Why does my house carry sound so much?

Question

My home is a 1100sqft, single story home and it carries sound very far and clearly. It make the house 'loud'. When I sneeze loud I hear a high pitch echo. Voices seem to be amplified and with a slight echo. Are there tools to verify what I am experiencing and what can be done?

The floor is tile. The ceiling does not have 'popcorn'. The house's layout is like this:

_ = walls
. = hallway
M = master bedroom
B = bathroom
R = bedroom
K = kitchen + dinning room
L = living room
G = garage

[    ][B1][        ]
[ M  ][B2][_   K   ]
[___]......._______]
[R1 ].[R2 ].[      ] 
[___].[___].[   L  ] 
[         ] [______]
[    G    ]
[_________]

Answer 1

Make sure you have carpeting, or even area rugs. Get some furniture in the place. Then move up the walls with various artwork, preferably some kind of cloth or canvas. You'd be amazed at how much a hanging tapestry absorbs sound. The emptier the home, the more you'll hear echoes.

Edit: I almost forgot, hang some curtains.

Answer 2

@BMitch has the right idea with furnishings and fabrics - it's the simplest, fastest and cheapest.

Also, you can add soundproofing in other ways. Have a look at

• this question on soundproofing a large wall
• this one on ceilings
• and this one which has some good discussion on acoustic damping materials.