Are you someone who likes to drive with the volume on your stereo turned up, but would rather hear the music instead of your car? Are you restoring an old vehicle and are concerned about driving at highway speeds in a box of metal? If so, one of the things you're going to want to consider is how to soundproof a car.

However, when doing your research, you’ll find that there are numerous methods available. The first key step is to stop the metal panels from vibrating and rattling. If you’ve been researching how to do this, you’ve likely come across what looks like several different terms. Some people talk about deadening, while others damping or dampening. What’s the difference between these methods?

How Damping Products Work

When sound travels through sheet metal, it first changes from vibration in the air into vibrations of the metal. Then the metal reradiates this sound back into the air on the other side. As the metal vibrates, it flexes and returns to neutral at a very rapid pace. A good mental comparison is to think of a metal ruler that you can easily bend and then release to allow it to oscillate like a diving board while you hold it. Or maybe a large, bare piece of sheet metal that can be fluttered to create a sound like thunder.

A sound damping material damps these vibrations by acting as a shock absorber. As the metal flexes, the rubber resists being stretched or compressed. This resistive force takes energy out of the vibration. The less the sheet metal vibrates, the less vibration energy that can be transmitted to the air on the other side.

To visualize this, think again about the metal ruler that we were bending into an arch. If a deadening material is applied to the top side of the arch, it would stretch slightly. If applied to the bottom side, it would compress slightly. Now imagine the ruler is switching from arched upwards to arched downwards many times a second. Each little stretch of the material pulls out some of the energy. A good sound deadening material is more effective at pulling out that energy, reducing the vibrations and thus the noise.

These two spring systems were displaced by the same amount of force. The undamped, black spring moves harmonically. The damped, blue spring's oscillations decay over time.

SOUND DEADENING

“Deadening” is one component of car soundproofing. When a car is traveling, its various metal surfaces vibrate, creating noise. To “deaden” the noise, you place a layer of material over metal surfaces to damp the vibrations, reducing the sounds that the metal surfaces emit.

By applying a material that will resist the structural vibrations, like a sound deadening mat, the vibrational energy is dissipated, muffling noise in the process. Any time you see the term “deadening”, it means stopping metal from rattling and is usually someone discussing how to soundproof a car.

No, dampening doesn't mean to hose down your car

SOUND Dampening

Ok, but then there's still that last one. What is dampening? Dampening is a term commonly used to describe soundproofing a vehicle. When researching soundproofing your ride, you'll run across phrases like "sound dampening," "noise dampening," or "car sound dampening material." We're still talking about the same process of reducing noise in a vehicle.

Some people get snooty and say that “dampening” is incorrect because It means to get a material wet or moist. Unfortunately, they're only considering one potential meaning of dampening, which can also mean to decrease or to lessen. When we're talking about sound, dampening means to reduce the wave’s amplitude, or the maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation. Sounds familiar to sound damping doesn't it? That's why you see people use them interchangeably. This dead horse has been successfully beaten. Let’s move on.

If you're struggling with structural noise, CONGRATULATIONS! You've stumbled onto the best answer to your problem. Those vibrations can be round-housed out of your car, truck, van, or home with the Damplifier Pro sound deadening mat. Vibrating metal doesn't stand a chance against science and 20+ years of performance optimization.

• Damplifier Pro has the highest acoustic loss factor of any sound deadening mat we've tested.
• Contains no asphalt, tar, or cheap fillers. Every ingredient is intentionally chosen for performance, not cost savings. That's why Damplifier Pro damps better and is heat rated to 450°F.
• Will not outgas chemicals when heated like cheaper asphalt options.
• Simple to install. Just peel and stick.