What Is a CAC Rating? CAC (Ceiling Attenuation Class) measures how well a ceiling tile blocks sound from passing between two adjacent rooms through the plenum above the suspended ceiling. In any building where demising walls stop at the suspended ceiling — most modern offices, schools, and healthcare buildouts — CAC determines whether voices in […]
Sound Advice
01
Jun
Jun
Echo and reverberation are often confused, but they’re different acoustic problems with different fixes. An echo is a distinct repeat delayed 50 ms or more; reverberation is overlapping reflections decaying over time, measured in RT60. Here’s how to tell them apart and treat each one.
31
May
May
Breweries combine industrial production noise with hospitality taprooms and often outdoor beer gardens. Here are 12 prioritized strategies—with real STC, NRC, NC, dBA targets—for soundproofing every zone of a brewery.
30
May
May
Every active NHL arena ranked on a 100-point loudness index. Florida’s 130.9 dBA Game 3 record-breaker, Montreal’s Bell Centre, Winnipeg’s per-seat dominance, and the acoustic design behind each — explained by an acoustical engineer.
30
May
May
Country clubs blend vaulted dining rooms, multi-use ballrooms, tile-clad pools, and confidential meeting spaces under one roof. Here are 8 prioritized strategies—with real STC, NRC, RT60, and dBA targets—for soundproofing each zone.
29
May
May
Every active NBA arena ranked on a 100-point loudness index, blending architecture, crowd baseline, and verified peak readings. Sacramento still owns the 126 dBA Guinness record. Includes a per-seat metric, an arena acoustics diagram, and the dB scale that puts 126 in context.
28
May
May
Recommended sound masking dB levels for open offices, private offices, healthcare, hotels, and high-density spaces — plus how to pair masking with STC, CAC, and absorption.
27
May
May
Coworking spaces juggle focus work, calls, and collaboration in one open room. Here are 15 specific strategies—from zoning and phone booths to ceiling clouds, sound masking, and behavioral norms—that actually work.
26
May
May
Modern restaurants traded carpet, drapes, and tablecloths for concrete, glass, and open ceilings—and turned dinner into a shouting match. Here’s how design choices, the Lombard effect, and the open-kitchen trend pushed dining rooms past 90 dBA, and what actually quiets them.
26
May
May
What the NC curves mean, target levels by space type — offices, hospitals, concert halls, classrooms, industrial — and how HVAC equipment and duct silencers drive whether a room actually hits its number.
25
May
May
Acoustic panels, diffusers, and bass traps all get sold as ‘sound treatment’—but they solve different problems at different frequencies. Here’s what each one actually does, when to use it, and how to combine them.
24
May
May
How long a room “rings” after sound stops — RT60 targets from 0.2-second recording booths to 3-second cathedrals, the Sabine formula behind them, and treatment strategies for each band.
23
May
May
OITC measures how well exterior walls and windows block outdoor noise — traffic, aircraft, trains. A full reference: typical assembly ratings, recommended targets by site, and why OITC numbers run 5–10 points below STC.
22
May
May
How sound waves move through tissue and bone, not just the ear — what low frequencies do to circulation, the nervous system, and cortisol, and why dose matters more than volume.
20
Apr
Apr
Decibel levels for everyday sounds — from a whisper (30 dB) to a jet engine (140 dB) — plus OSHA safe exposure limits and hearing damage thresholds.