All the dorm rooms should be insulated. The rest of the rooms, tower hot tubs and what not, aren't. I think I mentioned that back when we were discussing the dorm layout and internet/home theater capabilities.
Oh, thanks. The tech stuff went over my head :-). I'll enjoy the quiet.
Pretty much anywhere you go in the castle that has a terminal in it will connect to the Inter/tranet work we've got via optical cabling. Time lag to Earth will still apply, but we are working on a quantum entangled link. Not sure if we ever got that one running, but it'd cut the 15 minute light-lag to Mars down to nothing.
Rooms are insulated. Not just for sound, but enviromentally as well. Since we'll be headed into space, we've converted everything up to compartmentalize the various living quarters into redundantly contained units. If we ever lose the main dome, or enough of it to be a danger, anyone inside the castle would be protected. Anyone caught in the forest or out in the open would be screwed unless they could make it to a maintainance tunnel or one of the sealed off cave entrances. Not all of them are airlocked at the surface. The dwarves insisted on that one. I just think they've got a thing against doors.
Many of the dorm room walls are made of solid rock, from six inches to a foot-and-a-half thick, but so-called "wet" walls, which contain plumbing pipes, are of standard construction, with extra insulation for sound absorbancy.
You should not be able to hear your neighbors, but cannon-fire sounds from the courtyard, and Sionnsar's "serenades" will come through the tiny windows and air vents.