Dive summary:

• At the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics in Germany, scientists have come up a way to turn a range of construction materials into flexible, adaptable sound-absorbing elements indoors or outdoors.
• The technique involves putting microscopic piercings in the materials by drilling, punching or pricking so that air molecules can get caught on the edges, lose energy, then pass through the openings to dissipate in an air layer behind the material.
• The researchers say the micro-piercing can be done on transparent and translucent materials, offering opportunities for applications much less unattractive than, say, a concrete highway sound barrier.

From the article:

Stuttgart staff and their industrial partners have already worked together to develop a whole generation of market-ready microperforated acoustic construction components. ...