The world is a noisy place. Unwanted noise is a problem in schools, in our homes, and in work spaces.

An interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from MIT developed a sound-suppressing silk fabric that could be used to create quiet spaces. An open-access paper about the research appears in the Advanced Materials journal.

Let’s say your next-door neighbours are having a loud argument in the middle of the night. You hear them in your bedroom because the sound in their condo causes your shared wall to vibrate, which forms sound waves on your side.

To suppress that sound, silk fabric could be placed onto your side of the shared wall. The vibrations in the silk fiber would be controlled, forcing the fabric to remain still. If vibrations are prevented, the sound is prevented from being transmitted.

The researchers found that it could significantly reduce the volume of sounds up to 65 dB SPL (about as loud as an enthusiastic human conversation).

BTW, the scarf is by Kindly, Jennifer.