Room acoustics
Would you like to improve the acoustics in your building? In fact, the concept of ‘acoustics’ is the influence of a building on the transmission of sound. A building and all its properties reflect and attenuate sound waves.
Unfortunately, it is often the case that sound waves are not attenuated enough. Reverberation therefore plays a role in many spaces. Poor acoustics affect your peace of mind, productivity and audibility. We measure the reverberation of a building and we know how to make it pleasant again in the right way.
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Ruben de Visser
Acoustic specialist
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Improving acoustics
Every year we carry out more than 300 projects in offices, catering, care facilities, education and industry. We also supply various solutions for improving the acoustic situation at home.
Hard materials such as concrete, tiles and wood are often used in new buildings and renovations. As a result, sound is highly reflective. This makes a room sound hollow.You can also contact our experts for these situations.
Acoustics in buildings
EASY Noise Control offers an acoustic solution for every application and every room. The most common situations:
Acoustics office
Acoustics open-plan office
Acoustics catering industry
Acoustics schools
Acoustics gymnasium
Acoustics workshop
Acoustics living room
Acoustic solutions
In the past, a suspended ceiling was installed in almost every commercial building. Suspended ceilings significantly contribute to better acoustics in a room.
Nowadays, such ceilings are used less and less often. This is mainly for aesthetic reasons, but sometimes also for technical reasons. For example, because there is concrete core activation. So it is high time for new acoustic solutions to dampen noise!
Improve acoustics
In order to improve room acoustics, sound absorption must be applied in some way. That is why you see more and more solutions on the market that reduce reverberation in an aesthetic way.
These solutions are often mounted on the ceiling and the wall. That is where there is the most room for such solutions. Moreover, in these places, one usually dampens the noise closest to the source.
In addition, these are the reflective surfaces in the room that in most cases cause the acoustic problem. Commonly used solutions to apply absorption include acoustic ceiling panels, acoustic baffles and wall panels.
An acoustic partition wall is also a frequently chosen solution and ensures that the acoustics are improved. This is an object that you add to the room and one of the advantages of this is that you can easily move it and thus separate different rooms from each other.
How do poor acoustics arise?
Sound waves are produced and spread in all directions. A sound wave hits a surface. Part of the sound is absorbed and part is reflected.
The harder the surface, the greater the percentage of sound that is reflected. This causes reverberation in the room.
The amount of reverberation is expressed in reverberation time. This is the time in seconds it takes for a sound to decrease in strength by 60 dB. In general, the longer the reverberation time, the worse the situation.
What are the consequences?
A long reverberation time affects speech intelligibility. In addition, the noise level is increased and it takes more energy to concentrate. It also negatively influences the well-being and peace of mind of those present. This can lead to headaches, fatigue and, in the long term, stress.
Desired situation
A low reverberation time leads to better sound quality, so that the room feels quieter. Speech intelligibility in the room will also be improved and the noise level will decrease. This is because people are less likely to raise their voices in order to make themselves heard.
Ultimately, this provides more peace and comfort, higher productivity and less stress. Good acoustics therefore play a role in a healthy, productive and comfortable living and working environment.
How do you reduce reverberation and get a better acoustic situation?
The reverberation time in the room is improved by adding sufficient absorption to a room. Preferably as close as possible to the sound source(s). For good acoustics, we recommend a combination of acoustic solutions on the ceiling and walls.
For an acceptable situation, you should cover 30 to 40% of the floor surface. In other words, in a 100m2 room, you should install approximately 40m2 of high-quality acoustic elements. This rule of thumb applies to a height of up to 3 metres. For a perfect situation, this should be approximately 50-60%.
These elements absorb sound waves so that they are reflected less or not at all. This means that for a 100m2 room, approximately 30m2 – 40m2 of high-quality elements are needed.