One of the fastest growing companies in the noise abatement, noise control, acoustical products, and air quality market place today, our company is a diversified manufacturing, construction, product sales, installation / service, and consulting firm serving the end user and/or contractor as well as Architectural and Engineering community. Our success is made possible by a highly experienced team of professionals dedicated to delivering innovative solutions on time and within budget. We bring a single source capability and responsibility to every process and product we offer. Whether you need the best value for materials only or the confidence of full service - sound solutions - WE ARE YOUR SINGLE SOURCE.

Home of the Most Versatile Noise Control and Environmental Enclosure and The Alum A Frame Enclosure, Air Pollution Control Equipment, Noise Control, Noise Abatement, Noise Absorbers, Noise Attenuation, Sound Control, Machine Enclosures, Acoustical Baffles, Acoustical Foam, Noise Barriers, Acoustical Wall Panels, Consulting, Surveys, Noise Control Buildings, Installation, Service, Demolition and Construction.

The best in Sound Enclosures, Noise Abatement, Noise Control, Acoustical Materials, Air Quality products and In-plant Offices.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. Architectural Products - Stylish, Tasteful, Functional

In today's design-oriented world, acoustical products need to do more than function. They are expected to complement, and even enhance interior spaces. That's why ArtUSA Industries is continually designing solutions with the results and looks and our clients are looking for.

We offer a variety of impressive styles and colors. And our wall and ceiling panels are attractive and versatile, and include foam and fabric-wrapped panels.

We offer products that are Class 1 fire-rated and meet ASTM E84 standards for flammability and smoke density.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. - The Top Choice of Broadcast Audio Designers and Engineers

Designing an acoustically ideal sound stage, studio, control room or listening room is a challenge under any conditions. In the real world, where such rooms must fit into an existing building, the acoustical challenges are even greater.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. has been serving the broadcast and recording industry since the 1980s. Today ourX audio applications range from TV, radio, recording, and webacsting studios to the test cells and facilities of high-quality audio products manufacturers.

In addition to the traditional convoluted SONEX acoustical foam, ArtUSA offers a number of other acoustical products for use in the broadcast/audio environment, such as acoustical ceiling tiles, fabric-wrapped wall panels, in-wall barriers, and metal ceiling tiles. We offer Class 1 fire-rated foam, which meets ASTM E84 standards for flammability and smoke density.

Excessive noise in industrial and manufacturing settings not only reduces productivity, it puts workers' health at risk. Studies show that exposure to loud noise causes stress and fatigue that can lead to workplace injuries, as well as hearing loss.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. has helped countless companies protect workers' health, and avoid costly insurance claims, by addressing industrial noise issues before they become a problem. Our solutions reduce overall noise and control reverberation in factories, processing plants and other industrial settings by trapping and dissipating sound waves.

All of our industrial noise control products are made from Class 1 fire-rated components, which meets ASTM E84 standards for flammability and smoke density.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. also provides solutions for acoustic test environments or anechoic chambers.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. Products Provide Outstanding Acoustical Control in a Variety of Settings

Virtually every type of interior space needs some type of acoustical control to ensure the comfort and safety of the people who will spend time there. For example, even the most well-designed office will be an unproductive place if people are bothered by noise from adjacent hallways. And who wants to eat a special dinner at a restaurant where conversation is lost in the clattering of dishes?

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp offers a wide range of products to solve the unique acoustical challenges presented by a wide range of interior spaces including: ballrooms, meeting and dining halls, restaurants, gymnasiums and multi-purpose rooms, offices, , entertainment facilities, music rooms, retail spaces, airports, stadiums, swimming pools, and classrooms. We offer products made from Class 1 fire-rated components, which meets ASTM E84 standards for flammability and smoke density.

The secret to a successful restaurant is not in the cooking, it's in the acoustics. The food may be fabulous, but if people can't have a conversation over the din of clattering dishes, scraping chairs, and the loud laughter at the next table, they'll likely go someplace else next time.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. offers a variety of wall panels and ceiling tiles to absorb this kind of intrusive noise, while adding texture, color and style to a restaurant's décor.

