susan WitterickCapita Symonds, United Kingdom

E-mail address: susan.witterick@capita.co.uk

Received 23 February 2011

016/j.jsv.2011.03.002