Nowadays, sound absorbing treatments made from recycled materials are increasingly common. This paper focuses on the sound absorption properties of surgical face masks and discusses their possible use. Several ways of assembling entire raw masks as self-sufficient thick sound absorbing material are tested as well as the influence of density. The performance of the different surgical face mask test samples is assessed using impedance tube measurements. The behaviour of the mask test samples is similar to that of porous materials classically used for building insulation. Results show sound absorption coefficients close to those of traditional commercial materials and even better on the 100 − 700 Hz frequency band. Surgical face masks may have the potential to be used as an alternative low-cost, environmentally friendly and easily manufactured sound absorbing material.