Have an idea for reducing sound transmission through a party wall, will it be effective?

pdlocke

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I live in an apartment with a party wall separating adjacent unit. I'd like to reduce the noise that I can hear (nothing too bad worth complaining about, just common noise you'd expect from apartment living and thin walls). The easy solution would be earplugs of course but the noise is not consistent enough (or annoying) to be walking around my place with earplugs in my ears and how would I hear my tv or listen to music?

I'm thinking of placing a full height book case along the wall but with a a few inches space between the bookcase and wall to help provide a cavity for sound loss. It seems this spacing is going to be more effective than just butting it up against the wall. The only thing I'm not sure about is that it won't be a 100% tight seal (but I'm not looking for complete sound isolation just reducing the sound level a bit). Because of the baseboard trim on the side walls where the sides of the bookcase would be, there will be an inch or so space the full height of it. Also the floors are hardwood so I think there would be some transmission underneath (but again, I'm not looking to completely eliminate sound transmission just reduce).

How effective do you think this would be in reducing sound? Would the noise just bounce around in the cavity until it finds the leak along the sides effectively not reducing noise at all?
 

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