Clubhouses are a common client at Commercial Acoustics, due to the standard clubhouse footprint design – high, tapered ceilings with reflective walls and floors. Whether used for community mixers, dances, bingo, or simply gathering spaces, Clubhouse acoustics must be adequately addressed with acoustic treatment to ensure that the space achieves maximum usability for a plethora of functions.
Since they are generally in stand-alone buildings, or share adjacent space with golf & country club shops and retail, or bars and dining, sound transmission to adjacent space is rarely problematic. But the major issue? Constant echo! And when speaking engagements are common (and the target audience may have experience some hearing loss over the years), clear and crisp acoustics are important to the community. See below how we treat echo and reverb in clubhouses by assessing the space, designing a solution, and installing acoustic treatments to improve the acoustic performance in the space.
Clubhouse Echo Issues
Blue Heron Pines in Southwest Florida had a new clubhouse with significant echo and reverberation issues.
Because the clubhouse was used for speeches and community gatherings, the lack of ability to hear others speak (known as Speech Intelligibility) proved to be a significant issue. The clubhouse operator contacted Commercial Acoustics for a reverberation test and subsequent hanging of acoustical panels.
The initial reverb time was measured at 1.5 seconds, which, while not being extremely long by clubhouse echo standards, still posed acoustical issues for the multi-purpose space. For standard speech ratings in clubhouses, check here. Compared against other target reverberation criteria, the clubhouse was not acceptable for speaking engagements. This is a common issue for many clubhouses, since they often have high ceilings and reflective surfaces that make echo commonplace. Furthermore, the floors are often tile or LVT for ease of cleaning and lower maintenance, which further reduces sound absorption in the space.
In order to achieve a more reasonable reverb time of 0.9-1.1 seconds, we designed an acoustic treatment consisting of pre-fabricated fabric-wrapped panels, installed symmetrically along all walls. Acoustic fabric swatches were matched to the wall, and hard copies mailed to the designer and manager.
See Other Clubhouse Acoustics Case Studies
Clubhouse Acoustic Treatment
Commercial Acoustics custom-fabricated 24 large acoustic wall panels (3’x6’) with fabrics selected by the clubhouse management staff. Within two weeks, the acoustic panels were installed and reduced the reverberation by more than 40%. The clubhouse now provides a lively atmosphere (reverberation time around 1.05 seconds), without speech disturbance. At this reverb level, performances and functions may occur uninhibited, and even attendees with some hearing loss are unaffected by the minimal echo.
Similar to other clubhouse acoustical issues and similar restaurant acoustical treatments, the solution was a combination of added absorption material and aesthetic design. By using aesthetic, large acoustic wall panels we were able to treat the clubhouse echo issues and allow the community to use the clubhouse as it was intended. While aesthetic selections, such as the acoustical fabrics, are up to subjectivity, it is certain that the reverb reduction in the main clubhouse hall made community events much more effective!
