We performed a case study in the Commercial Acoustics conference/office room to calculate how much absorption does a room need. The room in which the experiment was performed in is a square drywall space with flat walls and flat ceiling that has a high reverberation. The more absorption a room has the lower the reverberation is; this is important to know to understand the importance of a conference room having higher absorption. Ideally, sound in a conference room should be absorbed more and reflected less, this would help communication to be more effective by causing less echo which allows sound to be comprehensible.

See our YouTube video explaining Acoustic Calculations here

In the pictures below, we show the room without any panels and the results of reverberation in the room from the certified sound pressure meter. (Example 1)

Trial 1: Reverb Time – 0.85 Seconds – 0 Panels

Trial 2: Reverb Time – 0.61 Seconds – 4 Panels

In this case, we added two of the 2’x2′ panels to each side having a total of four panels in the room and we were able to perceive a decrease in the reverberation of the room.  (Example 2)

Trial 3: Reverb Time – 0.54 Seconds – 5 Panels

Finally, this was the accomplished results from adding one last panel to the room of 2’x4′. The reverberation decreased from .85 sec to .54 sec. Meaning more sound is absorbed and less sound is being reflected  (Example 3)

To show the accuracy of measuring reverberation with a smartphone, we compared the results obtained from the certified sound pressure meter in example number two and found that the results from the smartphone are actually trustable if you wanted to measure the reverberation of your room using this method.

Commercial Acoustics also developed a free and convenient tool to help you determine the reverberation time and/or “echo level” of your room called The Acoustical Calculator

In all 3 cases, the Acoustical Calculator predicted reverberation times of .85 .61 and .54. The acoustic calculator suggest 5.9 panels to be added.