Across the country, religious services of all kinds are increasingly including vocal and instrumental performances. Whether a church or worship center is large or small, reverberation is often a problem in these spaces because there are so many hard surfaces for sound to bounce off of. Good acoustical control is vital to ensuring that sermons and music are heard and enjoyed by everyone.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp. offers a variety of products to solve the acoustical problems of religious facilities. We offer products made from Class 1 fire-rated components and are available in an array of colors, textures, and styles to fit any interior setting.

Today, retailers are spending more time than ever making sure their interior spaces are inviting and in step with the kinds of merchandise they are selling. But with so many details to pull together, acoustics are often overlooked. It isn't until the store is filled with shoppers that the owner realizes how noisy and uncomfortable the room is.

ArtUSA Noise Control Corp offers a variety of products to solve the acoustical problems of large and small retail spaces. We offer products made from Class 1 fire-rated components and are available in an array of colors, textures, and styles, making them a stylish choice for any interior setting.

IES 2000 Noise Control - Air Quality - Consulting - Service and Installation - Most Versatile Enclosure - Alum A Frame Enclosure

Absorb (IES Noise Absorber Products)- Sound absorbers are soft, porous, open-celled materials such as foam sheets or blankets and baffles that reduce the reflection of sound waves. Their sound absorption efficiency is rated by a “NRC” number- Noise Reduction Coefficient. The HIGHER the NRC rating, the more EFFICIENT the product is at absorbing noise.

Block (IES Noise Barrier Products) - Noise Barriers combine mass, flexibility and limpness to block noise from transmitting from one area to another. Flexible mass-loaded vinyl sheeting has replaced thin lead sheets as the noise barrier of choice. Noise Barriers are rated by a “STC” number- Sound Transmission Classification. The HIGHER the STC rating, the more EFFICIENT the product is at blocking noise.

Composite (IES Composite Products) Acoustical Composites are products that combine both Noise Barrier Blocker & Noise Absorber materials. Typically, they offer the most significant overall noise reduction. Acoustical Composites are rated in both “NRC” and “STC” numbers

Dampen - Damping materials are used to reduce structure-born noise and resonant vibration. They are designed to take the “ring” out of sheet metal or ductwork or similar radiating surfaces.

*NRC is a sound absorption rating. It measures a percentage of how much sound will not be reflected back from where it came. Based on a range from .05 to 1.0, where a NRC of 1.0 means that all the sound energy that hits that product passes thru it and does not bounce back to its source. A NRC of .60 would reflect 40% of the sound back to the source, and let 60% of the noise pass thru it.

*STC is a noise barrier rating. It measures how much noise will be prevented from passing through a product. Based on a range typically between 1 and 60, where an STC of 30 (in a laboratory) would stop 30 dB of noise. If it were 100 dB on the noise source side of a complete noise barrier with an STC of 30, it would be 70 dB on the other side.

Why Noise Control

The cost of noise pollution

In industrial settings, noise isn't just unpleasant: It can be a major source of expense and loss of productivity.
Excessive noise can interfere with communication between supervisors

and employees. And continuous exposure to noise can cause fatigue, which often results in accidents and reduces the pace and quality of work.

Noise-induced hearing loss can lead to worker compensation claims and higher insurance costs.

Manufacturing areas are not the only places where noise can be hazardous or, at the very least, counterproductive. Offices that front factories or contend with outside noise from highways or airports face similar problems. In such environments, uncontrolled sound can interfere with a room's intended purpose, resulting in fatigue and headaches as well as hampering interpersonal communications.

Point-source noise VS. overall noise

Unwanted noise comes in many varieties. Point-source noise is audible kinetic energy that can be traced to specific devices such as industrial machines, pumps, blowers and generators. Overall noise is uncontrolled sound that has no single identifiable source: e.g., noise from conversation, tools and smaller machines located throughout a plant. To make matters more complicated, the frequency of the noise can affect human beings in different ways. Fatigue and nausea often result from low-frequency vibration, while higher frequencies are likely to cause pain and hearing loss. Finally reverberation can hamper communications and contribute to higher noise levels. Reverberation is caused by the reflection of sound waves from hard surfaces, as often experienced in gymnasiums and large, open manufacturing areas.

Noise control involves suppressing audible kinetic energy in two ways: Containing noise with barrier materials and enclosures. Absorbing noise with panels, baffles and other acoustic products. Both methods of noise suppression have their place, and the most effective solutions often involve a combination of the two.

