A revolutionary new sound-dampening screw has been developed by Sweden based Akoustos AB the directors of which are Håkan Wernersson who has a PhD in structural mechanics and teaches innovation and product development at Malmö University and Raimo Issal who has a PhD in business administration and who is also the CEO of the company.
The Sound Screw consists of a threaded section at the bottom, a coil spring in the middle and a section with a flat head at the top. A conventional drywall screw holds a panel of drywall snugly against timber wall studs and the Sound Screw still holds drywall securely against a wall frame but with a slight gap allowing the spring to extend and compress thereby dampening sound hitting the walls and making them much quieter. During testing in a sound lab, researchers found that the Sound Screw system reduced sound (above 200Hz) transmission by up to nine decibels, causing sound audible in a neighbouring room to be approximately half as loud as compared to traditional gib-fixing systems.
The screw works by dampening sound through a spring mechanism. The screw is split in the middle and has an internal spring. The screw tip attaches to a wooden support and the head holds the plasterboard via a mechanical coupling. The screws don’t require specialised installation tools or materials.
The product has been tested at The Sound Research Laboratories in the UK, at the Technical University in Denmark and at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB. Mechanical tests of strength and stiffness of have been tested at Lund University in Sweden and results to date have been very positive.
The Sound Absorbing Screw presents a number of construction advantages; i.e. no thicker walls, no thicker floors, no additional insulation or building elements or expensive acoustic profiles. It is simply a matter of replacing conventional wall-fixing screws with the new sound-dampening screws.
Håkan Wernersson has explained to Rejigit that Akoustos AB is in discussion with potential international manufacturers and distributors regarding their acoustic fastener product.