Shuttle Acoustic Treatments

[ProToolsWizard]

I haven't been able to find any information about this, but a somewhat well known recording engineer (maybe also well known for tall tales) claimed he designed the "soundproofing" for the space shuttle. At face value this seems like a pretty dubious claim, as the crew compartment was already airgapped and doesn't need "soundproofing". Seems weird that they would give up payload mass just to reduce acoustic reflections inside the shuttle on orbit. Pictures of the shuttle interior don't show any obvious acoustic panels or anything like that. I know the ISS uses blankets to dampen noise from ECLSS machinery, but that's a far cry from "soundproofing" and blankets don't require much design AFAIK. Just curious if anyone is aware of any solid information pertaining to this, in particular any info about the design and who was actually in charge of this sort of thing.

[Jim]

I haven't been able to find any information about this, but a somewhat well known recording engineer (maybe also well known for tall tales) claimed he designed the "soundproofing" for the space shuttle. At face value this seems like a pretty dubious claim, as the crew compartment was already airgapped and doesn't need "soundproofing". Seems weird that they would give up payload mass just to reduce acoustic reflections inside the shuttle on orbit. Pictures of the shuttle interior don't show any obvious acoustic panels or anything like that. I know the ISS uses blankets to dampen noise from ECLSS machinery, but that's a far cry from "soundproofing" and blankets don't require much design AFAIK. Just curious if anyone is aware of any solid information pertaining to this, in particular any info about the design and who was actually in charge of this sort of thing.

Sound suppression was done on the pad by use of water bags, water spread and water deluge.

[Jim]

There were microphones flown to capture the noise from fans and such. 

[ProToolsWizard]

I haven't been able to find any information about this, but a somewhat well known recording engineer (maybe also well known for tall tales) claimed he designed the "soundproofing" for the space shuttle. At face value this seems like a pretty dubious claim, as the crew compartment was already airgapped and doesn't need "soundproofing". Seems weird that they would give up payload mass just to reduce acoustic reflections inside the shuttle on orbit. Pictures of the shuttle interior don't show any obvious acoustic panels or anything like that. I know the ISS uses blankets to dampen noise from ECLSS machinery, but that's a far cry from "soundproofing" and blankets don't require much design AFAIK. Just curious if anyone is aware of any solid information pertaining to this, in particular any info about the design and who was actually in charge of this sort of thing.

Sound suppression was done on the pad by use of water bags, water spread and water deluge.

Yes I am aware of the sound suppression infrastructure on the pad and I don't believe he was claiming to have designed the water deluge system, he was referring to acoustic treatments in the interior of the crew compartment.