Managing noise levels in an industrial or public space requires a carefully selected package of solutions from a supplier that offers a consultative approach to sound control. Your noise control supplier should understand OSHA regulations, be able to help you identify hearing hazards and be qualified to deliver effective solutions. It's also important that your supplier's products meet industry safety standards. IES2000's wide range of noise control products and our experienced staff combine to provide you the right solutions for your sound control needs.

At IES2000 we're constantly manufacturing and refining noise control solutions. Our enclosures, panels, baffles, barriers, and other products are custom made and packaged to each customer’s needs, which means that our products require little or no special handling precautions.

“Worldwide, noise-induced hearing impairment is the most prevalent irreversible occupational hazard….. In 1999, at the World Health Assembly, it was estimated that there are 120 million persons with disabling hearing difficulties worldwide (Smith 1998). It has been shown that men and women are equally at risk of noise-induced hearing impairment (ISO 1990; Berglund & Lindvall 1995).”

There are four "P's" to remember about occupational hearing loss: It is permanent, painless, progressive and preventable.

Remember the Hierarchy of control - engineering controls, administrative controls and (hearing) protective devices to prevent employee exposure to harmful noise levels.

If a drop of blood came out of our ears every time we heard a noise that was loud enough to injure our hearing, we would find hearing loss difficult to ignore. But that does not happen. Hearing loss is easy to ignore. There is usually no pain, no pressure and no bleeding as hearing loss from noise exposure occurs.

Things that happen gradually, such as hearing loss, are easily ignored until it is too late.

Subsequently, there are an estimated 33 million people with significant hearing loss in the U.S. -- hearing loss severe enough to affect their daily activities.

Of the 33 million people who are hearing impaired, noise exposure accounts for more than a third of that population. In addition, there are 36 to 37 million people who suffer from various degrees of tinnitus, which is a noise or ringing in the ear.

Employees are going to get more noise exposure where they work than in any other situation. Why? Because they may be exposed to work-related noise 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, for a 40-year career. More workers identify noise as the most unpleasant and annoying contaminant in their work environments than any other factor. Noise compromises the character of the work environment and often leads to reduced productivity and increased worker anxiety. It also can contribute to excessive absenteeism.

In addition to its effects on quality of life, the toll on the auditory system from noise can be enormous. Millions and millions of people go to work each day and are exposed to noise levels which, over time and without proper precautions, can produce irreversible damage to their auditory systems.

The type of hearing loss associated with workplace exposure is known as sensory-neural. It is damage to a very sensitive part of the hearing system called the cochlea, which is a receptor organ for hearing in the inner ear that converts sound waves into electrical impulses that are then sent up to higher auditory centers. It also is the auditory analyzer for sound, and functions as a series of tuned resonators, somewhat similar to the keys of a piano. There are 16,500 little tiny hair cells in each cochlea which differentiate between sounds of different pitch that can be damaged by loud noise.

In general, sensory-neural hearing loss (SNHL) is not correctable or reversible by any known method of medical or surgical treatment. It does respond very, very well to all kinds of hearing aids, but the purpose of hearing conservation programs is to avoid reaching that point whenever possible.

There are hundreds of causes of sensory-neural hearing loss. The top three causes are aging and the hearing loss associated with aging, which is known as presbycusis. The second major cause is ototoxic medications. There are a number of medicines which, as a side effect, can cause damage to the hearing system. These do not have to be prescription drugs; the most common ototoxic medication is aspirin. The third factor is noise, both in industry and in a recreational environment.

Of these three major causes of hearing loss, we really have tremendous control over two of them. We can't control the aging factor, but we can control, to a significant degree, the medications we use and our noise exposure. The general feeling is that noise in some areas in or out of the workplace accounts for more new cases of SNHL and tinnitus than all the other hundreds of factors combined. Do You Need a Program?

These are indications, in the absence of actual measurement, whether a noise problem exists in a workplace:

If any of those three factors exists, then there is a problem that needs to be explored and measured and a program instituted. A noise survey can document the need for an occupational hearing conservation program (OHCP).

A noise survey uses information gathered from two sources: sound level meters used to monitor the noise level in the workplace, and dosimeters worn by the workers to measure their personal exposure to workplace noise. If there's a tremendous amount of noise in one part of the plant and there's nobody there exposed to it, we don't need to be too concerned.

