It would be nice to have curtains that absorb street noise.
Some custom curtain tailors offer a fabric that claims to be soundproof. It’s a little pricey. Not absurdly pricey, but it’s also a bit hard to be confident that such thin fabrics can absorb much sound (they claim 20%).
I would prefer to try hacks. I’ve heard that thick furniture moving pads absorb sound well. I’ve also heard that fiberous fabrics can be effective. For the moment, I probably want to pass on edgy ideas like egg cartons. Maybe later on those. What fabrics are decent for reducing sound? Specifically, I’m wondering about carpets or painter’s drop cloths. Not the simple white canvas drop cloths, but the thicker drop cloths may out of recycled fabrics.
There’s a few things at play with noise, and unfortunately there’s no easy answer to your issue.
Easiest and best bang-for-buck: seal your windows up tight. If there’s little gaps for vents, the window doesn’t close tight, or things like that, they will leak noise.
Most effective: replace windows with solid frames or insulation packed extrusions, double glazing using laminated glass, and make the inside pane a soundstop type of glass. Make sure any opening windows have seals.
The curtains probably help with some very high pitched sounds, and there may also be a placebo effect at play, but they’re going to do bugger all I’m afraid. Noise is just vibrating mass, and it’s harder to transmit vibrations through dense mass. So yes, a curtain is better than nothing, but relative to your glass and walls it’s closer to air.
If noise is an issue for sleeping, the very best thing to do before shelling out loads of money on snake oil curtains is to try a few different ear plugs.
A word of advice: if your household has a gravity-centered airflow, please do NOT block all small gaps, else you might develop nasty air quality-related problems later on
What do you mean by this? I’ve never heard that term before
I was paraphrasing from my mother tongue, so idk if the term is 100% accurate. But in a nutshell, many older houses (at least where I come from, in Europe) don't have machines that take care of the airflow/changing fresh air, but rather have systems designed around the natural airflow based on gravity. In these kind of homes, making DIY adjustments might break this gravitational airflow, causing mold issues and bad air quality in general.
I don't know if this is a thing in 'murica but I thought my small addition might save someone a house, hence I decided to include it in the conversation :)