Acoustic foam is primary use is for high and mid frequency control in recording studios and also music rehersal and practice rooms and now is also often used in other largerl interior spaces that benefit form a controlled acoustic environment such as in cafeterias and in gyms. function halls etc, places where sounds tend to be amplified echo and can be magnified, often resulting in washed out, unclear and undefined sound. another popular use of acoustic foam is now in the home with the popularity of home recording enthusiasts and home inema applications. Acoustic foam is often also called acoustic treatment and room treatment as well as studio foam and a misguiding term "soundproofing foam" please see the section on soundproofing. Acoustic foam works by dealing with two principle problems sound caused within a room these being the accumulation of noise and the sound reverberation.

Firstly noise accumulation can occur when a sound meets other sounds from other sources these then build up on top of one another expecially in enclosed spaces, then the sounds will build up and will lead to an overwhelming sound and can give also background noise that obscures and distorts the sound that a person right next to you is making. A very simplified example of this is you could be having a quiet conversation but when other people start talking around you this will make it difficult as you try to pick out only the sounds that are relevant to your conversation and you are trying to ignore all other sounds, sounds you dont want to be there.

Secondly there is the reverberation of the sounds in a room, this occurs when sounds travels around a room and reflects off surfaces it comes into contact with these can be ceilings or walls, partitions or any other surface that is non absorbent.

In a totally reflective room the build-up of decibels can amplify the sounds and can get very loud, to tackle thia you will need to treat your walls, ceilings and even other hard surfaces with sound-absorbing materials such as acoustic foam, working by reducing the amount of sound at specific frequency ranges being ricocheted off the surfaces by absorbing the sound please see the section on acoustic foam to see how this works. To compare and contrast different products on the market, industry standard measurements such as the Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC), the Absorption Coefficient (a), the Sound Transmission Class (STC), and the Sound Transmission Loss (STL or TL). Without getting into too much technical detail, all of these measurements aim to measure how much sound is absorbed by an acoustic material in a defined sound frequency range or band..