[Capt Jack]

I am quite deaf, to the point of needing hearing aids. I can't hear much at mid and higher frequencies, but am over-sensitive to low frequency sounds. This means that I struggle to hear the radio, especially speech, but road noise is more than apparent. Using my hearing aids helps a lot, but they're not 100%.

As it happens my car radio is playing up, so I'm looking at replacement options. Wandering around the local motor shop I got into conversation with one of the assistants. He clearly knew his stuff, and his advice was to start with improving the sound deadening before anything else. So I bought a couple of sound deadening pads, and spent an hour or so trimming and fitting the self adhesive pads to the boot floor, boot lid, rear valance and the underside of the steel beam that forms the underside of the parcel shelf.

I was a bit sceptical but the two pads only cost £8 each.

What a difference. The car to my ears is far quieter, and listenability of the radio much improved. I was surprised at how little sound insulation a car of this class has, and how cheaply and easily the situation is improved. The spare wheel well has a pad as standard but the rest of the rear of the car is basically a bare metal soundbox.

Still not sure about the best course of action with the radio, but I am really pleased with my quieter car!

Jack

 

[ben91]

Interesting, might try this myself at some point - sounds like a good tip!

 

[djstan]

That is very interesting! I may well try this too... Do you have a product we can look up on the net?

 

[Godber]

I have done this in my boot all around and then also in the front door cards, it does make a big difference. I did it for my sound system i installed to avoid the sound leak and rattle but turn the music off and its very quiet.

I used Dynamat Xtreme to do this, very good stuff!

 

[Capt Jack]

I did find fairly expensive stuff both on line and at Halfords (Dynamat being one such product). But what I paid just £8 for was a big self-adhesive pad from the York branch of Wilco Motosave. It's easily cut to size so that you can trim it to fit. I guess the more use use the better it would be.

My boot lid now shuts with a re-assuringly expensive-sounding dull clunk!

You need to be a bit careful about what you fit and where. It would be a mistake to put anything absorbent directly against an external panel. I could foresee this becoming soaked with condensation over time. But the material I used a sheet of self-adhesive rubberised material, embossed with a 'diamond' pattern. I guess it works simply by reducing the vibration of a sheet metal panel. My hearing loss is such that although I struggle to hear mid and high frequency sound - like speech and music, I've a hyper-acute sensitivity to low frequency sound - like road noise and tyre roar! My hearing aids do boost the higher frequencies but aren't really so well able to damp down the lower frequencies.

The road noise I'm now masking might be less apparent to someone with better hearing than mine.

Jack

 

[ben91]

I've just bought some cheap pads online to experiment with - do you recommend fitting them in the boot to start with?

Thanks

 

[Capt Jack]

The boot floor, wheel well, rear valance and the cross beam just behind the rear seat, and the boot lid itself are all just painted metal, so that's where I started. Everything is also very easy to get to. Tip the seats forward, lift the boot floor, and pop off the boot lid trim panel and you'll see what I mean.

Cheers

Jack

 

[Geordie Gerry]

I did find fairly expensive stuff both on line and at Halfords (Dynamat being one such product). But what I paid just £8 for was a big self-adhesive pad from the York branch of Wilco Motosave. It's easily cut to size so that you can trim it to fit. I guess the more use use the better it would be.

My boot lid now shuts with a re-assuringly expensive-sounding dull clunk!

You need to be a bit careful about what you fit and where. It would be a mistake to put anything absorbent directly against an external panel. I could foresee this becoming soaked with condensation over time. But the material I used a sheet of self-adhesive rubberised material, embossed with a 'diamond' pattern. I guess it works simply by reducing the vibration of a sheet metal panel. My hearing loss is such that although I struggle to hear mid and high frequency sound - like speech and music, I've a hyper-acute sensitivity to low frequency sound - like road noise and tyre roar! My hearing aids do boost the higher frequencies but aren't really so well able to damp down the lower frequencies.

The road noise I'm now masking might be less apparent to someone with better hearing than mine.

Jack

I've got the same hearing issues. I'm super sensitive to low frequency noise which makes my tinnitus worse and gives me a headache. I've recently acquired a 2009 Edna estate which when I test drove it on the good roads near the seller was fine. However, as I've come home to the rubbish roads near me, there is so much "boom" that I really don't like driving it. I've changed the tyres, the shockers and the springs but the low frequency noise remains (although the ride is much better). I was going to get into the suspension and engine mount bushes as the next course of action, but reading this, I'll do the boot floor and see what happens. Thanks.