To not understand how sound works?? Noise!!

[Cantsleepwontsleep123]

Following on from last thread about visiting a property and being able to hear an argument they were having whilst we were in the garden and they were in the kitchen ( kitchen leads onto garden ) even though their doors were shut and property has a 6 foot fence.
What I'm confused about ( and I have googled before posting here! ) is why us you're outside you can hear noise from inside but not vice versa?
The house was on a loud main road yet we could hear nothing when we was inside the house through windows or back door but could hear this argument when we were outside!
Sorry for sounding thick!!

Sound travels in "waves" which are vibrations. They spread out in all directions.

If you're inside the sound waves bounce off walls and ceilings and continue traveling... A little like an amplifier. Some sounds passes through the solids but it uses a lot of energy which is why it appears muffled. Some solids insulate better than others but in the case of the argument, lots of high energy sound in a box (room) bouncing around and needs to go somewhere.
If you're outside sound waves travel until they find something they "hit" this can be miles! A falling tree in an abandoned wood doesn't make a sound, it makes vibrations (sound waves) we only interpret it as sound once it hits our eardrum.

The further sound travels the more energy it uses, the quieter it becomes.
Louder sounds have more energy and so travel farther
Quieter sounds, less energy.

Hope this makes some garbled sense!!!

Ah! Fab info there space! Next time my smug colleague asks the tree noise question I'm giving your answer!!

Yes thanks!!
Would you think it would have to be quite a loud sound then ( more of a blazing row than just raised voices ) for me to have heard this is the next garden along to the house even though all their doors were shut?double glazed large French doors and 2 other windows in kitchen.
Confused whether this is the property for us!

s!

Depends on the kitchen windows. While double glazing is quite effective at blocking medium to high frequencies (human voice), ordinary window glass has poor sound absorption qualities. So if the kitchen windows are just plain 3mm window glass, they won't do much to block even a normal conversation.

THANK YOU!!!! Space dinosaur!! Per the old "If a tree in a deserted woods.... blah blah" question, I have always stated that. That unless it hits an eardrum (or is being recorded, devices are obviously wired to interpret waves the same as eardrums) that it is not "sound". DH thinks I'm mad!

Just got confirmation from the landlord that it's actually fully triple glazed! Every window and French doors are triple glazed.
So maybe they were literally screaming at each other hence me hearing? As seems unlikely otherwise