In regulations governing workplace safety, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set what is called an "action level": the noise level at which an employer must take action to protect the hearing of his workers.

Action levels depend on the noise level and the time spent in the noisy environment. The action level which appears to impact the most workplaces is the exposure of workers to noise at a level of 85 dBA for a time-weighted average of 8 hours.

There are instances when noise levels higher than 85 dBA are allowed before an action level is reached, but as the noise level increases, the allowable exposure time decreases. That is known as a time/intensity trade-off. For example, exposures up to 115 dBA for a steady state of noise are allowed, but only for a total of 15 minutes in any 8-hour period.

Noise surveys must be conducted at least every two years, more often if a change in production, processes, equipment or controls increase action-level noise exposure to additional employees or if hearing protective devices have been rendered inadequate to meet OSHA requirements.

If an action level is reached, then OSHA requires that an employer implement an OHCP. The first step in any OHCP is to test the current hearing ability of employees.

A critical component of the OHCP is audiometric and audiological services. A company cannot force employees to take audiometric tests, but they must make them available.

Such testing tells us what the noise exposure is doing to the employee"s auditory system. It allows the people administering the OHCP, whether it"s a safety director or an occupational health professional or an audiologist, to evaluate a workers auditory status at the time of employment; the effect of workplace noise exposure on hearing; the effectiveness of various occupational hearing protective devices; and the status of a workers hearing when he or she retires or leaves employment.

There are many causes of hearing loss. In addition to noise, employees may suffer from tumors of the audiological nerves or viral or bacterial infections. Audiometric testing must be followed up by professional review and referral of workers showing significant problems to audiologists and otologists who can provide the necessary diagnostic and treatment services.

If hearing shifts are discovered among workers, or if action levels are reached, then employers must move to reduce noise levels and/or noise exposure. OSHA regulations tell employers to target three specific areas to reduce employee exposure to harmful sound levels.

OSHA calls for engineering controls, administrative controls and (hearing) protective devices to prevent employee exposure to harmful noise levels.

An important step is instituting engineering controls, which can eliminate or reduce noise levels at the source. Such controls might include maintenance of machinery to eliminate excessive noise; mufflers for noisy equipment; noise baffles or equipment enclosures; placement of noisy machinery in areas of the facility which are away from employees; or "buying quiet" programs.

If engineering controls are not feasible or are considered prohibitively expensive, then administrative controls are the next step suggested by OSHA. Can scheduling changes be used to distribute noisy operations throughout the day instead of running them all at once, thereby minimizing their impact on the ambient noise level? Is it possible to limit the number of employees in the area where the loudest operations are being run?

If engineering and administrative controls together cannot control employee exposure to harmful noise levels, then employers are advised to provide hearing protection. This involves more than handing earplugs or ear- muffs to employees and telling them to wear them.

Employees should be given instructions on how to place hearing protection in or on the ears; how to care for their hearing protection and when to replace it; and how to reduce the potential for infection.

OSHA requires that employers provide workers with an education program once a year. In addition to nuts and bolts issues like care and storage of hearing protection, the program should describe all aspects of the hearing conservation program; the audiometric testing program; the dangers of exposure to noise; and describe the relationship of noise to hearing damage.

It is my experience that employees do not like wearing hearing protection. In fact, I think it is harder to convince employees to wear hearing protection than it is to get them to wear any other type of protective equipment.

A common employee complaint is that they cannot hear machine cues while wearing hearing protection and that if they use it, they won't be able to listen for important sounds. There is an adjustment process, but if they stick with it for a couple of days, they will learn to recognize a new set of auditory cues from their machines.

It is the role of the occupational hearing conservation team, which might include an audiologist or other hearing specialist, the safety manager and or occupational health nurse, to sit down with employees and overcome the resistance to hearing protection. A thorough education program will address each issue raised by employees and convince them of the importance of hearing protection and of protecting their hearing from noise, both on the job and recreationally. If management supports the program, and employees see supervisors and managers wearing hearing protection, they are more likely to go along with it.

There are four "P's" to remember about occupational hearing loss: It is permanent, painless, progressive and preventable.

	IES 2000			Your Single Source Noise and Air Pollution Solution

The cost of noise pollution

Point-source noise VS. overall noise

Environmental health information