ᐅ Are prefabricated houses generally prone to sound transmission?

We visited the model home park in Fellbach near Stuttgart, and I am very disappointed with the interior walls.

All the prefabricated houses we looked at had hollow-sounding walls (knock test), and in most of them, you could easily hear people in the neighboring room or even conduct a simple test yourself. It almost felt like the walls were made of drywall panels.
I definitely cannot imagine living in a house like that. Just a phone call from the daughter late at night in the kids' room is enough to get annoyed. And I don’t even want to think about the noise from late-night activities in the parents’ bedroom...

Are prefabricated houses generally that poorly soundproofed inside? That can’t be the standard!?

I’m not sure if this is generally the case. But that would be the reason never to build like that again.
It’s basically made of drywall partitions. What really annoys me are the power outlets. In the adjacent room, plugging and unplugging feels really loud. And that, combined with an open-plan living space...

Fischmann schrieb:
Are prefabricated houses generally poorly soundproofed on the inside?

You can't really say they are generally poor.
The fact is that it is easier to build a solid masonry house with good acoustic performance than an equivalent prefabricated house. The problem with prefabricated houses is often sound transmission through flanking paths, which can basically only be controlled through careful planning and even more precise execution. And precise workmanship is often lacking, especially at the joints between building components.
A brick wall (apart from a Ytong block with a thermal conductivity of 0.35) simply has more mass, which helps compensate for and forgive mistakes caused by unfavorable design and poor detailing of the connections much better than a timber stud wall.

Hmm... I think the perception of sound transmission varies a lot. I grew up in a prefabricated terraced house, and when I think about it... yes, you can hear some noises, but it wasn’t really extreme, and I never found it disturbing. Unfortunately, I don’t know if my parents’ house is simply less soundproof than some other prefabricated houses, or if it doesn’t bother me because I’ve only known it like that since childhood.

Well, let me put it this way: shouting, loud music, heavy footsteps, and sports noises can be heard in any solidly built house. However, in my opinion, normal conversation volume or the use of electrical outlets simply should not be audible.

My parents’ house (a terraced house, built in 2002) is constructed with thick Ytong blocks. Once, a full wardrobe fell over at the neighbor’s on a Sunday morning. We didn’t hear a thing. The house is extremely soundproof. Of course, that is "my standard."

What exactly do you mean by thick Ytong blocks? Autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) is not really known for good sound insulation.