Is a hexayurt really a sound amplifier?

[DesmondDoomsday]

I am not doing the hexayurt this year, however I might do it for 2012. While reading up on it, I have read a couple of complaints that they are actually quite noisy inside. One person complained that the bass from a nearby sound system actually seemed amplified inside the yurt. I was wondering if you hexayurt dudes agree or disagree, or if you do something to combat this undesired effect.

[jkisha]

Ridiculous. Duh! They are insulation panels...they insulate both from heat/cold and muffle sound. They aren't sound proof, but they are by no means an echo chamber.

[gyre]

This sounds like a resonance effect.
I have seen this with houses with a high conventional foundation.
It is possible to have an annoying level of noise inside with no audible bass outside.
This would have more to do with the shape and size of the interior, and location, than the construction, other than being an enclosed structure.
The frequency of the bass reacting with the structure is the cause.

As for bass penetration through the walls, these materials wouldn't be very effective with lower frequencies.
Thickness and density are the major determinants of efficacy.
Another approach is decoupling by using layers of different materials, not very practical in this case.

Making an effort to keep the resonance down by breaking symmetry is the only thing I would suggest.
And don't park near loud camps.

[jkisha]

Maybe like an apartment with wood floors and no furniture.
Our yurts are carpeted and furnished, I mean who wants to live in an empty six sided box?

[gyre]

The effect through the ground occurs in a crawlspace, though possibly a slab foundation could do the same thing.
It can really be quite eerie sometimes.

So the size and shape matching the frequency traveling through the ground would be responsible, and nothing to prevent it if it matches up.

Parallel walls create a standing wave effect, which is the buzz you can hear in some empty rooms if you make a noise of the right frequency.
This can be part of the resonance effect from the ground or not.
It never helps though.

There are better ways to kill this in houses with parallel walls, but they don't really apply here.
(I have some suggestions for anyone improving acoustics in the home, esp for music/film, and they don't involve damping.)

Things like carpet can't stop bass, but they can redirect the sound to some extent.
Of course, higher frequency is much easier to kill.

It is all directly related to the physical wavelength of each wave.
The lower the frequency, the longer the wavelength.
This is why bass penetrates solid materials so easily.

Reflection and isolation is always more effective than absorption.
Unfortunately, mass is key, which is kind of antithetical to portable structures.

Nice yurt.

[Ugly Dougly]

Yes, everyone on the playa can hear your strange lovemaking.
We are alternately concerned and entertained.

[lucky420]

last year was my first on the playa and we went hexayurt. We were camped at 9:30 and I, so pretty close to some big sound camps. It wasn't bad but I just thought it would be quieter than it turned out to be. I'm sure alot of that had to do with the fact of where we were camped and the state my head was in at 4 in the morning. Sometimes in the wee hours the bass would kind of get muffled and it sounded like a big dryer with shoes in it. It was kind of comforting though.

It was a great place to chill and of course it is quieter and much cooler than a tent. Next time I won't camp so close to the big sound camps...duh! I loves my yurt, my little silver playa abode!