Sound insulation of double frame partitions with an internal gypsum board layer

To avoid the undesirable effects of a faulty sealing of outlet boxes, it is common to insert a gypsum board layer in the middle of a double frame partition. In this paper, measured sound reduction index data for double frame partitions, with and without a gypsum board layer insert, are presented. The results obtained show that the sound insulation decreases at low frequencies due to the presence of the internal layer. The weighted sound reduction index, which is strongly affected by the low frequency sound insulation, decreases by 7–8 dB. Since these degradations are greater than those resulting from small gaps in partitions, it can be concluded that the insertion of a gypsum board layer in the middle of a double frame partition is not a suitable solution to the undesirable effects of faulty sealing of outlet boxes.