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IIC ratings cover a limited frequency range of 125 Hz to 4,000 Hz. When footfall noise transfer issues are low in frequency, a high performance IIC product may not help. When someone steps or stands on a floor, it will deflect under their weight. This structural deflection will sound like a low frequency thump. There are a few ways to resolve this problem.

Depending on the frequency range in question, the options for treating airborne noise from below can be limited. Whether the structure is of wood or concrete, adding resilience will be the best option to counteract the mass and rigidity of the ceiling.

The light weight and natural resilience of walls allow them to respond well to added decoupling, damping, and vinyl. For the same reasons, including mass with any of these three upgrades is also more significant for soundproofing walls than it would be in ceilings or floors.

There are not many options for soundproofing ceiling impact noise. Whether the structure is of wood or concrete, it requires significant resilience to isolate the intense vibrations from impact footfall noise.

The basic decoupling definition is to separate objects. Decoupling to isolate sound is most commonly done with resilient sound clips, resilient channel, or specialty framing like double stud or staggered stud walls.

The definition of damping is the rate at which something dissipates energy. Higher damping equals higher energy dissipation. Without decoupling, the most efficient way to isolate vibrations is to dampen. Sound damping concepts include constrained layer sound damping materials or extensional damping.