It would be nice to have curtains that absorb street noise.
Some custom curtain tailors offer a fabric that claims to be soundproof. It’s a little pricey. Not absurdly pricey, but it’s also a bit hard to be confident that such thin fabrics can absorb much sound (they claim 20%).
I would prefer to try hacks. I’ve heard that thick furniture moving pads absorb sound well. I’ve also heard that fiberous fabrics can be effective. For the moment, I probably want to pass on edgy ideas like egg cartons. Maybe later on those. What fabrics are decent for reducing sound? Specifically, I’m wondering about carpets or painter’s drop cloths. Not the simple white canvas drop cloths, but the thicker drop cloths may out of recycled fabrics.
Sounds hates mass, so the easiest and cheapest option would be heavy curtains, the heavier the better.
Yeah, pretty much any “blackout curtain” these days also says how many decibels it blocks right on the description.
If one won’t do it, get a double curtain rod
My house already had some sort of “let light in but people can’t see in” type curtains when I moved in which I immediately added two layers of the thickest, fattest blackout curtains to. The temperature during the summer immediately dropped a huge amount (plus I can watch tv when the sun is out, my actual reason for it) and I can’t hear street noises besides those dipshit kids with the loud cars (or their smalldick dads with the Harley and/or lifted truck- all of which are explicitly illegal (noise ordinances) and yet……) and maybe if someone is guffawing directly in front of my house, which basically never happens. Pretty nice. Didn’t cost much with either. I also out similar curtains up in my bedrooms for climate control and noise. I might need to add another layer to those though!
I would think two thinner curtains would be more effective than the same width thick curtain, since the decoupling would hinder the sound transfer? Obviously that said, two thick curtains would be best.