The Pinellas Park Public Works office was dealing with significant echo and reverb in their conference room. They reached out to Commercial Acoustics to come and do on-site reverberation testing as part of their acoustic consulting capabilities, in order to determine how many acoustic sound panels would be needed to reduce the echo in their conference room.
Impulse tests were completed in five different areas of the room with the central divider extended and closed. The average reverberation time in the auditorium space was 2.5 seconds, and slightly longer at 500 Hertz. Upon performing Sabins Calculation (using our Room Acoustics Calculator), it was determined that 45 2’x4′ absorption panels would be needed in the space to reduce the reverberations behind down to an acceptable level.
Acoustics for Auditoriums and Telecom Spaces
Commercial Acoustics built the acoustic absorption panels in their Tampa manufacturing facility and delivered them on site three weeks later. The panels were wall mounted high along the walls to reduce the likelihood of staining and damage over time. Post-testing was completed and determined that the reverberation time drop down to 1.2 seconds, a decrease of 55%. Due to numerous obstructions along the walls (including air vents, retractable wall systems, exit signs, etc.) the Acoustic Panels needed to be spaced differently to maintain the aesthetic layout. For instance, as seen in the image below, the panels on each wall are spaced evenly so that the “same wall” pattern is never broken. However, on an adjacent wall, a different “same wall” spacing pattern may be needed in order to fit the allowable panels in the space.
Generally, when preparing Panel Layouts, the client is consulted to ensure ideal aesthetic in the finished space. The primary acoustic consideration is known as the area effect.
- Area Effect: the effectiveness of an acoustic treatment is proportional to the perimeter of the treatment divided by the surface area of the treatment
In layman’s terms, this means that spacing out the same number of panels is usually more effective than clumping them into a corner. This seems to be intuitively true, since the treatment is more spread out and therefore direct and reflected sound waves are also able to be absorbed by the treatment. When determining acoustic treatment, more focus should be placed on the surface area and type of treatment, rather than the location of the individual panels.
Using the acoustic calculator, you may determine how many panels or other acoustic treatment options may be needed in your space. While wall-mounted panels were the most cost-effective acoustic treatment in this space, there are often other applications that require the use of Acoustic Ceiling Clouds or Acoustic Baffles.
