Quiet House to make big noise

The Ideal Home Show, starting in London this week, is set to join the Quiet Revolution with the World’s First Quiet House, a showcase of the quietest technology and solutions to unwanted noise.

The Ideal Home Show, starting in London this week, is set to join the Quiet Revolution with the World’s First Quiet House, a showcase of the quietest technology and solutions to unwanted noise for our home, work and everyday living environments. The Quiet House will be unveiled from 15 March to 1 April 2013 at the Earls Court exhibition area.

The Quiet House was pioneered by Quiet Mark the not-for-profit trading arm of the Noise Abatement Society charitable foundation, and developed in partnership with Gregory Phillips Architects, interior designer Martin Hulbert, soundscape feature artist Martyn Ware and with lighting by Andrew Orange.

This aspirational Quiet House will be showcased to help consumers make more informed choices about the technology we buy and share our homes with and help reduce unwanted neighbour noise, empowering us all to re-tune the sounds around us and de-stress our personal space.

Given that the average household contains around fourteen different appliances sometimes all working furiously at the same time, it is no surprise that around half the population have said that noise affects their quality of life. Furthermore, independent research has revealed that the vast majority of consumers admit it was a mistake not taking more consideration of the noise an appliance makes at the time of purchase. Around one million people reportedly went to the extent of moving home to escape noise coming from their neighbour, as one in seven people are woken by their neighbours and one in ten are kept awake by them.

Poppy Elliott, Managing Director of Quiet Mark says: ‚”We hope that by increasing awareness of high-performance quiet products this will encourage a low-noise standard requirement across technology design, helping us to enjoy the sounds we want to hear and reduce unwanted noise.‚”

Featuring over 25 partner brands with the distinctive purple ‚’Q’ mark of approval, awarded to manufacturers who incorporate ‚’quiet’ into their designs, The Quiet House will offer solutions to those looking for a more peaceful life.

Headline partners for the Quiet House include quiet-car leader Lexus, leading global home insulation brand Rockwool, Yamaha Musical Instruments featuring the Silent Piano, Dyson, Mitsubishi Electric quiet home heating, Pilkington Glass and Cantifix with noise defence windows, and award winners including Philips, Samsung, Ventaxia, Sennheiser, Magimix, Quiet PC, Beats by Dre, Lumie, Bio-ionic, Pliteq, Fermacell, Optoma, Silent Disco London, Chewton Glen Treehouses and many more.

Quiet House interiors partners include Selfridges, Fired Earth, Poggen Pohl, CP Hart, Roche Bobois, Flexiform, In a Modern World and The Natural Wood Floor Company.

Each room has been given a sound makeover, and will demonstrate that with quieter high performance products, the application of sound insulation, isolation and noise absorbing solutions, homeowners can reduce unwanted noise, which can completely transforms our home into a more supportive healthy aural soundscape.

The combined noise levels of the products, appliances and sound absorption solutions in this Quiet House are estimated to reduce decibel levels to under 40dB and make an average reduction of decibel levels or improved sound quality between 5-25dB per appliance, depending on product category. Even a few less decibels can make a big difference to the layering of sound experienced in the home environment.

Here are the awarded products and solutions in each living zone:

· Kitchen/Laundry РOften seen as the noisiest room in the house with most machines at work, solutions include quiet cooker hoods, fridge freezers, kettles, washing machines, tumble dryers, irons, extractor fans, food processors and quiet closing kitchen units. This section will host award winners from Samsung, Magimix, Philips, Whirlpool and Ventaxia.

· Bedroom -To re-charge in complete peace the selection of products includes ear plugs, quiet high performance hair-dryers, quiet wake up lights with natural sounds like bird-song and wave sounds, home automation systems to control lighting and home audio systems, plus noise cancellation head-sets. Products will be showcased from Sennheiser, Philips, Lumie, Bio-ionic, Cirrus Ear Care.

· Bathroom РRelax in complete silence rather than in the company of brash fans and pump systems. The Quiet House shows soft close toilet seats, silent extractor fans, quiet shower pumps and noiseless flush toilets. Products on display will include those from Tom Tom, Ventaxia, Stuart Turner among others.

· Living Room-The home entertainment zone can have a sound makeover with latest sound technology from soft fans to silent studio performance instruments. This section will include products from leading home automation brands and award winning designs from Dyson, Yamaha, Mitsubishi Electric, Loxone and Optoma.

· Office/Study РTo be the most productive and to help concentration, the quiet office has a silent fan-less computer, a silent tech paper shredder, plus noise cancellation headphones and a gentle sound quality desk fan. Products on display include award winners from Quiet PC Nofan, Intimus Pro, Dyson, Beats by Dre, Rockwool.

¬∑ Music Room – Practice your skills to your heart’s content without driving your neighbours barmy! This room will showcase an award winning range from Yamaha Silent Instruments including Grand Pianos, guitars, brass and drums.

· Windows РNoise reduction glass solutions from Pilkington Glass and Cantifix.

· Home Heating -The quietest home heating from Mitsubishi Electric Ecodan.

· Insulation- Several systems to demonstrate how to protect your home from acoustic levels and insulate at the same time will be showcased in the home. Quiet Mark award winners will include Rockwool, Pliteq, Fermacell among others which specialise in home insulation and isolation solutions.

· Garage -The Quiet House boasts a quiet hybrid car transforming driving experiences to peaceful rides. The Quiet House will show the Lexus Hybrid range plus other award winners for travel from Oxygen Scooters.

· Garden- Lower noise garden tools and lawn mowers which are mainly cordless lithium ion will be showcased here with ranges from Bosch Lawn and Garden, STIHL, Husqvarna displayed.

Spanning across over 35 product categories, the Quiet Mark awarded products within the Quiet House are validated as a selection of the quietest technology and solutions currently available on the market. The official mark provides an easy labelling system at point of sale which assures consumers of a trusted assessment of noise levels.

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