There is music you choose to hear, played at a volume you select — and there is intrusive music — unwelcome loud noise from elsewhere. At Sound Service (Oxford) which operates from Crawley Mill Industrial Estate, near Witney, this is often the starting point of a conversation with a new client.

Being able to resolve this discord between neighbouring households, and other situations caused by similar noise problems, has been a major bonus for the firm.

And this has helped it through troubled economic times. For example, the recession has meant fewer homes being built, reducing the need for sound-deadening materials.

Sales manager Stephen Young said: “Those individual domestic enquiries make a valuable contribution to levels of business.

“We receive calls like this several times a day. People living in pre-war and semi-detached and terraced houses, where there are thin party walls, are the most likely to be affected.

“When people move into a property, they may experience noise problems which they had not expected.”

The answers to these problems can often be resolved with a little DIY by the householder. The company supplies materials for clients to fit themselves, or fitting can be arranged.

For party walls there are three choices of thickness of insulation, the choice depending on space available with the thickest being the best.

An acoustic plasterboard provides the new exterior panel, which can be painted or wallpapered to match the existing decor.

Where the noise effect is between floors, this is much easier to address from above, according to Mr Young.

A three-part soundproofing product can reduce both impact and airborne floor noise.

Ceiling insulation is also available, one application being a sound-blocking membrane between two acoustic plasterboards.

Some parents may want to spare both themselves and their neighbours from the early efforts of their musical young, and choose to insulate a garage or garden shed as the ‘studio’.

“They can move junior there and he won’t disturb anybody.

“Noise is a complicated issue. It was only in the 1970s that people started to become aware that noise is a serious matter. It can cause hearing problems and stress and affect the quality of life. It is a very serious problem,” said Mr Young.

Since the 1980s, building regulations include requirements for soundproofing in converted, divided and new-build domestic properties. As a result, the company is consulted by architects and builders.

A recent enquiry concerned plans for the conversion of an early-19th century house in London, an example of a building where the original construction means sound carries between walls.

Another key area is industry, where companies need to protect workshop staff from machinery noise.

Mr Young said: “Industry noise is still a big issue. Here we can arrange acoustic enclosures to be placed around machines and there are screens to protect personnel from noise. We have products for plant and machinery, for the marine industry and any aspect of commerce.”

When the company began in 1969, the product it offered was for one specific purpose: to provide insulation in cars, reducing sound from the engine and road noise.

“Noise levels on cars were very different then, of course, and some models were more noisy than others,” he added.

In the early days the business was based in Wheatley and, like so many others that have gone on to greater things, in a garden shed.

Its founders were Tony and Jean Fish, now retired. It moved a few years later to buildings at a farm in Standlake and next to Witney, into part of a blanket mill complex, at Spinners Court, in the west end of the town.

Later, the stores took over a unit at Crawley Mill Industrial Estate and, 18 months ago, the offices and other departments also moved there, to bring all operations more conveniently onto one site.

Sound Service can still supply insulation for cars — and not necessarily only older ones.

In a new initiative in the early 1970s, the company took on another role as distributor for Revertex, the largest soundproofing manufacturer in the country at the time.

Mr Young said: “They passed all the smaller enquiries on to us and we supplied the orders from our own stores.”

Revertex went out of business in 1980, but Sound Service took up distribution of the recycled-rubber insulation products from an Italian company, for wall and floor soundproofing. This recycling element adds an environmental credential.

Then, in 1999, came the next breakthrough.

Mr Young said: “The Internet became of value. I set up a website, without knowing much about web-building. And from then the business turned around, as the website brought domestic enquiries in.”

So, as long as there is noise, there will be a need for this company, making it a sound business model.

Name: Sound Service (Oxford) Established: 1969 Owners: Tony and Jean Fish Number of staff: Four Annual turnover: Confidential

Contact: Stephen Young, 0845 363 7131 Web: www.soundservice.co.uk