Valencia College in Orlando, FL contacted Commercial Acoustics for the sound issues they were experiencing in their IT lab. Reflective finishes including drywall, polished concrete floors and exposed ceilings made for a very reverberant space. Upon arrival at the satellite location a reverberation test was performed and RT60 was measured to be 1.9 seconds. Even with only 4 people present discussing possible solutions for the IT lab, the excessive echo and poor acoustics made it hard to understand the person right across the room.

See: When to Use Sound Absorbing Panels

Speech Intelligibility in Computer Labs

When working in a group space where you need to collaborate with those around you, speech intelligibility is an important feature the space should have. In this case, if there were multiple conversations between students happening simultaneously, it got difficult to understand others pretty easily.

The proposed solution was wall mounted acoustic panels, because it was not possible to mount to the exposed ceilings especially with all of the piping and wiring in the way. The sound absorbing panels we installed were color matched to the gray wall paint, and the client chose to keep that color for panels mounted on the white walls as well.

The Commercial Acoustics team fabricated and wrapped the panels at the factory headquartered in Tampa, FL. After transporting them to Orlando, the team installed a total of 12 panels on the walls. Due to obstacles such as outlets and wires, some panels needed to be mounted about 3 inches away from the wall. After the sound absorbing panels were installed, reverberation time came down by almost 50% – from 1.9 seconds to 0.9 seconds.

Improving IT Lab Acoustics

Now, when multiple students are working in the lab they’ll be able to understand each other easily, even when there are multiple conversations going on at the same time.

Sound absorption, as well as sound blocking, sound masking and acoustic consulting are our specialties here at Commercial Acoustics. If you struggle with speech intelligibility and high volume in your space, you may need to look into what acoustic treatment is right for you.

Many colleges, universities, and K-12 Schools require Acoustic Treatment in larger spaces where speech intelligibility may be compromised due to large volumes with reflective surfaces. When this is the case, consider using sound absorbing wall panels or stretched-fabric walls to provide effective absorption. Consult your technical representative at Commercial Acoustics for help determining how much acoustic panel treatment is needed to achieve your target reverberation time.